A New Method to Identify Types of Body Constitution in Animals

Abstract

A new method to identify the conformational and constitutional types based on the body specific mass-ratio index (BSMRI) with the use of four live-body measurements and a liveweight in animals has been developed. The cows were assigned to three conformational and constitutional body types by specifying the BSMRI values: flabby (1.36 and less), intermediate (1.37–1.54), and compact (1.55 and more). The objective of the survey is to allocate the Red Steppe cows of the Kubansky intrabreed type to the types of constitution, immunological status, milk production, and reproductive capacity. It is ascertained that the compact type of body condition is typical for the largest portion of cows, comprising 46.2%, which is 11.6 and 27.0% more than that in the specimens ascertained to the intermediate and flabby body condition types, respectively. The milk yields of the cows of a flabby type were, on average, 254–335 kg (P > 0.95) higher than the average milk yield of 5496 kg for the experimental livestock. In addition, the cows assigned to the flabby type produced milk with higher fat- and protein yields and milkability greater by 0.11% (P > 0.99) and 0.09% (P > 0.999) than that in the cows of the compact and intermediate types, respectively. Better welfare was determined in the compact-type cows, which were characterized by a higher production use, when compared to the cows of the other types. Moreover, the cows of a flabby type were inferior to the compact-type animals in the milk yields by 2109 kg on average.