Wildlife Breeders Journal 2016

Nutrition
Post-parturition, the mother can only supply
nutrients via her milk. As the animal grows
older and feeds on available forage, it
receives nutrients from the forage and what
supplemental feed is available.
Skeletal development of the foetus
While the foetus grows from a few cells
into a calf or lamb in the mother’s womb,
it obtains the building blocks for optimal
skeletal growth. These nutrients are supplied
by the mother to the foetus via her blood.
If the mother is healthy and in a good body
condition her foetus will get the necessary
nutrients in the correct amount and balance
ensuring optimal skeletal growth.
If it happens that the mother cannot supply
the foetus with the necessary nutrients for
optimal bone growth, the foetus won’t grow
optimally, leading to either a smaller animal
or an animal that struggles with bone-growth
related problems such as osteochondrosis
latens, a condition seen in cattle and horses.
To conclude: if the mother receives poor
nutrition, she will not be able to ensure an
optimal supply of nutrients via her blood to
her foetus, resulting in a young animal that
has not received the building blocks for
optimal skeletal growth, resulting in suboptimal
horn growth. To prevent this, it is
necessary to supply the mothers with the
correct nutrients, allowing optimal foetal
growth before birth and milk that leads to a
healthy calf that grows optimally after birth,
ensuring optimal skeletal and horn growth.
Practical advice
In the dry season, the natural grazing or
browse has less protein, energy and minerals
than what it has in the green season, so it is
advisable to supply high producing animals
with the necessary protein, energy, minerals
and trace minerals at this time. Protein pellets
/ cubes and self-made feeds can be supplied
to supplement these natural deficiencies.
In the wet or green season, supply
the animals with the macro and trace
minerals. Natural green forage is limited in,
particularly phosphorous and trace minerals.
Commercially this can be found in properly
formulated salt mineral licks – please avoid
the use of salt blocks as they only supply salt.
What to do and what not to do regarding
feeding female animals
Establishing when to feed more or less or
when to supply the animal with the extra
nutrients is crucial, because the female
animal needs to keep herself productive and
supply milk when she is in lactation.
Reference to body condition score is
made often in papers covering nutrition,
reproduction and animal health, so in context
with this article Body Condition Score (BCS)
is on a scale of 1 to 5. With 1 being very thin,
2 being thin to average, 3 being optimal, 4
optimal to fat and 5 being over fat.
Young female animals must never be allowed
to get to the point when they are over fat. This
is often associated with animals over eating
feed high in energy which result in a build-up
of fat around the female reproductive organs,
prolonging the first heat cycle – oestrus.
Dry animals must receive enough protein,
energy, minerals and vitamins to maintain
a good body condition (BCS = 3). Dry
pregnant animals need a mineral and vitamin
supplement that will supply both the mother
and foetus with the necessary nutrients for
optimal skeletal and horn growth.
Pregnant animals receiving too much food in
their last trimester of pregnancy could lead
to birthing problems and dystocia due to
oversized calves or lambs.
Lactating animals require more nutrients than
their dry or pregnant contemporaries; please
follow your feed company’s advice in feeding
them. When females normally receive a low
intake protein-mineral supplement you can
multiply the dry cow value with 1.6 to get the
approximate intake for lactation.
Optimal nutrition ensures that animals
reach their genetic potential in the
current generation, whereas selection for
genetic improvement (EBV’s) guarantees
long term permanent progress in the
subsequent generations.”
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