Life Sciences Commons^™

Heifer Calving Rate Is Lowly Heritable In Hereford Cattle (2014), Heather L. Bradford, Daniel W. Moser, Jennifer M. Bormann, Robert L. Weaber

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Reproductive failure is consistently a top reason for culling beef cows from the herd. Culling young females is very costly to commercial producers because a young female hasn't generated enough income to pay for the cost of developing that female. One way to improve reproductive performance in the cowherd is through genetics. Although reproductive traits tend to be lowly heritable, genetic improvement can be made through selection. Beef producers traditionally have selected for increased scrotal circumference to improve female fertility. Scrotal circumference is an indicator trait and is positively correlated to female reproductive performance. Faster genetic improvement could be made …