Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle
Measurement of liveweight of stock is one of the most important production tools available to farmers – playing a role in nutrition, fertility management, health and marketing. Yet most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to scales on which to weigh cattle. Heart girth measurements (and...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
2018
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/89797 |
| _version_ | 1855531640427642880 |
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| author | Goopy, John P. Pelster, David E. Onyango, A. Marshall, Karen Lukuyu, Margaret N. |
| author_browse | Goopy, John P. Lukuyu, Margaret N. Marshall, Karen Onyango, A. Pelster, David E. |
| author_facet | Goopy, John P. Pelster, David E. Onyango, A. Marshall, Karen Lukuyu, Margaret N. |
| author_sort | Goopy, John P. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Measurement of liveweight of stock is one of the most important production tools available to farmers – playing a role in nutrition, fertility management, health and marketing. Yet most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to scales on which to weigh cattle. Heart girth measurements (and accompanying algorithms) have been used as a convenient and cost-effective alternative to scales, however despite a plethora of studies in the extant literature, the accuracy and sensitivity of such measures are not well described. Using three datasets from phenotypically and geographically diverse cattle populations, we developed and validated new algorithms with similar R2 to extant studies but lower errors of prediction over a full range of observed weights, than simple linear regression, that was valid for measurements in an unassociated animal population in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results further show that heart girth measurements are not sufficiently sensitive to accurately assess seasonal liveweight fluctuations in cattle and thus should not be relied on in situations where high precision is a critical consideration. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace89797 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| publisherStr | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace897972025-12-08T10:29:22Z Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle Goopy, John P. Pelster, David E. Onyango, A. Marshall, Karen Lukuyu, Margaret N. animal production cattle markets Measurement of liveweight of stock is one of the most important production tools available to farmers – playing a role in nutrition, fertility management, health and marketing. Yet most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to scales on which to weigh cattle. Heart girth measurements (and accompanying algorithms) have been used as a convenient and cost-effective alternative to scales, however despite a plethora of studies in the extant literature, the accuracy and sensitivity of such measures are not well described. Using three datasets from phenotypically and geographically diverse cattle populations, we developed and validated new algorithms with similar R2 to extant studies but lower errors of prediction over a full range of observed weights, than simple linear regression, that was valid for measurements in an unassociated animal population in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results further show that heart girth measurements are not sufficiently sensitive to accurately assess seasonal liveweight fluctuations in cattle and thus should not be relied on in situations where high precision is a critical consideration. 2018 2017-12-18T18:19:00Z 2017-12-18T18:19:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/89797 en Open Access Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Goopy, J.P., Pelster, D.E., Onyango, A., Marshall, K. and Lukuyu, M. 2017. Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle. Animal Production Science 58(9):1758-1765. |
| spellingShingle | animal production cattle markets Goopy, John P. Pelster, David E. Onyango, A. Marshall, Karen Lukuyu, Margaret N. Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title | Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title_full | Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title_fullStr | Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title_short | Simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in African smallholder cattle |
| title_sort | simple and robust algorithms to estimate liveweight in african smallholder cattle |
| topic | animal production cattle markets |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/89797 |
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