Records on 41,403 calves from 324 contemporary groups were studied to determine the effect of a calf\u27s breed background on its weaning weight. Calves with the heaviest weaning weights were crossbred, typically sired by Continental breed bulls and out of crossbred dams

Brown, M. A.

Dinkel, C. A.

MacNeil, M. D.

English

Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange

South Dakota State UniversityOpen PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access InstitutionalRepository and Information ExchangeSouth Dakota Cow-Calf Field Day Proceedings,1978 Animal Science Reports1978Evlauation of Breeds and Breed Crosses for theProduction of Weaning Weight in South DakotaM. D. MacNeilSouth Dakota State UniversityM. A. BrownC. A. DinkelFollow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/sd_cow-calf_1978This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Reports at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access InstitutionalRepository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in South Dakota Cow-Calf Field Day Proceedings, 1978 by an authorizedadministrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, pleasecontact michael.biondo@sdstate.edu.Recommended CitationMacNeil, M. D.; Brown, M. A.; and Dinkel, C. A., "Evlauation of Breeds and Breed Crosses for the Production of Weaning Weight inSouth Dakota" (1978). South Dakota Cow-Calf Field Day Proceedings, 1978. Paper 6.http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/sd_cow-calf_1978/6COW-CALF DAY EVALUATION OF BREEDS AND BREED CROSSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF WEANING WEIGHT IN SOUTH DAKOTA M.D. MacNeil, M.A. Brown and C.A. Dinkel Dept. of Animal Science South Dakota State University Experiment Station A.S. Series 78-20 Summary Records on 41,403 calves from 324 contemporary groups were studied to determine the effect of a calf's breed background on its weaning weight. Calves with the heaviest weaning weights were crossbred, typically sired by Continental breed bulls and out of crossbred dams. Introduction Total pounds of weaned calf represent the salable product of the cow­calf operator. The weaning weight of each calf together with fertility of the breeding herd and livability of the calves determine the total pounds weaned. Thus, weaning weight should be considered as a part of the decision­making process. The objective of this study was to evaluate average weaning weight of different calf breed groups from the records of their performance on South Dakota farms and ranches. Experimental Procedure Weaning weight records for the years 1970 to 1976 were furnished courtesy of the South Dakota Livestock Production Records Association, Inc. Calves born in the same year, on the same ranch and exposed to the same creep feeding management were considered a contemporary group. All sire and dam breed groups were required to have been present in at least three contemporary groups. Those contemporary groups not having crossbred calves and at least two sire or dam breed groups represented by 15 or more calves each were deleted. After imposing these restrictions, 6 straightbred and 73 crossbred calf breed groups remained. The actual calf weaning weights were adjusted to 205 days of age. Averages for each breed group were calculated by a method which is.not affected by unequal representation of calves of different sex, from dams of different ages and in differing environmental circumstances. Results and Discussion Table 1 contains the numbers of calves in each breed group, the differ­ence between the overall average and the calf breed group average, a possible 1 The authors wish to express their appreciation to B. W. Knapp and the U. S. Meat Animal Research Center for their assistance in analysis of data. 39 - 2 -change value and the calf breed group weaning weight ratio. Possible change reflects the confidence placed in the breed group deviation as a predictor of future samples of the breed group. Both the number of calves and uniformity of weight of calves in each breed group influence the possible change value. Breed groups represented by larger numbers of calves will have smaller possible change values as compared to breed groups with fewer calves. Results comparing two breed cross calves with their straightbred counterparts indicate a 36-pound advantage for the crossbred calves due to individual heterosis. Maternal heterosis was nearly as important, with calves out of Angus x Hereford and Hereford x Angus cows averaging 32 pounds heavier than calves out of straightbred Angus and Hereford cows. Maine Anjou sired calves were heaviest at weaning ( table 2). Tarentaise, Charolais, Simmental and Chianina sired calves were next heaviest and similar to each other. Sinunental x Angus and Simmental x Hereford sired calves were followed by Limousin sired calves. Slightly below average and similar to each other were calves by Gelbvieh, Hereford x Angus, Shorthorn, Angus, Angus x Hereford and Red Angus sired calves. Next were calves by Hereford sires and lightest at weaning were Polled Hereford sired calves. Simmental x Hereford females weaned the heaviest calves followed in order by Charolais and Charolais x Hereford cows ( table 3). Similar to each other and intermediate were calves out of Red Angus, Angus x Hereford, Hereford x Angus and Shorthorn dams, while lightest at weaning were calves out of Angus, Hereford and Polled Hereford dams. If the ten heaviest sets of calves are compared with the ten lightest, a difference of 162 pounds is observed. Nine of the ten heaviest sets of calves were by Continental breed sires. In contrast, nine of the ten lightest sets of calves �ere by British breed sires. On the dam side, seven of the heaviest sets of calves were out of crossbred cows, while seven of the lightest sets of calves were out of straightbred cows. Finally, all of the ten heaviest sets of calves were crossbred, but three of the six sets of straightbred calves were among the ten lightest. Although the information in this summary gives an indication of the relative performance of various calf breed groups for weaning weight, cattlemen should consider several additional factors in deciding on breeds to use. Among those which the authors think important are breed differences in availability, fertility, livability, postweaning growth potential, carcass merit, efficiency and adaptability to local conditions. University personnel will be happy to cooperate with producers in evaluating data for any factors that are important to the decision-making process. 40 - 3 -Table 1. Deviation of Calf Breed Group Average Weaning Weight from the Average of All Calves and Associated Possible Change and Ratio Breed group Devia- Possible Sire Dam No. ti on change a Ratiob Angus ( A) Angus S643 -3 2 99.3 A x H 804 +IS 4 103.S Charolais 34 +10 18 102.4 Hereford 4414 -17 2 96.0 H x A 324 -36 6 91.S Shorthorn 67 -20 13 9S.3 A x H A x  H 117S -12 3 97.2 Charolais 16 +63 26 114.9 Hereford 120 -10 9 97.6 Charolais ( C) Angus 761 +31 4 107.3 A x H 373 +66 s llS.6 Charolais 747 +70 4 116.6 C x H 427 +S8 s 113.7 Hereford 619 +28 4 106.6 H x A 112 +81 10 119.2 Shorthorn 40 +62 16 114.7 Chianina Angus 88 +28 11 106.6 C x H 16 +97 26 122.9 Hereford S7 +36 14 108.S H x A  9 +SO 34 111.8 Gelbvieh Angus 216 -S9 s 86. 1 A x  H 6 6  +so 13 111.8 Charolais 30 +9S 19 122.S C x H 21 +119 22 128.l Hereford S22 -11 s 97.4 H x A 8 +3S 36 108.3 Red Angus 171 -2 8 99.S Hereford ( H) Angus 903 +8 4 101. 9 A x  H 441 +4 s 101.0 C x H 33 -43 18 89.8 Hereford 13788 -31 1 92.7 H x A  S3 +2 14 100.S Polled Hereford 22 -113 22 73.3 Shorthorn 33 +34 18 108.0 S x H so +83 lS 119.6 H x A Angus 18 +21 24 lOS.0 Hereford lS -S6 27 86.8 H x A Sll -s s 98.8 41 - 4 -Table 1 Continued Breed grouE De via- Possible Sire Dam No. tion change a Ratiob Limousin Angus 305 +29 6 106. 9 Ax H 78 +17 12 104. 0 Hereford 583 +4 4 101. 0 H x A 147 +36 9 108. 5 Shorthorn 25 +33 21 107. 8 Maine Anjou Angus 59 +143 13 133. 8 Ax H 19 +99 24 123. 4 Hereford 55 +44 14 110. 4 H x A 37 -13 17 96. 9 Polled Hereford Angus 144 -6 9 98. 6 Hereford 86 -15 11 96. 5 Polled Hereford 167 -61 8 85. 6 Red Angus Angus 75 -38 12 91. 0 Ax H 38 -29 17 93. 1 Charolais 34 +7 18 101. 7 Hereford 1579 -16 3 96. 2 Red Angus 832 +24 4 105. 7 Shorthorn 16 -8 26 98 . 1  Shorthorn Angus 103 +22 10 105. 2 Hereford 219 -9 7 97. 9 HxA 12 -20 30 95. 3 Shorthorn 23 -69 21 83. 7 Simmental (S) Angus 563 +53 4 112. 5 Ax H 255 +53 7 112. 5 Charolais 18 +129 24 130. 5 C x H 19 +112 24 126. 5 Hereford 1648 +30 3 107. 1 H x A 232 +70 7 116. 6 Polled Hereford 25 +61 21 114. 4 Red Angus 25 +75 21 117. 7 Shorthorn 16 +70 26 116. 6 S x H 364 +133 6 131. 3 S x A Ax H 129 +14 6 103. 3 Hereford 69 +57 12 113. 5 S x H Angus 92 +17 11 104. 0 Hereford 180 -10 6 97. 6 S x H 201 +6Lf 7 115 . 1  42 Sire Tarentaise Breed group Dam Angus A x  H Hereford H x A - 5 -Table 1 Continued No. 61 33 36 21 Devia- Possible tion change a Ratiob +57 13 113. 5 +62 18 114. 7 +65 17 115. 4 +26 22 106. 2 a In 99 cases out of 100, the deviation from the average would be expected to change by less than the possible change value when a large number of contemporary groups are considered. b The ratio is the breed group average weaning weight divided by the average weaning weight of all breed groups and then multiplied by 100. Table 2. Deviation of Sire Breed Group Average Weaning Weight from the Average of All Calves and the Associated Possible Change and Ratio Devi a- Possible Sire breed No. tion changea Ratiob Maine Anjou 170 +94 8 122. 2 Tarentaise 151 +55 8 113. 0 Charolais 3079 +52 ,., 112. 2 L Simmental ( S) 3175 +49 2 111. 5 Chianina 170 +44 8 110. 4 S x A 198 +34 5 108. 0 S x H 473 +28 5 106. 6 Limousin 1138 +16 3 103. 7 Gelbvieh 1034 -3 3 99. 3 H x A 544 -5 4 98. 8 Shorthorn 357 -5 5 98. 8 Angus ( A) 11286 -8 1 98. 1 A x  H 1311 -8 3 98. 1 Red Angus 2574 -9 2 97. 8 Hereford ( H) 15323 -25 1 94. 1 Polled Hereford 397 -34 5 91. 9 Groupe 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 a In 99 cases out of 100, the deviation from the average would be expected to change by less than the possible change value when a large number of contemporary groups are considered. b The ratio is the breed group average weaning weight divided by the average weaning weight of all breed groups and then multiplied by 100. c Differences in sire breeds and crosses within a group cannot be considered repeatable based on the available information. 43 - 6 -Table 3. Deviation of Dam Breed Group Average Weaning Weight from the Average of All Calves and the Associated Possible Change and Ratio Devia- Possible Dam breed No. ti on change a Ratiob Simmental x H 615 +90 4 121. 2 Charolais (C) 879 +6 8 3 116.0 C x H 5 16 +5 8 5 113. 7 Red Angus 1028 +21 3 104.9 A x  H 3411 +18 2 104.2 H x A 1466 +14 3 103.3 Shorthorn 220 +13 7 103.0 Angus (A) 9031 +8 1 101. 8 Hereford (H) 23990 -17 1 95.9 Polled Hereford 214 -66 7 84.4 Groupe 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 6 a In 99 cases out of 100, the deviation from the average would be expected to change by less than the possible change value when a large number of contemporary groups are considered. b The ratio is the breed group average weaning weight divided by the average weaning weight of all breed groups and then multiplied by 100. c Differences in sire breeds and crosses within a group cannot be considered repeatable based on the available information. 44 

Evlauation of Breeds and Breed Crosses for the Production of Weaning Weight in South Dakota

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Evlauation of Breeds and Breed Crosses for the Production of Weaning Weight in South Dakota

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