Fetal Programming

摘要

The importance of a dam's early-gestation nutrition, both for the short and long term, is drawing a lot more attention.What a pregnant cow eats during early gestation - both quantity and quality - can have long-lasting effects on her calf. That's a concept, however, that appears to be little understood or practiced by many producers. "Many producers don't think a tiny fetus needs much nutrition, and ranchers tend to supplement cows late, during the last trimester of gestation, in order to raise body condition scores before calving," says Stephen P. Ford, director of the University of Wyoming (UW) Center for the Study ofFetal Programming. However, he explains, that might be too late.