Comparative breed studies of beef cattle. II. Changes in size and shape

Abstract

A comparative growth study of changes in shape was made of Hereford, Aberdeen Angus, and beef Shorthorn cattle. In addition to recording body weight, 10 surface body measurements were made, at regular time intervals, on every animal in the experimental group.

Changes and differences in shape were studied by examining the functional forms of the relationships between surface body measurements and body weight for every animal.

The breed and sex differences presented in this paper have also been composed with a re-analysis of the limited data available from the literature, and in general the results are similar.