Productivity Comparisons Among Various Two-Breed Cross Cow Groups

than to calf birth weight alone. Percent calving difficulty is the percentage of births requiring assistance from the herdsman. Calving scores of3 or higher were classified as difficult births based on a scoring system ranging from I = no assistance to 5 = caesarian birth or abnormal presentation. Due to the substantially higher incidence of calving difficulty in 1978 over 1979 (11.3 percent vs. 6.4 percent), means are presented separately for the two years. The cows being a year older in 1979 likely accounted for the decrease in percentage of difficult births from the previous year. The means for the 2 years are averaged for comparison purposes. Calving difficulty averaged 8.9 percent across all crossbred cow groups. Simmental cross and Hereford-Angus cows required the most calving assistance (13.5 percent) followed by Angus-Hereford, Brown Swiss cross and Jersey-Hereford cows (6.7 percent). Only 3.7 percent of the Jersey-Angus cows required assistance calving.