Effect of Body Condition on Productivity in Beef Cattle

Abstract

This chapter aims to review the relationship of body condition to productivity, provide pictures of beef cattle representative of different body condition scores (BCS) and provides a few examples of the use of body condition in making management decisions in the readers' herd. Cows with a higher BCS at breeding or pregnancy testing also showed improvements in pregnancy rate. The body condition of the beef herd will change during the year. The condition is usually highest in mid to late summer then declines in the fall or winter and is lowest in late winter or early spring. It is desirable to have cows in BCS 5 or higher at calving and if there is a considerable range in BCS in a herd, it is usually desirable to separate thin cows. In most situations it is economically prohibitive to supplement the entire herd if only half of the cows will respond to the higher level of nutrition.