The study was undertaken to assess the influence of various environmental effects, e.g. sex, age of dam, month of birth and mating types (black X black, black X grey, grey X black and grey X grey) on pelt traits of…
In animal breeding, selection decisions are often made amongst animals from separate environmental groups. Production data in these groups may differ both in mean and variance. In South Africa, yearling weights of beef cattle are recorded in two different phases…
The Texas A&M University (TAMU) Beef Cattle Production model was expanded to include basic concepts of quantitative genetics. The traits simulated were birth weight, yearling weight, mature weight and milk production. The progeny inherited attributes from both the sire and…
Ninety bull calves of five Bonsmara strains, viz. Edelheer (E), T-49 (T), Wesselsvlei (W), Roodebos (R) and Belmont Red (BR), and two Nguni sub-populations, viz. Bartlow (B) and non-Bartlow (NB), were fattened under intensive feeding conditions and serially slaughtered at…
A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among a purposive sample of 60 small-scale cattle farmers in the Mopeane Rustenburg district, all of whom owned five or more head of cattle. Results showed that small-scale cattle farming is a part-time activity for…
Lactation records of South African Holstein and Jersey cows were classified into six calving seasons and 18 age x lactation classes using several trials involving analysis of variance and estimation of fixed effects of calving age on test-day as well…
The performance of Nguni, Afrikander and Bonsmara cattle during the 1989-92 drought period in the North West Province of South Africa was compared. Results for the Nguni, Afrikander and Bonsmara, respectively were as follows: birth mass - 30.3, 30.2, 31.l…
Growth, carcass characteristics and eating quality of meat from South African Mutton Merino wethers fed maize or different sorghum silage diets were studied. Forty newly weaned wethers (20 kg) were randomly allocated to 10 dietary treatments, viz. non-bird-resistant grain sorghum…
Correlations were determined between the crude protein (CP) and lysine or methionine concentrations of grain from wheat (cultivar: palmiet), barley (cultivar: clipper) and triticale (cultivar: usgen 19) grown in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Twenty samples of varying…
A total of 108 medium frame weaner steers, divided into 9 groups of 12 each with mean group masses of 200 kg, were used to determine the effect of three concentrate to roughage (C: R) ratios (80: 20, 55: 45,…
