 Beef Cattle Nutrition and Feeding
Visual Learning Center
Body Condition Scoring
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57 seconds)
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Audio/Video Script:
Dr. Shane Gadberry
Ruminant Nutrition
[Title Slide – Body Condition Scoring; Dr. Shane Gadberry, Ruminant Nutrition, U of A Division of Agriculture. Picture of a
cow.]
[Dr. Shane Gadberry standing in a cattle field] Fall is a good time to assess the body condition of your cow herd because
maintaining adequate body condition is important to maximizing the reproductive
success of your herd. Research has shown that cows that calve in thin body
condition have a 58 percent chance of becoming pregnant, whereas cows that calve
in a body condition that would be moderate to good have an 85 to 95 percent
chance of becoming pregnant in a 90 day breeding season.
[Slide - drawing of a cow. Body Condition Scoring with a scale from 1 to 9
showing the ideal range to be between 5 and 6.] The ideal body condition for a beef cow at calving would be moderate to good
condition. This is commonly scored as a 5 to 6 within the range of 1 to 9, where
1 is skin-and-bones and a 9 is an obese animal. It is important to have cows in
that 5 to 6 range before they calve because it’s more difficult to feed a cow to
improve her body condition from calving to breeding than it is from weaning to
calving.
[Video shows cows grazing in a field with various body conditions.] Cows in optimal body condition will have no ribs visible, the backbone is not
noticeable, and there is a flat to rounded shape of the hindquarters. Cows that
are in a body condition score of 4 will have noticeable 12th and 13th ribs
showing. Their pelvic bones are more protruding than what you would see with a
body condition score of 5 animal. And also their backbone becomes more
noticeable.
Cows lose body condition when their nutrient need is greater than the
nutrients in the diet. In Arkansas, this usually occurs from a lack of total
digestible nutrients or T-D-N. Cows typically lose body condition in
winter due to several factors that can rev up a cow’s need for energy: First,
they’re being fed hay which is typically lower in nutrients than growing
forages. Second, cows are calving, and third, the herd may be experiencing periods of cold and wet weather.
[Dr. Shane Gadberry] Planning ahead is one of the best ways to avoid dollar losses associated with
cows that are in poor body condition. [Video shows a county agent taking a hay
sample.] Submit hay samples through your county
extension office for nutrient analysis. This offers critical information for
feeding your herd to maintain adequate body condition. The hay test results can
then be used to determine the most economical supplement for maintaining cow
body condition when hay quality falls short.
[Dr. Shane Gadberry] Some cows will have higher energy needs than others, due to first calving,
breed composition or milking ability. One way to help reduce supplemental feed
costs is to consider grouping cows based on their stage of production and body
condition as resources permit.
For more information on body condition scoring and feeding cows based on body
condition score, visit your local county extension office. [U of A University of
Arkansas Division of Agriculture. To learn more, contact your county extension
agent and follow the links in this section.]
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