Management Factors to Improve Range Cow Reproduction
performance of beef cows, proper nutrition is probably the most critical. Because feed costs (including range) represent over half the total cost in a cow calf production system, it is very important to keep feed costs low while meeting your animals' nutritional needs. As seen in Table 1, cow condition score (on a 1 9 scale with 5 being good optimal condition, 1 being very thin and 9 being very fat) influenced pregnancy rate at the V V ranch. This figure summarizes 12 years of data and clearly shows the benefit of having cows in optimal body condition. Figure 1 shows the variation in pregnancy rate by year (50 to 92% This reflects differences in range condition (forage quality) due to precipitation, elevation, soil type and temperature. Developing feeding, supplementation and management programs to improve pregnancy rate and reduce the variation in pregnancy rate can have significant benefits.