INTRODUCTION Beef breeding programmes have developed significantly in the last 24 years since the 1 WCGALP. Breeding programs as defined here include the definition of breeding objectives, recording and genetic evaluation programs to develop selection criteria and developments in selection and mating technology to optimize genetic progress for the objective. Available today are tools for the im...

I think we need to keep in mind a few things that shows and judging of livestock do not do. All judging is a series of compromises. In judging livestock at a show, the judge tries to get what he considers the most of the best in his top animal. Anyone who knows anything at all about livestock will realize that, in a good show, the champion is not better in every respect than the reserve champio...

Producers participating in the United States National Animal Health Monitoring System 1994-1995 Cattle on Feed Evaluation provided information on cattle of Mexican origin in their feedlot operations. Cattle of Mexican origin accounted for 8.1% of cattle placed on United States feedlots from 1 July 1993 through 30 June 1994. Of operations with a one-time capacity of 1000 or more cattle, 12.8% pl...

We estimate the value of using information from genetic marker panels for seven economically-relevant feedlot cattle traits. At the current cost of genetic testing it would not pay to sort cattle by optimal days-on-feed, but it could pay to use the genetic tests for breeding cattle selection.

The high class dairy cow has taken its present form first because of its survival value in nature and second because of centuries of controlled breeding. In both instances the constitution toward which the breeding tended was approached without conscious knowledge of how inheritance was achieved. It was a case of evolution rather than exact breeding based on genetic factors and a known method o...

For 75 yr, Line 1 Hereford cattle have been at the forefront of beef cattle breeding research. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of scientific contributions made using the Line 1 Hereford population. It was initially developed as contribution to a western regional program from which beef producers were envisioned to use heterosis by crossing selected inbred lines. Whereas this v...

Advances in breeding and management resulted in a considerable increase of production traits in Austrian dairy cattle. Besides, low input systems were also established. Possible genotype by environment interactions (G x E) and genetic antagonisms dependent on production level might indicate the need for separate breeding programmes for dairy farms diff ering in management intensity. Th us, G x ...

Comparisons of ADG, feed/gain, daily feed intake and daily feed intake as percentage of body weight may be important to beef cattle producers and researchers in breed selection and computer modeling. Data evaluated were postweaning feedlot performance test records collected from 1967 to 1986 of 3,661 individually fed bulls. Bulls originated from University of Arkansas purebred herds, Fayettevil...

BACKGROUND There is a growing interest in beef cattle breeding in Sweden. The majority of the females are bred naturally, which is why it is important to choose healthy fertile bulls to obtain good reproduction and profitability. The breeding soundness evaluation includes measurement of scrotal circumference (SC). Our aim was to analyze if the SC of performance tested beef bulls has changed ove...

Data from the centralised performance tests for young beef bulls in South Africa were used to determine the minimum test duration required to obtain an accurate measure of feed intake, growth rate and two measures of feed efficiency: feed conversion ratio and residual feed intake. Five breeds from four different biological types were used to investigate whether different duration tests are requ...