Growth Measurements of Holstein Females from Birth to Seven Years

Measurements of growth, to be meaningful, must be taken of various parts of the body, at regular intervals, under standardized environmental conditions, from birth through the growth span of the animal. From these measurements skeletal growth standards may be prepared for the several ages. Such standards can be used to measure growth at any age period. They will serve the research worker as a guide for experimental procedure and will provide the livestock raiser a basis with which his animals may be compared. Present standards of growth for dairy cattle are based mostly upon live weight, although considerable data are available for height at withers, chest girth and width of rump. Little information is available for other parts of the body. As a contribution to the study of growth, this bulletin presents data for weight and a number of measurements of height, length, width, depth, girth, hide thickness and angle of rump