ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the ingredients necessary for good reproduction to occur in a beef cow herd, shows methods that can be utilized to predict reproduction performance and discusses methods for determining the economic feasibility. Reproduction in a beef cow herd is a fragile thing, easy to disrupt and difficult to re-establish. Most beef herds contain many nonproducers such as dry cows, replacement heifers and bulls, and many cows that wean light calves. The number of nonproducers must be reduced to make production of calves economically feasible. Cows selected to be in the O'Connor management group were all early-calvers, while cows in the control group were expected to calve within a 120-day period that extended into the breeding season. Cow fertility is affected by two factors: the length of time from calving to breeding and weight change near breeding.
