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Use of Body Linear Measurements to Estimate Live Weight in Communal Beef Cattle

Body measurements are important criteria in the selection of elite animals for breeding. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship, accuracy of prediction of body weight from body measurements, and identifying multicollinearity from three beef breeds.  Four classes of stock (bull, cows, steers, and heifers) were considered. Correlation, simple, and multiple linear regression models were fitted with body weight (BW) as the dependent variable and body length (BL), heart girth (HG), height at wither (HW), muzzle circumference (MC), and shank circumference (SC) as the independent variables. The BW of the animals ranged from 218 to 630 kg, the least being heifers and bulls were the heaviest. The pairwise phenotypic correlations showed a high and significant positive relationship between BW and body dimensions (r = 0.751- 0.96; P<0.01). However, negative correlations were observed between BW with BL and MC of r = -0.733 and -0.703 and -0.660, -0.650, for cows and heifers, respectively. Regressing BW on BL, HG, and HW measurements gave statistically significant (P<0.01) equations with R2 ranging from 0.60 to 0.79. Collinearity, as portrayed by high variance inflation factors (VIFs), tolerance values, and low eigenvalues, was evident in four of the variables. It was concluded that the regression model was useful in BW prediction for smallholder farms and the relationship between BW and other body measurements was influenced by breed and class of stock. It is recommended that ridge regression or principal component regression be used in cases where multicollinearity exisists.