If I Select for Higher Growth, Will That Affect my Future cow Size?

Megan Rolf (Kansas State University): When selecting for increased growth at one stage of an animal’s life, for example at weaning, we can cause changes in growth at other stages of an animal’s life - birth weight, for example, or in mature cow size. In a scenario where we wanted to increase growth at weaning and moderate mature size, we would need to be aware of the genetic antagonisms between those 2 traits, which is essentially a genetic correlation that causes an unfavorable result. So, in this scenario, as we would select for increased weaning weight, we would also increase mature cow size, which would be undesirable.