Various two-breed cross cow groups were mated to Charolais and Limousin bulls to produce a total of574 three-breed cross calves over a two-year period. Average birth weights were 81.2 Ib and 76.2 Ib for calves produced from Charolais and Limousin sires, respectively. Calving assistance was required for 12.4 percent ofCharolais-sired calves and 4.0 percent of the Limousin-sired calves. Charolais...

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of alternative-measurements of body weight and DMI used to evaluate residual feed intake (RFI). Weaning weight (WW), ADG, and DMI were recorded on 970 growing purebred Charolais bulls (n = 519) and heifers (n = 451) and 153 Red Angus growing steers (n = 69) and heifers (n = 84) using a GrowSafe (GrowSafe, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada) system....

Two trials were conducted to determine the effects of breed type, backgrounding program, and backfat end point (USBFEP) as determined by ultrasound on the performance and carcass characteristics of feedlot steers. Trial 1 utilized 144 large-framed Charolais- (304.6 +/- 16.3 kg) and 144 medium-framed Hereford-cross steers (294.8 +/- 20.9 kg). Trial 2 utilized 88 medium-framed Angus (289.5 +/- 15...

This study was motivated by the hypothesis that the incidence of retained placenta (RP) in Friesian horses is associated with inbreeding. The objectives were to 1) calculate the inbreeding rate in the total registered Friesian horse population; 2) study the association of the inbreeding coefficient of the foal and the mare with the incidence of RP; and 3) study the heritability of RP in Friesia...

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY In horses, aortic sinus of Valsalva aneurysms or tears in the aortic root are well-recognised conditions in breeding stallions, often leading to sudden death. A more uncommon form of aortic rupture, located proximal to the ligamentum arteriosum has been reported in 3 Friesian horses. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to phenotypically characterise aortic ru...

Feedlot performance and carcass traits were compared between Charolais and Brahman sired three-breed cross calves. Data were obtained on 251 calves (127 heifers and 124 steers). All calves were placed on a self-fed finishing ration immediately after wea,ning and slaughtered when each animal attained an estimated low choice carcass grade. Feedlot performance favored calves sired by Charolais. Ch...

Postweaning growth and puberty traits were studied in 965 heifers produced by mating Hereford and Angus cows to Hereford, Angus, Jersey, South Devon, Limousin, Charolais and Simmental sires. Estrus was checked twice daily from 250 to either 480 or 510 days of age and age and weight at puberty were evaluated. Puberty was defined as date of first standing estrus. Charolais, Simmental and South De...

Five Chios and five Friesian rams were used to study the effect of season on semen production. Semen samples were collected with an artificial vagina. In spite of the large variation of most of the semen characteristics among rams of the two breeds, seasonal variation in semen quantity (volume, concentration and total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate) and quality (percentage of motile sperma...

Postweaning growth, puberty, and pregnancy traits were evaluated for 783 F1 heifers sired by Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Shorthorn, Galloway, Longhorn, Nellore, Piedmontese, and Salers bulls and out of Angus and Hereford dams in Cycle IV of the Germplasm Evaluation (GPE) Program at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. The Hereford and Angus sires included a sample of bulls born from 1982 to 19...