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The Interrelations of Type, Performance, and Carcass Characteristics

New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station

Abstract

All is not known on this subject. There is much yet to be learned. Some things reported in this paper need verification by other workers and under other conditions. There are a number of places where we can find general agreement. One is that breeding for short legs and short bodies limits the size of the cattle. When carried to the extreme small cattle will result. Type as it is considered here does not effect the efficiency of energy conversion either in the feed lot or on the range. Compactness of form does not result in the early maturity and increased carcass excellence frequently credited to it. Some compact cattle possess these traits but they are found as often in cattle with more scale. The only advantage which has been established for the compact type is the ability to fatten at lighter weights.

Large type cattle have distinct advantages. Numerous costs of cattle production are fixed per head regardless of size and become less when spread over the greater production of large cattle. Taxes, veterinary charges, and bull service are a few of these. Beef may be produced more cheaply by rapid growing cattle which reach the desired weight at younger ages when less feed is required per unit of gain. Such cattle seem most likely to produce the kind of beef in demand at this time. Although the results require verification, the thing of most interest to us is the possibility of obtaining more productive breeding cattle which are better suited to their environment by selecting young animals with greater weight for age in that environment.