Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Lafayette, Indiana
Mimeo AS-291 December 1960 Project #795
DIETHYLSTILBESTROL IMPLANTS FOR SUCKLING BEEF CALVES ON PASTURE
Southern Indiana Forage Farm April 27, i960 to October 6, i960 (162 Days)
R. C. Peterson, W. M. Beeson, M. E. Heath andG.O. Mott Department of Animal Science
During the 1959 grazing season, suckling calves which had been implanted with diethylstilbestrol gained significantly more than did the control calves. Essentially the same experiment was repeated in i960 and is reported in this mimeograph.
Experimental Objectives
1.	To compare the gaining ability of steer and heifer calves which were implanted with diethylstilbestrol with steers and heifers that were not implanted.
2.	To observe the incidence of elevated tail heads and advanced teat and udder development in stilbestrol treated calves.
Experimental Procedure
Twenty-six Hereford steer and 26 Hereford heifer calves were allotted to the four following experimental groups:
1. Thirteen control steers	3» Thirteen control heifers
2. Thirteen implanted steers	4. Thirteen implanted heifers
The implanted calves .received a 12-milligram pellet of diethylstilbestrol on April 27, i960, and 56 days later they were treated with another 12-milligram pellet. The calves’ average age on April 27th was 82 days.
The calves from all four groups were grazed together with their dams throughout the experiment. These cattle were on fescue pasture practically all summer. The calves were not creep fed.
Results and Discussion
1.	The combined steer and heifer calf performance is presented in Table 1.
When the steer and heifer data was pooled, the implanted calves gained 10 more pounds than did the control calves. This difference is not significant.
2.	Table 2 treats the steer and heifer data separately. The implanted steers gained an average of eight pounds more than did the control steers. The implanted heifers gained 13 pounds more than did the controls. These differences are not significant.
3.	The side effects of the hormone treatment are summarized in Table 3*
Summary
1.	Suckling calves implanted with diethylstilbestrol gained more than did the control calves; however, the differences were not significant.
2.	Heifers which were implanted gained as much as the control steers.
3.	A greater percentage of the hormone treated calves displayed higher tail heads than did the control animals.
4.	The implanted heifer calves exhibited more advanced teat and udder development.