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Reliability of pelvimetry is affected by observer experience but not by breed and sex: A cross-sectional study in beef cattle |
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| Authors: | Johannes Vernooij Florine de Munck Evelien van Nieuwenhuizen Edward Webb Herman Jonker Peter Vos Dietmar Holm |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Population Health Sciences, Section Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands;2. Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa;3. Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa |
| Abstract: | Pelvis size plays an important role to prevent dystocia in cattle caused by the foeto-maternal disproportion in commonly primiparous females. The reproducibility and repeatability are two important aspects for the reliability of the measurements to use in the selection of cattle for culling. Pelvic measures were taken with a Rice pelvimeter from 224 young cattle (180 females and 44 males) of four beef breeds in South Africa. One experienced and two inexperienced observers each measured pelvic height and width twice. The proportion measurements with a maximum difference of 0.5 cm within animal compared with the first measurement by the experienced observer are around 80% and by the inexperienced observers around 50% for pelvic height and around 60% for pelvic width. Breed and sex do not affect the reliability of pelvimetry by an experienced observer. Under- and overestimation of pelvis size were observed in inexperienced observers, which seems to be unrelated to breed and sex. |
| Keywords: | cattle experience observer variability pelvimetry probit model |