Abstract
Nutritional management during the backgrounding phase may influence beef calf performance and ease-of-transition into the feedyard. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of various diets on performance of calves during backgrounding, transportation, and arrival at a feedyard. In June 2019, 119 fall-born steers (n = 79, 266 ± 34 kg BW) and heifers (n = 40, 236 ± 26 kg BW) at E.V. Smith Research Center (Shorter, AL) were weaned and randomly assigned to one of four diets (3 pens per dietary treatment, 10 calves per pen): cool-season baleage (oats, annual ryegrass, and crimson clover; B), cool-season baleage and 1% BW of a commercial, high-energy grower supplement (BC), cool-season baleage and 1% BW dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS; BD), or ‘Tifton 85’ bermudagrass hay and 1% BW DDGS (HD). After a 10-d acclimation period, calves began a 60-d backgrounding trial and were weighed at d 0, d 30, and d 60. There was a diet × period interaction (P = 0.0017) such that ADG decreased from 0.38 to 0.19 kg/d for calves on B, while in treatments with supplementation, calves maintained gains of 0.67 kg/d or greater into the second, 30-d period. After the end of the backgrounding trial, calves were transported to Hy-Plains Feedyard in Montezuma, KS. Calves were weighed prior to transport, immediately after transport, after 24 h rest, and 7 d on feed. Immediately after tranport, B calves had the greatest shrink (12.8%, P < 0.001) compared to calves that had received supplemental feed (10.1%). After 7 d, B calves regained the lowest percentage of pre-shipping BW (93.5% weight, P < 0.01) compared to calves that had received supplemental feed (96.3% weight). These data suggest that supplementing forage-based diets may provide a performance advantage during the preconditioning phase and better prepare calves for transportation and the transition into the feedyard.