Cow Nutrition and Implications for Reproductive Performance, Fetal Development, and Calf Performance

Apr 30, 2021

In beef cattle, the hierarchy for nutrient use of an individual animal is first body maintenance, followed by body development, growth, lactation, reproduction and then fattening. If a situation occurs where nutrients are limited, those items lowest within this hierarchy are the first to suffer. In this presentation, Dr. Francis L. Fluharty, Ohio State University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Animal Sciences and presently Department Head at the University of Georgia Animal and Dairy Science Department, details the implications for reproductive performance, fetal development, and calf performance if nutrients are inadequate.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.