The knowledge of combining ability in animal breeding has been based principally upon swine experiments. However, with the ever increasing interest in heterosis and crossbreeding in beef cattle, there is a need to explore this area. This report is concerned with the first phase of the Virginia crossbreeding experiment involving crosses among the Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn breeds, borne by straightbred cows, with the purpose of assessing the degree to which the measurable effects of combining ability and maternal influence are important. Traits studied include birth weight, weaning weight, weaning grade, feedlot average daily gain, slaughter grade and slaughter weight. Details of the design of the experiment, origin of cattle, and management have been published by Gaines et al. (1966). In general, the statistical methodology employed was fitting constants to data with unequal subclass numbers using least squares, as developed and applied to animal data by Henderson (1953) and expanded by Harvey (1960).
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Gaines et al. (1970) studied this question.