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Breed comparisons of Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Jersey, Limousin, Simmental, and South Devon for weight, weight adjusted for body condition score, height, and body condition score of cows^1,2

J. A. Arango^*,3, L. V. Cundiff and L. D. Van Vleck^,,4

^* Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583-0908; and USDA, ARS, Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center , and Clay Center, NE 68933 and and Lincoln, NE 68583-0908

⁴ Correspondence:
A218 Animal Sciences (phone: 402-472-6010; fax: 402-472-6362; E-mail:
dvan-vleck1{at}unl.edu).

	Abstract

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Breed means and differences for weight (CW, n = 19,851), height (CH, n = 14,553), and condition scores (CS, n = 19,536) recorded in four seasons per year were evaluated for 881 cows ranging from 2 to 7 yr of age from Cycle I of the Germplasm Evaluation Program at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. Cows were straightbred Herefords and Angus and topcrosses from mating of Hereford, Angus, South Devon, Jersey, Simmental, Limousin, and Charolais sires to Hereford and Angus dams. The model included cow age, season of measurement, and their interactions, with year of birth, pregnancy-lactation (PL) code, and breed group as fixed effects for CW and CS. Analyses of weight adjusted for condition score included CS as covariate. Model for CH excluded PL. Random effects were additive genetic and permanent environmental effects. Data were analyzed by REML. Differences due to breeds of sire were significant for all traits. Differences were generally maintained across ages, with few interchanges in ranking through maturity. Rankings were in the following order: Jersey (lightest and shortest), Hereford-Angus (and reciprocal), Limousin, South Devon, Simmental, and Charolais (heaviest and tallest). The only exception was that Limousin-sired cows were heavier than South Devon-sired cows after 5 yr of age. Cows sired by breeds of British origin tended to be lighter than breeds of continental European origin. Adjustment for condition score changed estimates of breed differences. Rankings of breed groups, however, were generally the same for actual weight and weight adjusted for condition score. Results indicated that the part of the differences in weight due to differences in condition were of small magnitude. Differences tended to increase when adjusted for condition score, especially in contrasts of continental vs British breeds. Differences among breed groups for height followed differences for weight closely.

Key Words: Beef Cattle • Breed • Growth • Maturity

	Introduction

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Beef production is characterized by many breeds representing a wide range of biological types for economic traits. Effective utilization of breed differences depends on complete characterization of straightbred and diverse crosses for components of performance. Diverse breeds are required to exploit heterosis and complementarity through crossbreeding and to match genetic potential with diverse markets, feed resources, and climates (Cundiff et al., 1993). The objective of testing certain breeds of sire in topcrosses is usually to determine the potential benefit of using exotic breeds for crossing with indigenous or local breeds (Dickerson, 1993). The Germplasm Evaluation program (GPE) at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) was designed to evaluate breeds of sires for topcrossing that differ in genetic potential for diverse economic traits, such as growth and mature size, milk production, lean to fat ratio, and carcass characteristics. This paper reports estimates of breed differences for cow weights, weights adjusted for condition score, heights, and body condition scores of Cycle I cows of the GPE program. Previous reports from MARC have presented ordinary least squares means and breed differences for heifers of Cycle I (Laster et al., 1976). Pooled results have been summarized using partial data from the first three cycles of the GPE Program (Cundiff et al., 1986; 1988; Jenkins et al., 1991; Setshwaelo et al., 1990) or from special experiments involving breed groups included in the GPE program (Dearborn et al., 1987). Gregory et al. (1992; 1995) have reported least squares means for the same traits for heifers and cows from the Germplasm Utilization (GPU) program at MARC, involving animals of nine pure breeds and three generations of three composite (F₁ to F₃) populations. The objective of this study was to estimate generalized least squares means for weights, heights, and condition scores of cows from Cycle I for all ages that have not previously been published.

	Materials and Methods

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Data included weights, heights, and body condition scores of Angus and Hereford purebred and F₁ cows produced by mating Angus and Hereford dams to seven breeds of sire. The number of sires and cows mated to each breed of sire are presented in Table 1. The GPE program at MARC was designed to examine breed group differences for major economic traits by comparing the progeny of all breeds of sires with progeny from Hereford-Angus crosses. Cycle I began with the 1969 breeding season, with matings by AI of Hereford, Angus, Jersey, South Devon, Limousin, Simmental, and Charolais bulls to Hereford and Angus cows. Details concerning sire sampling were presented by Smith et al. (1976b). Calves were born during a 70-d calving season (March to early May) of 1970, 1971, and 1972. They were allowed to suckle and graze with their mother, and then were creep fed from mid-July or early August until weaning in early October at about 200 d of age. All male calves were raised, fed, and slaughtered to evaluate growth, feed efficiency, and carcass traits. All females were retained (Phase 2) for evaluation of reproduction, mature weight, height, and other cow traits as well as for maternal performance. Heifers were managed to have their first calf at two years of age. Details of postweaning management were presented by Laster et al. (1976).

Statistical analyses were done using single trait animal models with a derivative-free REML algorithm using the MTDFREML computer programs (Boldman et al., 1995), to estimate variance components and to solve mixed model equations. Models included sire breed, dam breed, and their interactions; age (rounded to years), season of measurement, and their interactions; and year of birth and pregnancy-lactation code as fixed effects for cow weight and body condition score. Random effects included the additive genetic and permanent environmental effects of the cow. For cow height, pregnancy-lactation code was excluded from the previous model because of nonsignificance in preliminary analyses. Analyses of weight adjusted for condition score included condition score as a covariate. The models for separate analyses by age (yr) of cow were the same except that ages in days within seasons of measurement were included as extra covariates. Details about models and estimation of variance components were presented by Arango et al. (2002).

Estimates of (co)variances at convergence were used with mixed model equations to obtain solutions for fixed effects and to estimate linear contrasts for breed comparisons. Three sets of contrasts were tested for each trait and age (yr): 1) the difference of the average for cows of each breed of sire from the average of Hereford-Angus (HA) reciprocal cows, 2) the difference for Angus and Hereford purebred cows from the average of their reciprocal crosses, and 3) the difference of cows with Angus dams from cows with Hereford dams. More comparisons were made than there were independent degrees of freedom. Therefore, the error rate may be somewhat different from the nominal indicated by the level of probability. However, the experimental objective was to examine breed of sire effects on major economic traits by comparing all breeds of sires with HA crosses and with each other (Cundiff et al., 1986). Tests of significance should be guides of whether the observed values could have occurred by chance. Differences among crossbred cows will be due to differences in additive genetic effects present in the specific two-breed crosses in addition to any difference due to heterosis for a specific cross (e.g., Frahm and Marshall, 1985).

Heights and weights of cows with these breeds of sire may have changed from when Cycle I of the GPE program was initiated. The GPE program is now reevaluating current sires of the Angus, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Limousin, Red Angus, and Simmental breeds for heights, weights, and condition scores. Collection of the mature data will not be complete until 2008, which will help to document changes in those breeds over the span of time covered by the GPE program.

	Results and Discussion

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Cow Weights
Numbers and means by age of cow for all traits are presented in Table 2. Cows continued gaining weight through 7 yr of age. The largest yearly gain was from 2 to 3 yr of age, accounting for 30% of the total gain. By 4 yr of age, cows had accumulated most (89%) of their final weight. Unadjusted means for height did not change much across ages, which indicates that height reaches maturity earlier than weight. In fact, cows had attained 96% of their final height as 3-yr-olds. Unadjusted means for condition score did not change much across ages, which is expected for a trait that reflects fatness, as fatness changes more within ages (due to differences in physiological status) than across ages.

In general, a survey of the literature supports what was found in the present study. Cows tend to continue growing until late ages, but at a decreased rate after 4 to 5 yr of age, a time at which many studies set the limit for mature weight (Brown et al., 1956a, b; Morrow et al., 1978; Johnson et al., 1990). Many studies have reported weights of Angus and Hereford cows at different ages. The averages of 9, 10, 9, 9, 5, and 4 reports of weights at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 yr of age for Angus cows were 411, 437, 468, 485, 510, and 499 kg (Brown et al., 1956a,b,c; Brown and Franks, 1964; Smith et al., 1976a; Spelbring et al., 1977; Nadarajah et al., 1984; Marlowe and Morrow, 1985; Sacco et al., 1990; Beltran et al., 1992; Northcutt et al., 1992; Archer et al., 1998). The corresponding averages for 5, 8, 4, 6, 4, and 4 reported weights for Hereford cows were 402, 455, 487, 498, 518, and 523 kg (Brown et al., 1956a,b; Brinks et al., 1962; Brown and Franks, 1964; Butts et al., 1971; Benyshek and Marlowe, 1973; Smith et al., 1976a; Wyatt et al., 1977; Field et al., 1988; Sacco et al., 1990; Meyer, 1995). Averages from previous reports agree with the present study that at 2 yr of age, Angus cows outweighed Hereford cows. At later ages, Hereford cows, however, were heavier. A similar situation was found in studies that reported weights of the two breeds. Brown et al. (1956a, HREF="#BROWN-ETAL-1956B">b) found the same weights for Hereford and Angus cows at 2 yr of age (392 kg), but at later ages, Hereford cows were heavier by differences that increased with age from 2 kg at 3 yr to 43 kg at 9 yr. Brown and Franks (1964) reported Angus cows were similar in weight to Hereford cows (363 vs 362 kg) at 3 yr of age. Smith et al. (1976a) found Hereford cows to be heavier than Angus cows at 31/3 (38 kg) and 6 to 9 (26 kg) yr of age, whereas reciprocal cross HA cows were 22 and 14 kg, or 6.3 and 3.4% heavier, than the average of the purebreds at the same ages. Sacco et al. (1990) reported Hereford cows to be 6 kg heavier than Angus cows between 3 and 4 yr of age. Their reciprocal crosses were 5 kg or 3.6% heavier than the average of the purebreds.

A sample of HA and F₁ heifers from Charolais, Jersey, and Simmental sires and Angus dams from Cycle I of the GPE program were transferred to Alberta, Canada (Bowden, 1977; 1980). Order of ranking according to breed of sire was the same as in the present study at 2 yr of age under different diets. Differences of the F₁ females from Jersey, Simmental, and Charolais bulls from HA were -38, 25, and 53 kg (Bowden, 1980), similar to the -38, 23, and 41 kg found in the present study at 2 yr of age. Nadarajah et al. (1984) reported estimates for Charolais-Angus cows of 445, 485, 498, and 516 kg from 3 to 6 yr of age that were 47, 58, 68, and 57 kg greater (P < 0.01) than the respective estimates for Angus cows. Frahm and Marshall (1985) compared HA reciprocal crosses with F₁ cows with Brown Swiss, Jersey, and Simmental sires and Angus and Hereford dams. Results from that experiment agreed with the present study and with Bowden (1980). On average, cows with Jersey and Simmental sires were -38 and 34 kg different from the reciprocal HA cows. Corresponding differences at 3 and 4 yr of age were -32 and 31 and -44 and 41 kg, respectively (Frahm and Marshall, 1985). They also reported that cows with Hereford dams were heavier than cows with Angus dams, and that Jersey-cross cows reached maturity for weight at an earlier age relative to other crossbred cows, similar to estimates from the present study. At 3 yr of age, F₁ Jersey cows had attained 94.4% of their mature weight compared to 87.8 and 88.4% for HA and F₁ Simmental cows. Morrison et al. (1989), in a study involving cows with Hereford and Angus dams, and various breeds of sire, reported a weight of 356 kg for F₁ Simmental cows between 2 and 4 yr of age. Cows with Angus and Hereford dams had, on average, the same weight (368 kg). Sacco et al. (1990), from a five-breed diallel experiment in Texas, reported that F₁ cows from Jersey sires and Angus and Hereford cows weighed, on average, 385 kg at 864 d, and were 41 kg lighter than HA cows.

Table 5 presents estimates of breed group contrasts and standard errors, as well as the significance levels for weight adjusted for condition score. Rankings of crossbred cows were the same as for actual weight. However, breed differences were not the same magnitude. Contrasts and significance levels were somewhat different, which seemed related to milk production and lean to fat ratio of the sire breeds. In general, differences were greater for adjusted weight than for weight, except for cows with Jersey sires (very lean, high milk production), whose differences from HA cows were less for adjusted weight, and for cows with Charolais and Limousin (lean, low milk production) sires, for which differences were similar for both weights until 6 yr of age. The estimates of direct heterosis for cow weight adjusted for condition score were slightly less than the estimates for actual weight, ranging from 3.7 (5 yr) to 5.1% (7 yr). Cows with Hereford dams were 2.5 to 7.2 kg heavier than cows with Angus dams, but that difference was significant (P < 0.05) only at 3, 4, and 6 yr of age, when the superiority of the daughters of Hereford dams was greater than 6 kg. On average, the crossbred cows were heavier (P < 0.01) than the purebred (Hereford and Angus) cows at each age by differences that ranged from 27 (2 yr) to 41 (4 yr) kg. Those differences were greater than the differences for actual weights at all ages.

Cow Height
Estimates of breed group means for height by age (yr) are presented in Table 6. Cows of all breed groups continued gaining stature through 7 yr of age, but at very low rate at later ages. In fact, almost no increases in height were found after 5 yr of age for any breed group. The increases in stature (4 to 7 cm), in the 6-yr periods reported here, accounted only for 3.1 to 5.4% of the total stature through 7 yr of age in the different breed groups, indicating that mature height is reached earlier than mature weight. Heights at 2 yr of age could be acceptable estimates of mature height for the breed groups considered here. Breed groups tended to cluster in two groups for height. British breeds (Hereford, Angus) and crosses (HA reciprocal crosses and Jersey crosses) tended to have similar heights, which were less than the corresponding heights for crosses with South Devon and continental breeds (Charolais, Limousin, and Simmental). Rankings of breed groups for height shifted across ages, but there was a general tendency for heavier breed groups to be taller. Estimates of contrasts between breed groups and standard errors, as well as significance levels are presented in Table 7. Cows with Jersey sires were not different (P > 0.05) from HA cross cows. Cows with sires of continental breeds had similar heights and were taller (P < 0.01) than HA at every age. The superiority of the cows with continental sires over the HA cross cows ranged from 5.1 (Limousin at 7 yr) to 6.9 cm (Simmental at 2 yr). Reciprocal HA cows were slightly taller than the average of purebred (Hereford and Angus) cows at each age, but that superiority was significant only when greater than 1 cm at 4 yr (P > 0.05) and after 5 yr (P < 0.01). Consequently, heterosis ranged only from 0.1 to 1.1% across ages. Cows with Hereford dams were taller than cows with Angus dams by differences that were significant (P < 0.01) when the difference exceeded 1 cm after 2 yr of age.

Results from the literature, in general, agree with the present study that cows tend to approach mature stature earlier than mature weight. In general, cows of different breed groups reached a plateau for height after 3 or 4 yr of age, as in the present study. Brown et al. (1956a,b) found that measures influenced by soft tissue (muscle and fat) are more variable and attain maturity at later ages than those determined primarily by skeletal structures. In fact, hip height was the earliest maturing measure of size in Hereford and Angus cows in their study, in which cows of both breeds attained about 96 and 98% of their mature height by 2 and 3 yr of age. On average, heights agreed well with the present study, with Hereford cows being 2 to 5 cm taller than Angus cows at 2 to 5 yr of age (Brown et al., 1956a,b). The averages of 7, 7, 6, and 6 reports of height at 2, 3, 4, and 5 yr of age for Angus cows were 118, 121, 123, and 123 cm (Brown et al., 1956a,b,c; Brown and Franks, 1964; Sacco et al., 1990; Northcutt et al., 1992; Archer et al., 1998), which, in general, agree well with the present study. For Hereford cows, Brown et al. (1956b) reported heights of 118 to 123 cm at 2 to 7 yr of age; Brown and Franks (1964) reported 120 cm at 3 yr and Sacco et al. (1990) reported 122 cm at 2.4 yr of age. In general, those heights are similar to the heights reported here. In Australia, Polled Hereford cows measured 129, 130, and 130 cm at 3+, 4+, and 5+ yr of age (Meyer, 1995). In a study in Texas, reciprocal HA cows were, on average, 2 cm taller (123 vs 121 cm) than purebreds (Hereford and Angus) between 2 and 3 yr of age, whereas F₁ cows with Jersey sires had the same stature as HA cows (Sacco et al., 1990). Bowden (1980) reported that cows with Angus dams and Hereford, Charolais, Jersey, and Simmental sires measured 117, 122, 117, and 122 cm at 2 yr of age, similar to the corresponding heights in the present study.

Body Condition Score
Estimates of breed group means for body condition score by age (yr) are presented in Table 8. Condition scores were variable across ages and breed groups, with a narrow range of scores from 5.6 to 7.1, except for Jersey crosses, which had scores below 6.0 until 6 yr of age. This exception may be expected for crosses with a dairy breed, which represents a biological type that is leaner and with greater milk production potential than traditional beef breeds. Condition scores increased steadily, however, from 4 yr of age for Jersey crosses; from 5 yr of age for Angus and Hereford and for HA, South Devon, and Simmental crosses; and from 6 yr of age for Limousin and Charolais crosses. This pattern might indicate a relationship between fatness, size, and maturation rate. Smaller and lighter breeds (such as Jersey) tend to mature earlier and begin accumulating fat at earlier ages than taller and heavier breeds (such as Charolais), which mature at later ages.

Many studies have reported condition scores of purebred and crossbred cows at different ages, but there has not been a standard way to measure condition in the literature, which makes summarization difficult. Condition has been evaluated by subjective scoring systems with different numeric scales from 0 to 17 (assigned visually or by palpation), by weight:height ratio, and by ultrasound techniques to measure subcutaneous fat. In general, reports from the literature agree with the present study; condition scores tend to increase with age, and Angus and Hereford cows tend to exhibit greater condition scores than crossbred cows with other breeds of sire. Brown et al. (1956c) reported "conformation scores" from Angus cows (6 = medium to 17 = fancy) measured by a committee (two or more persons). Scores averaged 11.3 (good) and 11.9 (choice) at 2 yr of age (in Maryland) and at maturity (in Tennessee). Spelbring et al. (1977) reported condition scores of 10.6, 10.8, and 10.7 (5 to 15 scale) at 3, 4, and 5 yr of age in a diallel experiment with Milking Shorthorns, in which Angus cows had the greatest condition scores. Nadarajah et al. (1984) reported scores of 2.9, 3.1, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.4 (1 to 5 scale) at 32, 44, 56, 68, and 84 mo of age in Angus cows, which were slightly greater than corresponding scores of Charolais-Angus cows (2.7, 3.2, 2.9, 3.1, and 3.1 points) at each age, except at 4 yr of age. Marlowe and Morrow (1985) reported condition scores of 2.6, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 2.7, and 2.7 (1 to 5 scale) for 2- to 7-yr-old Angus cows in Virginia, in a study that also found condition score to be the most important source of variation for cow weight. Condition scores of Hereford cows for 5 yr-old cows in Montana and Florida have been reported to be 6.7 and 6.1 (1 to 9 scale), respectively, in a study of location by origin interaction in which origin was found not to be important (Butts et al., 1971). Benyshek and Marlowe (1973) reported a score of 3.1 (1 to 5 scale) for 7-yr-old cows. Wyatt et al. (1977) reported on an experiment including Hereford, Holstein, and Hereford-Holstein cows under range conditions and a moderate level of supplementation. On average (two measurements during fall and one in spring), Hereford cows had the greatest condition score of 6.0 points (1 to 9 scale) at 4 to 5 yr of age. Bowden (1980) evaluated condition by the ratio of weight to height and by ultrasound measurement of backfat thickness in F₁ cows with Angus dams at 2 yr of age. The HA cows had the greatest fat thickness (7.2), followed closely by Charolais-Angus (7.0), whereas crosses from breeds of sire with greater milk potential had the smallest scores (Simmental-Angus [5.9] and Jersey-Angus [5.6]). The scores are similar to the corresponding condition scores in the present study of 6.5, 6.3, 5.8, and 5.5 points.

	Implications

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Cows sired by sires of seven breeds representing diverse biological types were significantly different for weight, height, and condition score. Those estimates can be used to match breeding systems with environmental, managerial and market requirements to optimize beef production under conditions similar to those from this experiment. Cow weight reflects differences in size associated not only with skeletal size and lean growth, but also with fatness, which is associated indirectly and negatively with milk production. Adjustment for condition score caused some differences in estimates of breed differences for weight. Ranking of breed groups was generally the same for actual weight and for weight adjusted for condition score, although those results might indicate that a portion of the differences in weight was due to differences in condition, but that those differences were moderate to small. Differences among breed groups for height followed closely differences for weight.

	Footnotes

 
¹ In memory of Dr. Claudia Gadini.

² Published as paper no. 13598, Journal Ser., Nebraska Agric. Res. Div., Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583-0908.

³ Current address: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado. 4563, Maracay 2101, Aragua, Venezuela.

Received for publication January 4, 2002. Accepted for publication July 26, 2002.

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Top Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results and Discussion Implications Literature Cited

 


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