Table 6.

Effect of feeding a vitamin and mineral supplement [VMSUP; not supplemented (NoVTM) or supplemented (VTM)] and two different rates of gain [GAIN; low rate, 0.28 kg/d (LG) or moderate rate, 0.79 kg/d (MG)] to beef heifers during the first trimester of gestation on dam reproductive tract characteristics at day 83 ± 0.27 of gestation.

Item	NoVTM 1		VTM 2			p-Values
	LG	MG 3	LG	MG 3	SEM 4	VMSUP	GAIN	VMSUP × GAIN
Gravid Uterus, g	1,916.9	1,765.4	1,763.5	1,757.0	100.22	0.44	0.43	0.49
Empty Uterus. g	446.78	409.56	435.70	460.20	20.49	0.35	0.75	0.16
Corpus luteum, g	3.89	4.78	3.89	4.93	0.29	0.79	0.003	0.82
Corpus luteum diameter, cm	3.40	3.67	3.35	3.92	0.16	0.55	0.02	0.39
Largest placentomes 5, cm	3.27	3.44	3.76	3.73	0.29	0.21	0.81	0.75

¹ NoVTM: No vitamin and mineral supplement was a pelleted product fed at a 0.45 kg•heifer⁻¹•day⁻¹ with no added vitamin and mineral supplement. ² VTM: Vitamin mineral supplement was a pelleted product fed at a 0.45 kg•heifer⁻¹•day⁻¹ (consisting of 113 g of a vitamin and mineral supplement, formulated to deliver similar levels of vitamins and minerals that were fed pre-breeding and 337 g of a carrier). ³ Heifers fed a pelleted blend of ground corn, dried distillers grains plus solubles, wheat midds, fish oil, urea, and ethoxyquin fed at rate to achieve targeted gain of 0.79 kg/d. ⁴ NoVTM-LG (n = 9); NoVTM-MG (n = 9); VTM-LG (n = 9); VTM-MG (n = 8). ⁵ Mean diameter of 3 largest placentomes in the reproductive tract.