The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effects of calving order (CO) and body condition score (BCS), scale 1(thin) to 5 (fat), on reproductive performance of 468 Nellore cows (391 multiparous and 77 primiparous) grazing Brachiaria decumbens Stapf at Brazilian Central West (Cerrados region) during four breeding seasons (from 11/1 to 1/31 of the following year). Calving order quadratically affected pregnancy rate (PR) in this trial; PR of CO1 cows was 69% while that of cows from CO5 to CO8 was 90% followed by a gradual decline until 80% PR in C012 cows. Body condition score at weaning also affected PR. For instance, CO1 cows with BCS of 2.0 and 3.5 had 52.7 and 82.5% of PR, respectively. Cows from CO4 to CO8 and BCS of 3.5 showed 96% of PR. CO1 cows that calved late in the season had 37.7% of PR but independent of CO, cows that calved earlier in the calving season had PR greater than 80%. CO1 cows calved 350.12 days after the start of the mating season while multiparous cows calved earlier (328.32 days). CO1 had the longest calving interval (CI) averaging 392.10 days whereas that from CO5 to CO9 cows averaged 365 days. Calving interval was affected by year, CO, number of days spent to calve in the calving season, and body weight change in the mating season. In addition, cows body weight (BWW) and BC at weaning (BCW) were both affected by CO and year. Body weight of calves at weaning increased from CO1 to CO4/CO5 averaging 159 kg for calves from CO1 cows and 169 kg when all CO levels were included. High production and reproductive performance are obtained from CO3 to CO8 and BCS above 3.0 and 3.5 for multiparous and primiparous Nellore cows, respectively.
body condition; calving interval; calving order; body weight at weaning; pregnancy rate
