Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
Previous results have shown that during late gestation even under conditions of live weight (LW) gain, maternal body protein can be in negative balance due to the highly demanding gravid uterus and udder. It has also been claimed that current feeding standards underpredict dry cow nitrogen (N) requirement. Considering that it is not possible to measure maternal body N status independently of the requirements of the conceptus and the udder, estimation of conceptus and udder N requirements by mathematical models can help to predict maternal N requirement. The aim of this study was to assess cow N requirement during late gestation by predicting maternal N balance through a mathematical model. Previous results related with this study were presented in Jaurena et al, (2001).