The significance of coat type in cattle

Abstract

A system of subjective scoring of cattle coats, ranging from very sleek to very woolly, is described. It has been applied to about 1600 animals, of which 500 were Hereford and Shorthorn cows and the rest their progeny from matings in four years to British breed and Zebu bulls. Consistency of scoring within and between observers is satisfactory. Highly significant differences between animals of the same breed persist through different seasons. The repeatability of coat score is 0.6 or more over intervals of up to 17 months. Effects of season, age, and sex are described. Heritability of coat score is estimated at 0.63. Coat scores are well correlated with body temperatures and respiration rates. Coat score and post-weaning growth rate of British breed calves are correlated to such a degree that coat score can be superior to a record of body weight as an estimate of growth capacity. The genetic correlation between coat score and growth rate is high in the British breeds. Evidence of the relation between coat score and growth rate in Zebu cross calves is inconclusive. The observed relationships are discussed with particular reference to their physiological causes. The results indicate the potential value of coat characters in selecting tropical beef cattle. The degree to which these results may be applicable to other populations in other environments is discussed. It is concluded that a sleek coat is important in favouring heat dissipation, but it may have even greater significance as an indicator of metabolic efficiency or of capacity to react favourably to stress.

Effect of heat stress on six beef breeds in the Zastron district: The significance of breed, coat colour and coat type

“…Bonsma repeatedly stresses the importance of coat type in adaptation (Bonsma, 1983). Turner & Schleger (1960) indicate the potential value of coat characters in selecting tropical beef cattle. However, they conclude that a sleek coat may have a greater significance as an indicator of metabolic efficiency or of a capacity to react favourably to stress.…”

“…The groups ranged from white (score 0), grey (2), yellow-fawn (4), light-red (6), red (8) The following is a general description of the scoring system used to describe the hair coat (Turner & Schleger, 1960). Extremely short (score 1), very short (2), fairly short (3), fairly long (4), long (5), woolly (6), very woolly (7).…”

Genetics of adaptive traits in heifers and their relationship to growth, pubertal and carcass traits in two tropical beef cattle genotypes

“…Rectal temperature ( C) TEMP Rectal temperature of animals recorded at~400 days of age during summer months when the ambient temperatures were >30 C. Coat score COAT Coat score of animals recorded during postweaning summer months. The scoring system was subjective and ranged between 1 (extremely short and sleek coat) to 7 (very woolly coat) as described by Turner and Schleger (1960). Coat scores (COAT) were further converted to a continuous 21-point scale to accommodate three subdivisions that applied to each of the numeric 1-7 score.…”

Advances in Stress Physiology and Bioenergetics of Farm Animals: An Overview

“…The fact that coat genotype seems to have changed fairly rapidly in breeds introduced to the tropics confirms the importance of this trait to adaptation. Dowling (1956) associated the heat tolerance and performance of different strains of cattle with their coat characters, and Turner and Schleger (1960) measured the degree of variability of coat type within herds, and assessed the proportion of the variation in growth rate that is accounted for by variation in coat type. Coat characteristics are associated with heat tolerance and performance of animals (Dandage et al, 2010;Collier and Collier, 2012).…”