How Does Maternal Weaning Weight (Milk) Affect Body Condition Score at Weaning in Angus Cattle

Abstract

This paper reports the heritability estimates for mature body composition traits in Australian Angus cattle and the interaction with the maternal component of weaning weight. These traits include mature body weight (MCW), mature cow fat score (MBC), mature cow height (MCH), weaning weight (WWT) and the maternal component of weaning weight (MILK) with industry data obtained from breeders registered with Angus Australia. Heritability for MCW, MBC, MCH, WWT and MILK was estimated to be 0.44, 0.49, 0.15 and 0.13, respectively. MCW had a moderate genetic correlation with MBC of 0.61 and 0.46 for MCH. MBC and MCH had a genetic correlation of -0.06 but had a large standard error due to low cross-over of cows with phenotypes for the two traits. MILK had a negative genetic correlation with MBC of -0.48 and small positive genetic correlations of 0.12 and 0.23 with MCW and MCH, respectively. These results indicate that selection for mature body composition traits is possible but care should be taken when considering interactions with the maternal trait MILK.