Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Animal and Veterinary Sciences

Committee Chair/Advisor

Susan K Duckett

Committee Member

Matt Hersom

Committee Member

Matthew Burns

Committee Member

Brian Bolt

Abstract

Backgrounding of beef calves in the United States is a transitional sector of the beef industry where calves from the cow calf sector are prepared to enter subsequent production stages such as finishing/feedlot sector of beef production. Producers help backgrounding calves transition from a milk-forage diet to a forage and, or concentrate diet, learn to eat and drink from troughs, and gain efficiently to maintain profitability of this enterprise. These operations strive to capture cheap and efficient gains, predominantly through increasing muscle instead of fat. To aid in capturing these gains, management tools such as implantation and supplementation can be used to increase weight gain and efficiency. To evaluate these management tools, we investigated the effects that implantation with or without supplementation have on muscle accretion patterns in beef steers post-weaning.

Available for download on Monday, May 31, 2027

Included in

Beef Science Commons

Share

COinS