Compensatory Growth in Beef Cattle
Nathan Jennings Compensatory growth is important in the nutritional
Senior Land Services Officer - Livestock management of any cattle herd irrespective of whether the
North Coast Local Land Services, Alstonville cattle are sold as stores, finished on property or enter the
breeding herd. It can have a significant impact on the
Compensatory Growth economics of the enterprise, as the ability of a beast to
express compensatory growth or not often determines
Compensatory growth in cattle is a process where cattle sale weights, ages, stocking rates, pasture utilisation and
are growing at a faster rate than would be expected as a to an extent where supplements should be used.
result of accessing plenty of high quality feed, following
periods of slow growth or weight loss during times of Figure 1: Following periods of under-nutrition as seen in the
under-nutrition. below picture, young weaners will quickly resume normal weight
gain when introduced to better nutrition, while yearlings can
Under-nutrition can occur in two ways.
exhibit compensatory growth.
1. Low feed quality: Commonly seen on the North (photo courtesy Todd Andrews NSW DPI)
Coast when the nutritional value of pastures decline
as they reach maturity and/or frost off in the winter.
2. Low feed quantity: There isn’t enough feed available
to satisfy animal hunger, given that cattle prefer to
graze for a maximum of around 11 hours per day.
Both a decline in feed quality or quantity will restrict the
feed intake by cattle, subsequently reducing animal
growth rates.
During the period of under nutrition, the body tissue that is
most likely to be reduced is the one that would normally
be deposited at that time should no feed restriction be in
place. In young growing stock this is often muscle and
bone, where in older mature stock this is usually fat. Also,
less fat is deposited around the gastrointestinal tract
which allows feed intake to increase rapidly when It is seldom possible to predict for a specific herd how
adequate high-quality feed becomes available. much compensatory growth is going to occur in various
circumstances. However there are some factors to
When cattle experience a prolonged period of under-
consider from significant research by the Beef CRC in this
nutrition, some classes of cattle can compensate, if and
area.
when, feed quality and quantity allows for a high voluntary
feed intake. As a guide, on a North Coast pasture based
beef enterprise, reasonable compensatory growth can Factors influencing compensatory
begin to occur in some classes of cattle when pastures
are in phase 2 of growth (green, young and actively growth
growing with a high leaf to stem ratio), approximately The age and maturity of the animal when it goes through
2300kg of dry matter per hectare and a digestibility of at a period of under-nutrition has a major effect on the extent
least 65%. This is typical of winter fodder crops like oats, it will be able to compensate.
or improved pastures e.g. ryegrass in winter, or kikuyu,
Calves with setbacks pre-weaning or early post-weaning
setaria in spring.
have limited capacity to exhibit compensatory growth.
When good nutrition becomes available these young
www.lls.nsw.gov.au/northcoast
Compensatory Growth in Beef Cattle
cattle are likely to grow at much the same rate or only Compensatory growth in breeders
slightly better than if they had not experienced a
nutritional set back. These animals are likely to never Utilising compensatory growth in breeders is much more
catch up with their contemporaries which were not complicated. An adult cow has the ability for
restricted. Therefore, producers need to be prepared for compensatory growth when dry, but less so when
the fact that sale weights in the future will be lighter if lactating.
marketed at the same time, or later if they intend to Regardless of any potential benefits compensatory growth
market at the same weights (be careful with dentition). offers other classes of cattle, there are two very important
Ossification is likely to be higher in those animals sold reasons to try and manage breeding cows to be in good
MSA direct to slaughter but apart from that meat quality body condition year round and avoid, where possible,
impacts are minimal. severe under- nutrition.
There is some evidence to suggest that in tropical cattle, First the breeder needs to be in sufficient body condition,
feedlot performance is actually reduced for calves with ideally fat score 3 prior to calving, to enable her to be in
early severe nutritional restrictions. condition to commence cycling again in a timely manner
Yearling cattle (of at least 300kg liveweight when the for the next joining.
restriction occurred) can express compensatory growth to Second, breeders calving winter- spring on the North
catch up with their contemporaries if they have adequate Coast are often grazing poor quality leftover tropical
good nutrition available with minimal impact on meat pastures from the previous summer and can lose body
quality. Plain yearling heifers gained 2.13kg/hd/day on condition rapidly once they commence lactating, and often
kikuyu pasture for 42 days in one Hunter Valley trial, become a problem if the spring break is late. Therefore it
suggesting that they had gained an additional 1kg/hd/day is wise to have breeders in good condition prior to calving
due to compensatory growth. in case the spring break is late.
It is possible for cattle that have undergone compensatory
growth to be leaner than cattle that have remained on a
Conclusion
constant high plane of nutrition. However, there are some
cases where young cattle have been severely restricted When adequate amounts of good quality feed become
and then allowed to recover too fast on a high energy diet, available, after a period of under-nutrition and poor
and as a result they ended up fatter than cattle that have growth, weaners will resume growing from where they left
remained on the constant high plane of nutrition. off with no impact on meat quality when they eventually
fatten. Yearlings can exhibit compensatory growth of up to
Final body composition and marbling are most affected by
an additional 1kg/hd/day, again with no impact on meat
growth during backgrounding and finishing.
quality later in life.
The longer and more severe the restriction the less likely
the animal will compensate fully and be at the same
weight for age as cattle that were not restricted (see figure More information
2). To read the full research paper on the Consequences of
Figure 2: The comparative growth of two animals, one reared on nutrition and growth retardation early in life for growth and
a high plane of nutrition throughout ( ____ ), the other composition of cattle and eating quality of beef see
transferred from a high plane to a low plane and then returned to http://www.livestocklibrary.com.au/bitstream/handle/1234/
a high plane ( ---), demonstrating differences in the time at which 20038/19Greenwood.pdf?sequence=1.
maturity is reached. (Source C.J.C. Phillips, 2010).
Or contact North Coast Local Land Services on 1300 795
299.
© State of New South Wales through Local Land Services 2014. The
information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and
understanding at the time of writing April 2014. However, because of
advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that
the information upon which they rely is up to date and to check the
currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Local Land
Services or the user’s independent adviser. [NCFS14-003v2]
For updates go to www.lls.nsw.gov.au
Local Land Services, April, 2014 2
