Ranking of beef cattle sires by their breeding value on progeny performance

The objective of this study was to rank Limousin sires by their different breeding values based on the weaning weight of their progeny. 205-day weaning weight record of altogether 18746 purebred and crossbred calves sired by breeding bulls of the mentioned breed were used for the estimation. Calves were belonging to three different groups by their genotype. Three different BLUP animal models were used for the estimation. According the results the direct heritability (h2d) estimates of 205-day weight ranged between 0.49 and 0.59, while that of the maternal heritability (h2m) between 0.24 and 0.45. The estimated breeding value of the given sires differed by the genotype (purebred or crossbred) of their progeny calves and the method of estimation. Also, there were differences in the rank of the sires depending on the genotype of their progeny, as well as the estimation methods.