The aim of this study was to providefarmers an efficient tool for supporting optimal decisionsin the beef heifer rearing process. The complexityof beef heifer management prompted the developmentof a model including decisions on the feeding level duringprepuberty (age <10 mo), the time of weaning (age,BW, calendar month), the feeding level during the reproductiveperiod (age ≥10 mo), and time of breeding (age,BW, and calendar month). The model was formulatedas 3-level hierarchic Markov process. A founder levelof the model has 12 states resembling all possible birthmonths of a heifer. Based on the birth month informationfrom the founder level, for the indoor season (Novemberto April) and outdoor season (May to October), feedingand breeding costs (natural service cost in the outdoorand AI cost in the indoor season) were applied. Theoptimal rearing strategy was found by maximizing thetotal discounted net revenues from the predicted futureproductivity of the Polish Limousine heifers defined asthe cumulative BW of calves born from a cow calveduntil the age of 5 yr, standardized on the 210th day ofage. According to the modeled optimal policy,
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