BEEF COWS BODY CONDITION SCORING AND ITS MEASUREMENTS RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

The purpose of the study is improving the efficiency of breeding work in selection of cows by live weight, body measurements with mandatory consideration of animal condition score. The degree and nature of relationship be-tween live weight and body measurements of beef cows with condition score, regression coefficient were calculat-ed. The research was carried out on beef Hereford and Kazakh white-headed cows. A high positive relationship between live weight, body measurements and the condition score of cows was established. The regression coeffi-cient showed that change in finish by 1 point increases the live weight of Hereford cows of the first group by 46.3 kg, the second – by 44.2 kg, and the third – by 42.1 kg. The cows of the second group have the largest bulk, they signif-icantly exceeded the Hereford and Kazakh white-headed cows of the first and third groups by this indicator. The difference was 51.2 and 45.9 kg, respectively, the coefficients of variability – varied between 4.1 to 9.2%. Hereford Cows of the second group were superior in heart girth (with a difference of 4 cm) to cows of the first group and 10.6 cm to cows of the third group. The coefficients of variability ranged within 12.9 to 27.0 %. In terms to heart girth (by 1.05 and 0.95 cm) and chest depth (by 8.9 and 2.9 cm), the cows of the second group were superior to the cows of the first and the third groups, respectively (the difference is not reliable). The variation coefficients ranged within 10.3 to 15.7% for heart girth and from 13.0 to 16.7% for chest depth.