Measurement of pregnancy rate and foetal loss, and their associations with management practices on reproductive performance of smallholder beef cattle heifers in South Africa

Understanding reproductive performance of replacement heifers is pivotal for sustainable and profitable farming in any cattle production system. The study assessed reproductive performance of smallholder beef cattle heifers focusing on pregnancy rate (PR); and fetal and calf loss (FCL). Additionally, it investigated herd management factors that influence these traits. A total of 538 heifer records were collected from 40 herds representing five provinces between 2018 and 2019. A secondary application of established seasonal pregnancy diagnosis methods was used to measure PR and FCL. Management factors including body condition score (BCS), age at first mating and calving, breed type, heifer selection, record-keeping, frame size, breeding and calving season were recorded. The Kaplan-Meier method analysed reproductive outcomes, while the Cox proportional hazards model assessed management factors influencing PR and FCL. Results indicated an average of 47% PR and 11% FCL with achievable levels of 60% PR and 0.9% FCL. Majority of heifers conceived between ages four and five years. At three years, 96.19% of heifers had not experienced loss, however, the calf survival probability decreased to 68.17% by five years. The median age for first calving was four, by age five, 72.96% of heifers had calved. The results showed significant effects (P < 0.05) for breed type, breeding season, BCS, frame size and heifer selection on PR and FCL. Optimizing PR and FCL in smallholder heifers may depend on improving management practices including selection practices of heifers prior to breeding, maintaining optimum BCS and breeding during favourable environmental conditions.