Supplementing Ca Salts Of Soybean Oil To Late-Gestating Beef Cows: Impacts On Performance And Physiological Responses Of The Offspring

Abstract This experiment compared performance and physiological responses of the offspring from cows supplemented with Ca salts of soybean oil (CSSO) or prilled saturated fat (CON) during late gestation. Non-lactating, pregnant Angus × Hereford cows (n = 104) that conceived during the same fixed-time artificial insemination protocol, using semen from 2 sires, were used in this experiment. Cows were ranked by pregnancy sire, body weight (BW), and body condition score (BCS). On d 180 of gestation (d -15), cows were randomly assigned to receive (dry matter basis) 415 g of soybean meal per cow daily in addition to 1) 195 g/cow daily of CSSO (n = 52) or 2) 170 g/cow daily of CON (n = 52). Cows were maintained in 2 pastures (26 cows/treatment per pasture), and received daily 12.7 kg/cow (dry matter basis) of grass-alfalfa hay. From d 0 until calving, cows were segregated into 1 of 24 feeding pens thrice weekly and received treatments individually. Cow BW and BCS were recorded, and blood samples were collected on d -15 of the experiment and within 12 h after calving. Calf BW was also recorded and blood sample collected within 12 h of calving. Calves were weaned on d 290 of the experiment, preconditioned for 35 d (d 291 to 325), and transferred to a feedyard where they remained until slaughter. Upon calving, CSSO cows and calves had greater (P < 0.01) plasma concentrations of linoleic acid and total ω - 6 FA compared with CON cohorts. No differences in calf birth BW, weaning BW, and final preconditioning BW were noted (P ≥ 0.36) between treatments. Average daily gain and final BW in the feedlot were greater (P ≤ 0.05) in steers from CSSO cows compared with CON. The incidence of calves diagnosed with BRD that required a second antimicrobial treatment was less (P = 0.03) in calves from CSSO cows, resulting in reduced (P = 0.05) need of treatments to regain health compared with CON (Table 5). Upon slaughter, longissimus muscle area was greater (P = 0.03) in calves from CSSO cows compared with CON. Collectively, these results suggest that supplementing CSSO to late-gestating beef cows stimulated programming effects on postnatal offspring growth and Page 2 of 15 For Peer Review health. Therefore, supplementing late-gestating beef cows with CSSO appears to optimize offspring welfare and productivity in beef production systems.