Selecting for cows that shed effectively is crucial to dealing with summer heat stress. It is so important that the American Angus Association is interested in developing expected progeny difference (EPD) values.
This may seem to be a silly thing to do, but hair shedding is a moderately heritable trait.” – Edon Cole, University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist
Source: BEEF, June 3, 2021. Link. Researchers at the University of Missouri, with help from researchers at Mississippi State and North Carolina State, have been tracking the time of shedding and its effect on animal performance. Since 2011, they found the rate of shedding plays a substantial role in cattle’s tolerance to heat.
MU’s Extension Guide “Hair Shedding: A tool to select heat tolerant cattle” is a quick visual assessment guide for beef farmers. Hair shedding scores are simply a visual appraisal of the extent of hair shedding by a trained observer and are reported on a 1 to 5 scale.
INSIGHTS: Sometimes the simplest of things makes a big difference.