A survey of reproductive performance in herds of beef cattle from 13 properties in Victoria

Abstract

An analysis of the reproductive, performance of beef cattle based on 5840 records of performance from thirteen properties in Victoria was made. Traits analysed included calving rate, twinning rate, mortality of calves, age at first calving interval. When all data were pooled, mean age at first calving was 863.5 days, calving interval 361 days, calving rate 88.7 per cent, mortality rate at birth of the calves 4.3 per cent, pre-weaning mortality 1.5 per cent, post-weaning mortality 0.3 per cent and twinning rate 1.5 per cent. Wide variation in reproductive performance was observed between properties. As found in other studies, age of dam was the main factor affecting reproductive performance and adjustments to take account of this variation are necessary when comparing the performance of different animals.