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<blockquote data-quote="HerefordSire" data-source="post: 602055" data-attributes="member: 4437"><p><em>I am getting closer but still no firm evidence in the relationship between longevity and top line. However, the following data is interesting and closely related.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Phenotypic relationships between longevity, type traits, and production in Chianina beef cattle1 </p><p></p><p>Abstract</p><p>Longevity is an increasingly important trait in beef cattle. Increased longevity decreases costs for the farmer and increases revenue. The objective of this research was to investigate the phenotypic relationship between type traits and longevity in Chianina beef cattle, and the relationship between production and longevity, to analyze the effect of voluntary culling. Data included records on reproductive, productive, and type traits provided by the National Association of Italian Beef Cattle Breeders from 6,395 Chianina cows. The average length of productive life was 1,829 d. The herd-year had a strong effect on the risk of culling. The effects of 22 type traits were analyzed. All the muscularity traits analyzed were highly significant (P < 0.01) and as a group had the largest effect on longevity, followed by dimension, refinement, and leg traits. Cows that calved before 35 mo of age had a lower probability of being culled than cows calving after 35 mo of age. Variation in herd size had a strong effect on risk ratio, with lower risk for intermediate classes. Cows with approximately one calf per year remained in the herd longer than did cows with fewer calves. Straight-legged animals had a 59% greater probability of being replaced than cows with a moderate angle to the hock, whereas sickle-legged animals had only a 3% higher probability of being culled than average cows. Udder conformation had no effect on longevity. In summary, results of this study indicate that herd-year effects and muscularity traits were the most important factors for longevity for Chianina cows among the factors studied.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>In the following paragraph, the text refers to table 2 showing the measured traits, one of which is Top Line. You can view these by clinking on the the link following the paragraph:</em></p><p></p><p>Type Traits</p><p>Beef cattle in Italy are evaluated for 26 traits, of which 22 are scored on a linear scale. The linear traits are described in Table 2. They consist of eight traits for muscle development, seven traits for body size, two traits for structure, two traits for refinement, and one udder trait, each evaluated on a linear scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good). Six traits with intermediate optima describing leg conformation are scored from 1 (very bad) to 3 (optimum), and again with 5 as very bad. Scoring is performed by breed experts who score all first- and second-parity animals present in each herd. In this analysis, an average of 9.2 cows per herd were evaluated. For this study, only cows with complete type information were included. When cows were scored more than once, only the first conformation score was used. </p><p></p><p><a href="http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572/T2" target="_blank">http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572/T2</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Further down in the download, in the Discussions section, you will find a couple of sentences such as:</em></p><p></p><p>"No general trends were observed for the traits associated with structure and leg........"</p><p></p><p><em>...and </em></p><p></p><p>"Traits that show a moderate effect on longevity, such as the legs and refinement traits, suggest that beef producers do not consider these traits as very important for their culling policy."</p><p></p><p><a href="http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572" target="_blank">http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HerefordSire, post: 602055, member: 4437"] [i]I am getting closer but still no firm evidence in the relationship between longevity and top line. However, the following data is interesting and closely related.[/i] Phenotypic relationships between longevity, type traits, and production in Chianina beef cattle1 Abstract Longevity is an increasingly important trait in beef cattle. Increased longevity decreases costs for the farmer and increases revenue. The objective of this research was to investigate the phenotypic relationship between type traits and longevity in Chianina beef cattle, and the relationship between production and longevity, to analyze the effect of voluntary culling. Data included records on reproductive, productive, and type traits provided by the National Association of Italian Beef Cattle Breeders from 6,395 Chianina cows. The average length of productive life was 1,829 d. The herd-year had a strong effect on the risk of culling. The effects of 22 type traits were analyzed. All the muscularity traits analyzed were highly significant (P < 0.01) and as a group had the largest effect on longevity, followed by dimension, refinement, and leg traits. Cows that calved before 35 mo of age had a lower probability of being culled than cows calving after 35 mo of age. Variation in herd size had a strong effect on risk ratio, with lower risk for intermediate classes. Cows with approximately one calf per year remained in the herd longer than did cows with fewer calves. Straight-legged animals had a 59% greater probability of being replaced than cows with a moderate angle to the hock, whereas sickle-legged animals had only a 3% higher probability of being culled than average cows. Udder conformation had no effect on longevity. In summary, results of this study indicate that herd-year effects and muscularity traits were the most important factors for longevity for Chianina cows among the factors studied. [i]In the following paragraph, the text refers to table 2 showing the measured traits, one of which is Top Line. You can view these by clinking on the the link following the paragraph:[/i] Type Traits Beef cattle in Italy are evaluated for 26 traits, of which 22 are scored on a linear scale. The linear traits are described in Table 2. They consist of eight traits for muscle development, seven traits for body size, two traits for structure, two traits for refinement, and one udder trait, each evaluated on a linear scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good). Six traits with intermediate optima describing leg conformation are scored from 1 (very bad) to 3 (optimum), and again with 5 as very bad. Scoring is performed by breed experts who score all first- and second-parity animals present in each herd. In this analysis, an average of 9.2 cows per herd were evaluated. For this study, only cows with complete type information were included. When cows were scored more than once, only the first conformation score was used. [url=http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572/T2]http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572/T2[/url] [i]Further down in the download, in the Discussions section, you will find a couple of sentences such as:[/i] "No general trends were observed for the traits associated with structure and leg........" [i]...and [/i] "Traits that show a moderate effect on longevity, such as the legs and refinement traits, suggest that beef producers do not consider these traits as very important for their culling policy." [url=http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572]http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1572[/url] [/QUOTE]
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