BODY MEASUREMENTS OF PUREBRED AND CROSSBRED SHORTHORN BEEF CALVES FROM BIRTH TO ONE YEAR

Abstract

Body measurements were recorded at birth, weaning, and one year of age on Shorthorn calves and on crossbred calves out of Shorthorn cows and Angus, Hereford, or Charolais bulls. A total of 254 calves was studied. There were significant breed-of-sire effects in all traits measured. In wither height, body length, and head length, Charolais-sired calves ranked first, followed by calves out of Hereford bulls. Angus-sired calves did not differ from the Shorthorn ones. In heart girth, body depth, and head width, the Shorthorn calves were consistently inferior to the others, while no uniform difference appeared among the three other breeds of sire. Crossbreeding did not modify the relative body measurements, as evidenced by the highly positive between-breed-sire correlations among the traits.