Deferred rate of gain effects on growth, body composition, and concomitant blood metabolites in yearling Angus and Brangus heifers

ABSTRACT Deferred supplementation of subtropical forage diets may be a viable nutritional strategy to elicit compensatory growth of growing heifers. This experiment evaluated delayed BW gain on body composition of yearling heifers fed bermudagrass round bale silage (RBS) and dried distillers grains (DDG) for 140 d. Angus (n = 30; 273 ± 24 kg) and Brangus (n = 30; 277 ± 30 kg) heifers, mean age of 277 ± 25 d, were allocated to 1 of 12 pastures. On d 0, heifers were assigned to either (1) RBS + DDG fed to gain 0.84 kg/d from d 0 to 140 (control) or (2) RBS offered ad libitum from d 0 to 70 and RBS + DDG fed to gain 1.4 kg/d from d 70 to 140 (DL). On d 70, control heifers were heavier ( P P P > 0.05). On d 140, BW tended to be ( P = 0.06), and LMA, BCS, and rump fat were, greater ( P P > 0.05). Irrespective of treatment, hip height, pelvic area, and IMF increased ( P