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Category: RUMINANT NUTRITION

Poster Session VI

PSVI-22 - Effect of creep-feeding on feeding behavior of Nellore calves

Tuesday, July 18, 2023
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM MT
Location: 140 Aztec/110 Galisteo
Abstract: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of creep-feeding on feeding behavior of beef calves, during nursing phase. The experiment lasted 170 days – from December/2021 to May/2022, the calves were born in September/2021 and creep-feeding supplementation started from approximately 70 days of life until weaning. The feeding behavior was evaluated twice (70 and 120 days post creep-feeding). The experimental design used was a randomized block (blocked by body weight (BW) of calves). The experimental units were the paddocks (8 units per treatment, ten replicates per paddock), totalizing a hundred and fifty-six pairs cow/calf (eighty-six pairs of male calves and seventy pairs of female calves). Two paddocks per treatment and eight pairs per paddock were sorted for behavior analysis, totalizing thirty-two pairs cow/calf (sixteen pairs of male calves and sixteen pairs of female calves). The treatments consisted of creep-feeding or not creep-feeding the calves: control treatment (CONT; mineral suppement ad libitum) and creep-feeding treatment (CREEP; energetic protein supplement - 5 g/kg of BW per animal/day). There was mineral supplement ad libitum for all the dams. The pairs cow/calf were kept in an area composed of Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu. It was evaluated: idleness, suckling, grazing and creep-feeding or mineral supplementation. The data were analyzed using the SAS PROC MIXED. There was no difference in feeding behavior of calves at 70 days of creep-feeding for idleness (P=0.80), grazing (P=0.59) and suckling (P=0.30). Creep-feeding calves spent 14 minutes longer on supplementation than non-creep-feeding calves (P< 0.01). At 120 days of creep-feeding (180 days of age), calves that received creep feeding supplementation spent less time grazing (difference of 01h07min; P< 0.01), more time on supplementation (+28 min; P< 0.01) and idleness (+42 min; P=0.05) and similar time on suckling (P=0.76).There was no difference in any of the variables at different times (P >0.08) for the dams. Animals in creep-feeding spend less time grazing, but suckling in a similar amount of time compared to those that consumed only mineral supplement, which corroborates with the results on milk yield of dams, which were similar for both treatments.