Predicting Live Body Weight using Morphometric Measurements in Jersey and Holstein Dairy Cows
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/ijvsbt.22.1.37Keywords:
Cattle, Linear measurements, Morphometry, Prediction, RegressionAbstract
Live body weight estimation in dairy animals is an important activity with regard to animal performance monitoring. Traditional weighing bridges/platforms, though accurate are costly for a farmer and have portability issues making them unavailable in field conditions. Present study was conducted to determine the correlation between live body weight and linear/ morphometric measurements in Jersey and HF cattle at an organized farm under the temperate climate of Jammu & Kashmir. Five linear body measurements i.e., body length, chest girth, belly circumference, pelvic girth and withers height were taken at different ages over a period of 3 years wherein a total of 231 recordings from Jersey and 114 from HF cattle pertaining to each of the mentioned parameters were made. The live weights of these animals were also recorded on the same days using conventional weighing bridges. In Jersey cattle, the highest correlation observed was with chest girth (+0.89) followed by pelvic girth (+0.80) and withers height (+0.76). Similarly in HF cattle, highest correlation was observed with chest girth (+0.95) followed by body length (+0.92) and pelvic girth (+0.89). Regression analysis revealed a best-fit equation for predicting live weight with body length, chest girth and withers height in Jersey (R2= 0.73) and with chest girth and body length in HF (R2= 0.95) cattle. It was concluded that the correlation between live body weight and linear body measurements can be suitably exploited to predict live body weight in dairy cattle in the absence of conventional means of live weight estimation.
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