Protein-energy supplementation for grazing beef cows in the sub-region of Nhecolândia, Pantanal, Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

The low reproductive performance of beef cow herds in the Pantanal region of the Mato Grosso do Sul State reflects the seasonal effect on the availability and quality with the native pasture. The objective with this study was to evaluate the effect of protein-energy supplementation for breeding cows at the final third part of pregnancy and at the beginning of lactation on live weight gain of calves at birth and at weaning and live weight gain and pregnancy rate of the cows. Four treatments were evaluated: A: cows supplemented with mineral mixture all year around; B: cows supplemented with mineral mixture from january to july and with a protein-energy supplement from august to december; C: as in A, plus a liquid protein-energy supplement from august the december and calves on creep-feeding: D: as in C, but calves without creep-feeding. Protein-Energy supplement intake by cows and calves were lower than expected in all treatments. This fact possibly resulted in no response to the supplements (P>0.05) in terms of live weight of calves at birth and at weaning, except for calving cows from treatment B, that showed significant increase (P<0,05) in the live weight and the pregnancy rate.