ASSESSMENT OF THE BODY TYPE OF BREEDING BULL CALVES WHEN TESTING THEM FOR THEIR OWN PRODUCTIVITY

At present, traditional conformation assessment of replacement bulls in foreign countries is gradually being replaced by a linear scoring system for individual traits, which is an effective method within modern animal phenotyping systems. At the Dauren farm, conformation type of replacement bulls was assessed using an international scoring system when the animals were removed from their own-performance testing. Eleven conformation traits were evaluated for each animal. Subsequently, some of the traits were combined into different functional groups (body, muscling, and feet and legs), which were then integrated into an overall conformation type. The results showed that individual conformation traits exhibited considerable variability, ranging from 3.5 to 50.6 %. The mean score for the “Body” functional group was 79.7 points, with a coefficient of variation of 20.3 %; the score for “Muscling” was −75.6, while the score for “Feet and Legs” was 86.2 %. When all functional groups were combined into an overall conformation type, the score was 75.3 points. Of the six conformation-type categories, 81.2 % of the animals were classified as “Good+,” “Excellent,” or “Superior.” The largest proportion of animals (47.8 %) belonged to the “Good+” category. It was also established that the live weight of the bulls increased with increasing conformation category. Thus, the findings demonstrated that the application of a linear conformation scoring system for replacement bulls provides a more comprehensive and objective characterization of their conformation. In the long term, this approach may contribute to accelerating genetic progress in beef cattle herds, increasing productivity, and improving regulatory and methodological frameworks in the field of beef cattle breeding.