Body Development, Growth Performance, Ingestive Behavior, and Physiological Responses of Nelore and Crossbred Calves

The objective of this study was to evaluate body development, growth performance, ingestive behavior, and physiological responses of Nelore and crossbred calves during the cow‐calf phase. Thirty beef calves were divided into four groups according to their genotype: Nelore (NE; eight animals), Nelore × Senepol (NS; eight animals), Nelore × Montana (NM; six animals), and Tricross (TC; eight animals; ¼ Nelore × ¼ Senepol × ½ Angus and ¼ Nelore × ¼ Montana × ½ Angus). NE calves exhibited greater body height than those of the other genetic groups ( P < 0.05), which, in turn, did not differ from one another. Regarding average daily gain, NE animals had lower values than those observed in the other genetic groups ( P < 0.05). The TC calves spent less time grazing than the calves in the other genetic groups ( P < 0.01), which did not differ from each other. Regarding skin color, L * values were lower in NE calves than in NS and NM calves ( P = 0.04). Crossbreeding of Nelore with taurine breeds shows potential to improve productivity while maintaining adaptability during the preweaning phase.