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Beef Bull Performance and Secondary Sex Characteristics^{1, 2,}

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Abstract

Twenty-five measurements of traits related to development of secondary sex characteristics were recorded from 38 yearling Hereford and Angus bulls tested in two performance tests. Traits included feedlot performance, testis weight, wholesale cut weights, certain carcass measurements and cross-sectional area of muscles in the crest region. Intra-group and partial correlations holding carcass weight constant on a within-test and within-test within-breed basis were calculated among traits. Hereford bulls gained faster, converted feed more efficiently, had a larger neck circumference and a heavier round, but had smaller testes weight and lighter rhomboideus muscle weight than Angus bulls. Faster gaining bulls tended to develop secondary sex characteristics more rapidly. Breed differences in the relationship of feed conversion to secondary sex characteristics were suggested in these data. Bulls with the higher proportions of lean cuts converted feed more efficiently. In addition to the heavier longer carcasses producing the heavier cuts, there was a tendency for more advanced development of secondary sex characteristics to be associated with relatively more weight in the forequarter and chuck.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

² A publication of Southern Regional Beef Cattle Breeding Project, S-10.