(1) Nutrition
The most useful record for nutritional purposes is liveweight
since this is an integrated measure of the nutritional response of the
animal, and liveweight gains or losses give a sensitive indication of
nutritional adequacy or inadequacy. Weighing is possible, given a
weighing scale or tripod and clock face balance and necessary
assistance, during both initial and continued surveys, as described
by Wilson and Semenye in this workshop, and yields very useful
information. Where weighing facilities are not available, a very
useful approximation may be made by measuring heart (or chest)
girth of cattle and estimating the liveweight from these by means
of one of the published formulae. The relationship between heart
girth and weight depends on breed, and to some extent on
condition and sex.