Abstract
Genetic improvement of calving ability within beef breeds is discussed according to the two main French breeding systems:
-
1)
use of terminal sire breeds,
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2)
use of beef breeds in purebreeding or in crossing for producing breeding females.
The amount of genetic variability existing for this trait and related factors (birth weight of the calf and size of the dam essentially) is reviewed in these two situations ie on account of paternal (direct effect) and maternal genetic contributions.
With respect to selection of terminal sire lines, it is suggested that more objective selection criteria be applied — at least for lines used on heifers — in the form of selection indexes with restriction on birth weight to avoid a too high indirect increase in this critical trait for calving problems.
In the other situation, specific selection on the maternal component must be carried out particularly in the large-sized and muscled beef breeds. Selection criteria proposed for this purpose must take into account the overall effect of growth and muscularity on beef efficiency in such systems (calving difficulties and mortality of calves, returns and costs of commercial offspring, maintenance costs and culling value of cows). Selection programmes developed in France in this area, such as a progeny test on 20 paternal half-sisters per bull, recorded in station for their breeding qualities, are presented and discussed.
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© 1979 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg
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Foulley, J.L., Ménissier, F. (1979). Selection for Calving Ability in French Beef Breeds. In: Hoffmann, B., Mason, I.L., Schmidt, J. (eds) Calving Problems and Early Viability of the Calf. Current Topics in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9315-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9315-0_8
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