scholarly journals CALVING AND PREWEANING PERFORMANCE OF CROSSBRED PROGENY OF SOME FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BEEF CATTLE BREEDS

1985 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. NEWMAN ◽  
A. K. W. TONG ◽  
H. T. FREDEEN ◽  
G. W. RAHNEFELD

Charolais-, Simmental- and Limousin-sired calves are compared for calving traits and preweaning growth based on observations of 3939 calves born in 48 western Canadian beef cow herds of Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn breeding during the period 1970–1972. Hereford cows produced calves with longer gestation lengths, higher birth weights, slower preweaning growth, and lower weaning weights than Angus cows. Shorthorn cows produced progeny with the shortest gestation lengths and intermediate performance in other traits. Limousin sires produced calves with the longest gestation lengths, the least calving difficulty, the lightest birth weights, the lowest birth-to-weaning mortality, and the slowest preweaning growth. Charolais-sired and Simmental-sired calves did not differ significantly in gestation length, postnatal mortality or preweaning growth rate, but Simmental-sired calves were lighter at birth and calved more easily. Breed-of-sire effects interacted with breed-of-dam effects for birth weight and with sex-of-calf effects for calving ease and most measurement traits, but these interactions did not generally involve a re-ranking of sire breeds. The economic impact of the results is briefly discussed. Key words: Beef cattle, breed effects, preweaning traits

1982 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. T. FREDEEN ◽  
G. M. WEISS ◽  
J. A. NEWMAN ◽  
G. W. RAHNEFELD ◽  
J. E. LAWSON

Calving ease and calf mortality were studied for 4034 calves produced in second and later parities at two locations, Brandon and Manyberries, by contemporary populations of first-cross dams mated to four terminal sire breeds, Charolais (C), Chianina (Chi), Limousin (L) and Simmental (S). The dams represented 10 F1 crosses, the Hereford × Angus (HA) and nine crosses produced by mating C, L and S Bulls with Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn cows. Calving difficulty and mortality were higher among males (P < 0.0001) than females. Calving ease was not influenced by location, but postnatal mortality, particularly of males, was substantially less at Brandon (P < 0.0001). Differences in calving ease among terminal sire progeny groups were not significant when the four breeds were mated to HA dams, but all paired or three-way comparisons involving the Limousin indicated the highest proportion of unassisted births (P < 0.0001) and the lowest incidence of difficult births (P < 0.006) for this sire breed. Terminal sire differences in postnatal mortality were not present among progeny from the HA dams, nor were they observed in the paired comparisons involving progeny of the Chi vs. those of the other three terminal sire breeds. For this trait, however, the paired comparisons among progeny from C, S and L sires indicated a ranking of C > S > L (P < 0.04). Breed of dam's dam (Hereford, Angus, Shorthorn) had no influence of calving ease or mortality, but breed of dam's sire (C, L, S) was important with progeny from L-sired dams having the highest incidence of unassisted births (P < 0.01) and the highest incidence of postnatal mortality (P < 0.06). The proportion of unassisted births increased as the experiment progressed (P < 0.001) and may have been associated with advancing age of the dams. There was, however, a large location × year interaction for this trait (P < 0.002) with Manyberries recording substantially greater calving difficulty than Brandon during the first 3 yr. Interactions involving calf sex, year of birth, breed of terminal sire and location were identified for calving ease. Calf mortality generally increased with increasing calving difficulty but the relationship between calving ease and mortality was influenced by the degree of precalving environmental stress on the dam. Key words: Beef cattle, crossbreeding, calving ease, mortality


1998 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Amer ◽  
R. Crump ◽  
G. Simm

AbstractA selection index which incorporates estimated breeding values of traits recorded in the United Kingdom pedigree beef cattle breeds is described. The breeding objective is made up of commercial carcass, calving difficulty and gestation length traits. Economic values for these breeding objective traits are summarized from related studies, while partial genetic regression estimates of breeding objective traits on recorded traits are derived mainly from the literature.The selection index is described in terms of the reduction in expected genetic response from selection on the index when individual recorded traits are omitted and the expected genetic responses in breeding objective traits with selection on the index under the assumption of mass selection. Failure to record all calving traits (birth weight, calving difficulty and gestation length) resulted in a reduction in expected economic response to selection of 8% from the situation where both calving traits and production traits (400-day weight, ultrasonic fat and muscle depths, and muscling score) are recorded. With a few stated exceptions, the index is relatively robust to errors in estimates of individual parameters.It is suggested that the total index be used to assist commercial bull and semen buyers in their selection decisions but that two sub-indices for calving and production traits also be published to allow buyers to adjust emphasis on the two groups of traits depending on their individual production circumstances.


2004 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Phocast ◽  
J. Sapa

AbstractThere is considerable concern about the consequences on fitness-related traits of using narrow breeding objectives for production traits. The aim of this study was to assess the potential consequences of selection for growth in French beef cattle breeds by estimating genetic correlations between growth, reproduction, calving and suckling traits of Charolais, Limousin and Blonde d’Aquitaine heifers. Data consisted of the records collected from 1985 to 2002 in progeny test stations that were used in the genetic evaluation of 284 Charolais, 125 Limousin and 118 Blonde d’Aquitaine AI sires. Seven traits were considered simultaneously in the analysis: weights at 18 months and after calving (for measuring heifer growth), sexual precocity and fertility (for measuring heifer reproductive performance), calving difficulty score and pelvic opening (for measuring calving ease) and milk yield (for measuring the suckling ability of the primiparous cow). REML (co)variance estimates were derived using linear multitrait sire models. Estimates of heritability were in the range of values given in the literature. They were very similar in the Charolais and Blonde d’Aquitaine breeds, and rather different for reproductive and suckling performance in the Limousin breed. Estimates were about 0·35 for heifer growth traits and about 0·15 for calving difficulty score in the three breeds. In the Charolais and Blonde d’Aquitaine breeds, estimates of heritability were 0·15 for sexual precocity and 0·05 for heifer fertility. These estimates were close to zero in the Limousin breed. Heritabilities of pelvic opening and milk yield were, respectively, 0·2 and 0·6 in the Limousin breed and around 0·3 in the other two breeds. Genetic correlations between traits concerning the same ability (as, for instance, weight at 18 months and weight at calving) were high and, in general, similar among breeds. Genetic correlations between heifer growth, reproductive traits, calving ease and suckling performance were nil or slightly favourable in the three breeds. Consequently, past selection mainly directed towards increasing growth seems not to have adversely affected the efficiency of female reproduction and the maternal abilities of French specialized beef cattle breeds.


ZOOTEC ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 486
Author(s):  
Umar Paputungan ◽  
Manopo Jouke Hendrik ◽  
Surtijono Edmundus Siswosubroto

BODY WEIGHT SELECTION AND EVALUATION OF CALVING DIFFICULTY (Dystocia) IN BALI BREED FEMALE CATTLE MATED WITH OUTSTANDING LOCAL BULL OF NORTH SULAWESI. Records on calving performances of 217 parental dams of Bali beef cattle breed including their calves were used to study calving difficulty of Bali beef cattle breed heifers and cows with experiencing in delivery of more than one generation of calving. The difficulties of calving were scored into calving difficulty scores of six scores, initiated at score 0 indicating normal calving to score 5 indicating the most difficult calving delivery requiring surgery. The parental heifers and adult cows as well as their calves grazed onto places within local grass pasture all days starting at 07.00 a.m. to 17.30 p.m. without supplementary feeds of concentrate as the main management system practiced by 104 farmers as the animal owners at rural areas. Differences of calving difficulties in both Bali beef cattle breed groups of heifers and cows were analyzed by nonparametric test of “The Mann-Whitney U test”, using ranks of data based on the incidence frequencies of calving difficulty scores. Data of calving difficulty scores of both Bali beef cattle breed heifer group and cow group were ranked in to the numerical rank initiated from the lowest to largest numerical order. The calculated z value in this study indicating the incidence frequencies of calving difficulty in heifer group was significantly higher than those in cow group. Frequencies of calving difficulty on the category score basis in Bali beef cattle breed heifer group were significantly higher compared with those in Bali beef cattle breed cow group. Low live weights and body dimensions of heifer group highly tended to experience in the incidence and severity of calving difficulty compared with those of cow group. Selection of heifers with relatively well developed body dimensions and live weight relative to expected calf birth weight would be recommended to reduce calving difficulty.Keywords: Bali beef cattle breed, dam and calf body measurements, calving difficulty


2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 927 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Jeyaruban ◽  
D. J. Johnston ◽  
B. Tier ◽  
H.-U. Graser

Data on Angus (ANG), Charolais (CHA), Hereford (HER), Limousin (LIM) and Simmental (SIM) cattle were used to estimate genetic parameters for calving difficulty (CD), birthweight (BWT) and gestation length (GL) using threshold-linear models and to examine the effect of inclusion of random effect of sire × herd interaction (SxH) in the models. For models without SxH, estimated heritabilities for direct genetic effect of CD were 0.24 (±0.02), 0.22 (±0.04), 0.31 (±0.02), 0.22 (±0.04) and 0.17 (±0.01) for ANG, CHA, HER, LIM and SIM, respectively, whereas maternal heritabilities ranged from 0.13 to 0.20. Estimated heritabilities for direct genetic effect of BWT were 0.38 (±0.01), 0.37 (±0.03), 0.46 (±0.01), 0.35 (±0.02) and 0.36 (±0.01) for ANG, CHR, HER, LIM and SIM, respectively, whereas maternal heritabilities ranged from 0.08 to 0.11. Estimated heritabilities for direct genetic effect of GL were 0.59 (±0.02), 0.42 (±0.04), 0.50 (±0.03), 0.45 (±0.04) and 0.42 (±0.03) for ANG, CHR, HER, LIM and SIM, respectively, whereas maternal heritabilities ranged from 0.03 to 0.09. Genetic correlations between direct genetic effects of CD with BWT were highly positive and with GL were moderately positive for all five breeds. Estimated genetic correlations between direct genetic effects and maternal genetic effects (rdm) ranged across the five breeds from –0.40 (±0.05) to –0.16 (±0.02), –0.41 (±0.03) to –0.27 (±0.08) and –0.47 (±0.10) to –0.06 (±0.12) for BWT, GL and CD, respectively. Fitting SxH interaction as additional random effect significantly increased the log-likelihood for analyses of BWT, GL and CD of all breeds, except for GL of CHA. The estimated heritabilities were less than or equal to the estimates obtained with models omitting SxH. The rdm increased (i.e. became less negative) for BWT, GL and CD of all five breeds. However, the increase for GL was not substantially high in comparison to the increase observed for BWT and CD. Genetic parameters obtained for BWT, GL and CD, by fitting SxH as an additional random effect, are more appropriate to use in the genetic evaluation of calving ease in BREEDPLAN.


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
I. Serrano ◽  
M. Mayer ◽  
A. Rodero ◽  
J. M. Jimenez

SUMMARYThe degree of inbreeding was studied for a subpopulation of the beef cattle breed Retintofrom the Cadiz Province in Andalusia (Spain). The pedigree information from 492 female and 25 male breeding animals was analyzed. On the basis of the available information, only the current inbreeding, that is the inbreeding with consideration of three ancestral generations, could be calculated. While close inbreeding is purposely avoided with the bulls, it is of great importance in cows. The average coefficient of inbreeding for cows born inthe years 1982 to 1987 was o 2.35 /;o, although in the great-grandparent generation only 55% of the ancestors were known. Inbreeding was discovered in 17.7% of the cows; 5.8%of the cows had an inbreeding coefficient of 25%. The rate of inbreeding per generation is very high in comparison with other beef cattle breeds and above all in comparison with dual purpose cattle. Because of the manner in which the bulls are used, also considerablenon-current inbreeding has to be expected.


2009 ◽  
Vol 122 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 143-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaarina Matilainen ◽  
Raphael Mrode ◽  
Ismo Strandén ◽  
Robin Thompson ◽  
Esa A. Mäntysaari

2000 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jes�s Piedrafita ◽  
Jos� Luis Ruiz de la Torre ◽  
Raquel Quintanilla ◽  
Xavier Manteca

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 489-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Goyache ◽  
J. P. Gutierrez

Abstract. Heritability was estimated for four reproductive traits in the Asturiana de los Valles breed in order to evaluate the possibility of include this information in the breed's current improvement program. The estimations were done using an animal model except for calving ease score. For this last trait, a threshold model under a sire model was fitted, with the sire effect as the only random effect in the model besides the residual. Estimated heritabilities for calving interval age at first calving, gestation length, as dam traits, and calving ease were 0.12, 0.27, 0.15 and 0.42, respectively. The estimated heritability for calving interval and age at first calving could justify a sire selection program in the Asturiana de los Valles breed taking account their female offsprings' reproductive characteristics. Heritability estimates for gestation length and calving ease suggested a close genetic relationship of these two traits and birth weight. Further research is needed to estimate the genetic (co)variances between these three traits to allow the use of this information in a breed improvement program to reduce dystocia without affecting preweaning growth traits.


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