Relationships between Conformation Scores and Live Animal Measurements of Beef Cattle

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Abstract
Conformation scores given to 383 calves and 342 older beef cattle of the Angus and Hereford breeds at four experiment stations were studied in relation to body measurements. Simple correlations varied significantly between groups of cattle in several instances. Average correlations between scores and weight, chest depth, body width, and fullness of round were positive but of limited predictive value. Correlations between chest height and score were negative while wither height and body length were not consistently related to scores. Multiple correlations between all the measurements studied and conformation scores varied from .38 to .76 for the various groups, thus accounting for from 14 to 58% of the variance in scores. Standard partial regression coefficients, measuring the influence of each measurement on score independent of other factors, indicated a rather consistent positive relationship of weight to score. Negative relationships were observed between score and chest height, wither height and body length. Width measurements were not available on all cattle but those available tended to have a positive relationship with score. Other measurements were inconsistent. Simple correlations between conformation scores and several ratios of measurements indicated that the ratios were rather consistently positively related to scores with actual correlations ranging from +.15 to +.81 for different groups of animals. Copyright © . .