Hair shedding in cattle is important because it allows cattle to better handle hot and humid conditions. Hair shedding is a moderately heritable and thus some breed associations are collecting hair shedding scores to calculate an EPD for this trait. Late April and May are generally good times to evaluate hair shedding differences among animals. A scoring system from 1 (100% shed; slick summer hair coat) to 5 (0% shed; full winter coat) is commonly used to evaluate hair shedding. Research has shown an increase in calf weaning weight of 12 pounds from every one-point drop in cow hair score.
