**2.2 Feeding of young animals**

*Animal Reproduction in Veterinary Medicine*

breeds or those belonging to other species, necessaries for livestock's handling, with an annual replacement rate of 12% [10]. However, after the economic crisis of 2008, most livestock farms have decreased the number of heads. Nevertheless, the livestock internal distribution remains stable. For a Lidia cattle farm of 100 mother cows, the ideal average internal scheme, considering the different types of animals

*Internal distribution of a standard Lidia farm considering the different types of animals classified by sex and* 

The standard farm has a number of hectares ranging from 586 to 721, of which

Today, the farming system of the Lidia breed continues to be, mainly, an extensive management system that has gradually adapted to new grazing techniques and food supplementation in times of natural grass decline, such as winter and summer, in dry climates [13]. The extension of the farms is still remarkable, but of much less spacious than that of several decades ago and in terms of quality, the brave cattle have been relegated to less productive and more stepped mountain farms in favor of agriculture or other more profitable species, such as the Iberian pig in Spain and Portugal [7]. In Mexico, most farms are located in the central part of the country, with a dry climate similar to Spain, carrying out similar feeding management. On the other hand, Lidia cattle in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru are in territories with a tropical climate, whose diet is based on natural grass with a concentrated supplementation during the last stage of preparing the males for the show [14].

The Lidia cow is a very rustic animal, of few requirements, since its small size also dictated its nutritional needs. Even so, adequate feeding is essential to obtain a good fertility rate, avoiding abortions and perinatal mortality, and, after a good lactation, wean the calf in an optimal state [7, 15]. Currently, the use of natural resources is maximized, preferably by grazing and the supplementation of hay or silage, and if necessary, concentrated food is used at a rate of 2–4 kg/day, depending

classified by sex and age, could be the one presented in **Table 1** [11].

Sires 3 Cows 100 Calf male <1 year 40 Males 1–2 years 38 Males 2–3 years 36 Males 3–4 years 35 Bulls 4–6 years 34 Calf female <1 year 40 Heifers 1–2 years 36 Heifers 2–3 years 20 Halters 12

92% of the land is used as pastures [12].

on the richness of the grass and forage [16, 17].

**2. Feed management**

**Table 1.**

*age [11].*

**2.1 Cow feeding**

**112**

During the first 3–4 months, calves are fed exclusively with cow's milk and develop optimal growth, as long as it comes from a well-fed cow that produces milk of adequate quality and quantity.

After weaning, and when the animals are between 9 and 10 months old, they are usually supplemented in times of shortage of grass with rations whose fundamental components are fibrous products (beet and citrus pulps, dehydrated or henified alfalfa, and cereal straw), industrial by-products (gluten-feed, wheat bran, soy cake, and beet molasses), and common products in the composition of concentrates of other types of farm animals (corn, barley, wheat, and sunflower meal).

Galvanized iron feeders are frequently used, 5 m long by 40 cm wide approximately, which allow to guarantee half a meter of free space per animal, avoiding hierarchy problems, present in any group of this breed, which could result in some type of undernourishment particularly important in this stage of development. Likewise, several water points distributed along the fenced space must be installed, arranged around the feeder area, to favor the movement of animals across different areas and to avoid their concentration in one point.

When the animals are around 23 months of age, they are slowly provided, during 4 weeks of adaptation, an increasing proportion of the ration designed for adult animals of 3 and 4 years, in order to adapt them to the finishing feeding diet composition.

Livestock facilities used for these animals have similar characteristics to the ones described for young animals, although in case of using individual feeders, the number of feeders is usually 10% greater than the number of animals to be fed [18]. Also, the different water points are often installed at a greater separation distance from the feeders (at least 500 m), to facilitate a better distribution throughout the land surface. As in previous phases, a supplementation is necessary, which as an example could be based on the addition of 0.5 kg of alfalfa hay to the total supplementation established in the previous phase, thus leaving 2.5 kg of alfalfa hay added to 0.5 kg of concentrate per animal per day [15].
