Sexual precocity, reproductive efficiency and productive performance of Nelore and crossbred young cows

With the aim of evaluating Nelore (NE), 1/2 Angus + 1/2 Nelore (AN), 1/2 Caracu + 1/2 Nelore (CN), and 1/2 Senepol + 1/2 Caracu (SC) females for sexual precocity on pasture backgrounding, reproductive efficiency and productive performance of cows and their calves of each genetic group (GG), animals of these groups were produced for three years. A total of 40 AN, 37 CN, 51 NE and 43 SC cows were evaluated. For early heifer pregnancy, AN cows had pregnancy rate of 92.2% compared to 29.1% for CN, 22.6% for SC and 1.1% for NE. For conventional heifer pregnancy AN obtained 99.4%, CN with 98.8%, SC with 84.4% and NE with 80.0%. The first reconception of AN cows were 86.3%, 75.1% for CN, 49.6% for NE and 43.6% for SC. AN cows also had lower age at first calving in months, 26.36 +/- 0.79, compared to 31.33 +/- 0.86 for CN, 33.51 +/- 0.98 for SC and 38.08 +/- 0.74 for NE. For weaning weigth the three-cross from AN were heavier than the F1s from NE, by a margin of 19%. For calf: cow weight ratio there was no statistical difference among GG. AN cows were superior to the others in both productive and reproductive aspects, followed by the CN cows.