The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of prediction of body weight from body measurements in beef cattle. Wither height, chest girth, body length, chest depth, hip width and hip height measurements were obtained from Holstein, Brown Swiss and crossbred (n=140). Determination coefficients (R 2 ) of regression equation that included all body measurements were higher in Brown Swiss and crossbred than Holstein (92.2, 95.0 and 68.2 %, respectively). However, it was found that chest girth was the best parameter of all for prediction of body weight in Brown Swiss (R 2 =91.1 %) and crossbred cattle (R 2 =88.8 %) in comparison to Holstein (R 2 =60.7 %). According to these results, the body weight estimation of Brown Swiss and crossbred cattle using the body measurements produced higher prediction accuracies than Holstein but chest girth was the best parameter to prediction of body weight among all body measurements. However, the prediction accuracy of prediction of body weight from body measurements and also chest girth was decreased when the animals frame size was increased. Keywords

The relationship of parameters of body measures and body weight by using digital image analysis in pre-slaughter cattle AbstractThe objective of this study was to predict body weight (BW) of pre-slaughtering beef cattle using digital image analysis. Data used in this study were collected from slaughterhouses in Isparta and nearby provinces from 140 animals. Selected body measurements such as body weight (BW), wither height (WH), body length (BL), chest depth (CD), hip width (HW), hip height (HH) and body area (BA) of different breeds of beef cattle were combined and compared by digital image analysis. The body area was included as a different parameter for prediction of BW instead of chest girth. However, regression equation that included only body area gave the lowest R 2 value for Holstein (18.0%), but the R 2 value was 43.2 and 51.7% for Brown Swiss and crossbred animals, respectively. The regression equation which included all body traits resulted in R 2 values 35.3, 85.1, and 79.6% for Holstein, Brown Swiss and crossbred, respectively. The regression equation which included body area and body length showed that prediction ability of digital image analysis was high for prediction of BW in Brown Swiss and crossbred animals compared to Holsteins (R 2 82.6, 76.5, and 29.5%, respectively). Results indicated that the prediction ability of digital image analysis was low for prediction of BW. Although possibility of using body area as a parameter in predicting BW is low it can be developed by further and better designed experiments.

Bozkurt, Y. 2006. Prediction of body weight from body size measurements in brown swiss feedlot cattle fed under small-scale farming conditions.

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The aim of this study was to investigate an association between aggressiveness and high level of feeding in a half-open feedlot production system. An experiment was conducted on 72 head of beef cattle of different breeds. The animals were at about 10 months of age. Medium quality silage was offered ad libitum and supplemented with high (HE) and low level (LE) of barley (2.5 and 1.5 kg/day/head, respectively) and supplemented without (nil) or with (+) extracted soybean meal (0.45 kg/day/head). Several types of animal behaviour were observed such as those parameters that are categorized to be main aggressive behaviours, butting, being butted, mounting and being mounted. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in butting, being butted behaviours between HE and LE treatment groups. Mounting and being mounted behaviours were significantly different (P < 0.05) in steers and heifers and between the seasons as well. Steers performed more incidents of mounting behaviour than heifers and it was the same for spring, during which animals had more mounting behaviours. It was concluded that there was a close relationship between high-energy diets and aggressive behaviour, which necessitates some management measures to be taken in order to ensure better animal welfare and beef production.