Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #133966
Title: BREED COMPARISONS OF ANGUS, BRAHMAN, HEREFORD, PINZGAUER, SAHIWAL AND TARENTAISE FOR WEIGHT, WEIGHT ADJUSTED FOR BODY CONDITION SCORE, HEIGHT AND BODY CONDITION SCORE

Author
item ARANGO, JESUS - UNIV. OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN
item Cundiff, Larry
item Van Vleck, Lloyd

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/24/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: Arango, J.A., Cundiff, L.V., Van Vleck, L.D. 2002. Breed comparisons of Angus, Brahman, Hereford, Pinzgauer, Sahiwal and Tarentaise for weight, weight adjusted for body condition score, height and body condition score. Journal of Animal Science. 80:3142-3149.

Interpretive Summary: Data from topcross cows (N = 468) from 6 breeds of sire and two breeds of dam (Angus and Hereford) of Cycle III of the Germplasm Evaluation Program (GPE) at the US Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) comprising cow weight (CW, n = 9,012), height (CH, n = 9,010) and condition score (CS, n = 8,991) recorded in four seasons per year when cows ranged from 2 to 6 yr of age were used to estimate breed-group differences. Estimates of breed differences can be used to characterize genetic resources for economic traits in beef cattle. Analyses found significant differences between HA reciprocal crosses and F1 crosses with Brahman, Pinzgauer, Sahiwal and Tarentaise sires for weight, height and condition score of cows. Crossbred cows with Brahman sires had the greatest weight and height at all ages, which may, in part, be due to greater heterosis in crosses of Bos taurus breeds with Bos indicus breeds than crosses between Bos taurus breeds for those traits. That advantage of crosses with Zebu cattle could be exploited under particular environment and production systems, and within a breeding program to improve productivity of beef production. Important changes for mature size of cows can be achieved by breed substitution with the breeds of sires used in this study.

Technical Abstract: Data from topcross cows (N = 468) from 6 breeds of sire and two breeds of dam (Angus and Hereford) of Cycle III of the Germplasm Evaluation Program (GPE) at the US Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) comprising cow weight (CW, n = 9,012), height (CH, n = 9,010) and condition score (CS, n = 8,991) recorded in four seasons per year when cows ranged from 2 to 6 yr of age were used to estimate breed-group differences. The mixed models included cow age, season of measurement and their interactions, year of birth, pregnancy-lactation code (PL) and breed-group as fixed effects for CW and CS. Analyses of weight adjusted for condition score included CS as a covariate. Model for CH excluded PL. Random effects were additive genetic and permanent environmental effects. Differences among breed-groups were significant for all traits for different ages and were maintained across ages, with few interchanges in ranking through maturity. Cows with Sahiwal sires were lightest (392 to 479 kg), while Hereford-Angus (HA) reciprocal-cross cows were shortest (119 to 123 cm) at each age. Cows with Brahman sires were heaviest and tallest among breed groups at all ages, exceeding HA cows 19 to 24 kg and 9 to 10 cm, respectively. Cows with Pinzgauer and Tarentaise sires were intermediate for weight and height and interchanged ranking across ages. Differences in weight due to differences in condition seemed to be of small magnitude because the adjustment for condition score did not affect the rankings of breed groups across ages. Important changes for mature size of cows can be achieved by breed substitution with the breeds of sires used in this study.