Dentition in beef cattle in northern Australia

Abstract

Estimation of age of cattle is important to north Australian cattle producers who sell cattle on the basis of carcass classification, by description or to premium markets. Age at eruption of permanent incisor teeth of 52 Shorthorn and 42 Brahman x British steers grazing spear grass pastures in north Queensland was determined. Shorthorn steers cut each pair of incisor teeth when younger than Brahman X British steers (P<0.01). The 95% ranges for age at eruption in days for the four pairs were: 631 to 823, 772 to 1066, 951 to 1321 and 1181 to 1611 for Shorthorn and 679 to 871, 848 to 1142, 1055 to 1425 and 1306 to 1736 for Brahman X British, respectively. This large variation and overlap between successive pairs shows the limitations of dentition as an indicator of age of cattle for use in marketing.