A technique for measuring linear bone growth during short time intervals in cattle

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Price, M. A.
  • Graham, W. C.

• A technique is described for meausuring increases in bone length during defined periods before slaughter in cattle. It consists of jugular infusions of oxytetracycline at specified time intervals. Oxytetracycline identifies the sites of ossification in growing bones at the time of infusion by leaving a label which can be seen as a yellow-green fluorescent line under ultraviolet light. By applying a series of labels at known time intervals, the amount and rate of bone growth at any particular site during those time intervals can be determined. In the present experiment the distal epiphyseal growth plate in the radiuses of young cows (five 2-yr-olds, five 3-yr-olds and four 4-yr-olds) were studied. The increase in bone length at that site for the three age groups was found to be 0.0732, 0.0205 and 0.0000 mm/day respectively.

• Date created

  1981

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Bone growth
  • Beef production
  • Cattle
  • Measurement
  • Carcass

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3450T

• License

  © 1981 Graham, W.C. and Price, M.A. . This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.