Cool-season annual pastures with clovers to supplement wintering beef cows nursing calves

Table 2 Birth weight, body weight, average daily gain, and weaning weight per cow exposed by calves nursing mature beef cows fed bermudagrass/bahiagrass hay supplemented by grazing on wheat/ryegrass pasture or wheat/ryegrass plus clovers over a 3-year period

Item	Treatments^a			P-value^b
Item	WRG	WRR	WRW	SE	WRG versus Clovers	WRR versus WRW
Birth weight, kg	34	36	35	0.9	0.17	0.89
Calf body weight, kg
January	62	66	67	9.6	0.41	0.91
February	84	91	91	10.9	0.23	0.94
March	99	107	106	11.1	0.21	0.93
April	116	123	128	11.7	0.06	0.58
May	227	237	239	4.3	0.06	0.70
June (weaning)	244	254	253	6.7	0.29	0.88
Average daily gain, kg
Birth to the start of grazing	0.92	0.92	0.95	0.086	0.71	0.41
January to weaning	0.98	1.02	0.99	0.035	0.37	0.44
Birth to weaning	0.93	0.96	0.95	0.023	0.39	0.57
Weaning weight/cow exposed, kg	173	212	209	12.0	0.02	0.86

^a WRG = winter-annual pasture composed of wheat and ryegrass; WRR = winter-annual pasture composed of wheat and ryegrass plus red clover, and WRW = winter-annual pasture composed of wheat and ryegrass plus white and crimson clover.
^b Contrasts: WRG vs Clover = WRG versus the average of WRR and WRW.

ISSN: 2049-1891