Recording Calving Difficulty Scores

Recording calving difficulty scores allows breeders to evaluate all genetic factors that influence calving ease, including calf shape and pelvis size. Calving difficulty should be scored on a scale of 1-6 at birth, with 1 being unassisted and 6 being surgical removal of the calf. Scores are most useful when recorded for all calves, not just difficult births, and when some difficulty is present in the herd. Calving difficulty scores are submitted to the breed society or association and used in BREEDPLAN analysis to calculate calving ease estimated breeding values.

Uploaded by

Leo Schizo

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

28 views

Recording Calving Difficulty Scores

Uploaded by

Leo Schizo

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 2

Recording Calving Difficulty Scores

Calving Ease EBVs provide an estimate of genetic differences in the ability of calves to
be born unassisted from 2 year old heifers and are calculated from three main sources of
information - calving difficulty scores, birth weights and gestation length records. By far
the most important of these sources are calving difficulty scores.

1 .Why should Calving Difficulty Scores be recorded?

Calving difficulty has an obvious negative impact on the profitability of a herd through
increased calf and heifer mortality, slower re-breeding performance and considerable
additional labour and veterinary expense.

Whilst many large studies have consistently shown birth weight to be the most
important genetic factor influencing calving difficulty, there are also other aspects that
need to be considered. For example, calf shape, pelvic area and calving will.
Recording calving difficulty scores allows for all these contributing factors to be
evaluated and subsequently, the best possible genetic improvement made for ease of
calving.

2. How do I record Calving Difficulty Scores?

Calving difficulty should be measured at birth by visually scoring females on the

following scale of 1 - 6.

Score Code Description

1 Unassisted Cow calved unassisted / No difficulty

2 Easy Pull One person without mechanical assistance

3 Hard Pull Two people without mechanical assistance

One person with mechanical assistance

4 Surgical Assistance Veterinary intervention required

5 Mal-presentation Eg. Breech

6 Elective Surgical Surgical removal of calf before the cow has the
opportunity to calve

* Note that a blank score will not be interpreted as unassisted. Instead, it indicates that calving
difficulty was not scored
3. What considerations should be made when recording Calving Difficulty
Scores?

If you regularly check your cows (e.g. on a daily basis), it is reasonable to assume
that a cow who calves without assistance between visits can be considered as
unassisted (no difficulty) even though you did not see her calve.

Record a score for all calves rather than just difficult or easy births. Scores should be
recorded for dead calves, if possible.

If calving difficulty score is either blank or [0], it is interpreted as no score recorded

rather than "no difficulty".

There needs to be some level of calving difficulty in the herd for the scores to be
used effectively by the BREEDPLAN analysis. That is, simply scoring all births in a
herd with a calving difficulty score of [1] will not identify any genetic differences in
ease of calving.

As with birth weight and gestation length, a birth weight management group should
be recorded if there are different treatments of the females prior to calving that may
affect calving difficulty. For example, where one group of cows have had different
feed availability.

When calculating the Calving Ease EBVs, calving difficulty scores of [3] and [4] are
grouped together. Calving difficulty scores [5] & [6] are excluded from the
BREEDPLAN analysis as the problems are considered non-genetic in origin.

4. How do I submit Calving Difficulty Scores?

Calving difficulty scores should be submitted to your Breed Society/Association when

submitting your calf registration details. Please contact your Breed Society/Association
should you have any queries about how to submit this information.

For more information regarding how to record calving difficulty scores, or calving ease
EBVs in general, please contact staff at BREEDPLAN.