The Importance of Monitoring Beef Cattle Body Condition David Secrist, Utah State University Extension Beef Cattle Specialist
Introduction The connection between body energy stores, in the form of fat, and reproduction has been quantified for decades (Herd & Sprott, 1986). A body condition scoring system commonly used in the U.S. is an objective effort to quantify a cow’s body condition with ratings from 1 (severely emaciated and weak) to 9 (excessively obese), resulting in a body condition score (BCS). Optimal BCS in commercial cow/calf operation is from 5 to 7, depending on the production stage, feed resources, and the animal’s age. Reproductive efficiency is critical to operational success and is closely tied to BCS.
Body Condition Scoring
Highlights • •
• •
Reproductive efficiency is closely tied to BCS. Minimize scoring variability by using the same person to score each herd or train a group to apply a consistent approach. Pregnancy rates increase with increased BCS. Adding weight to cows and heifers during the second trimester is most effective and economical.
The short Angus TV video (2022) How-To: Body Condition Scoring Cattle is an excellent tutorial on evaluating body condition score in the beef herd. Being consistent in BCS evaluation is important. You can minimize variability in body condition scoring by using the same person to score each herd. Person-to-person variation can confuse the results, making management decisions difficult to apply. However, if several people are involved in BCS evaluation, train as a group to calibrate a consistent approach. Recalibrating through the critical second and third trimesters can also be helpful. Appendix 1 includes a table listing BCS and corresponding physical attributes for reference.
1