@conference {40629,
	title = {Nutritional buffering: Do we make the best use of this phenomena in the breeding cow},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {54},
	year = {1994},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {329-332},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {The nutritional buffering capacity of the beef cow, defined as the  
ability to absorb low levels of feeding without compromising productivity, is  
reviewed in regard to winter management.  It is shown that resistance to  
liveweight loss is repeatable for cows within the same herd between years  
(correlations 0.4 to 0.8, P<0.01).  However this capacity is associated with  
lower calf weaning weight (correlations 0.3 to 0.5, P<0.05).  There was no  
association between the amount of winter liveweight loss and cow liveweight,  
calf birth weight or time to first oestrus in the cow. It is shown that these  
results are consistent with evidence for the variation of maintenance  
requirements between cows. 
 
It is suggested that the buffering capacity of the beef cow could be exploited  
through animal breeding or by management of early nutrition.  There may be no  
one cow type which is optimal for all farming situations, and instead a range of  
cow types which are more or less able to buffer feed shortages may be  
preferred. 
 },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Pleasants AB and Barton RA and McCall DG}
}
