Fig. 1

Phenotypic manifestation of dwarfism in Fleckvieh cattle. a–c A 20-week old Fleckvieh calf with a crooked back, structural abnormalities of the muzzle and brachygnathia inferior. d A 15-month old Fleckvieh bull with dwarfism and a healthy coeval. Note the skin flaps in the neck area. e, f The same animal as in d compared with a 6-month old healthy animal. Note the disproportionately large head of the affected animal (left) (e) although its height (right animal, height at withers: 112 cm) is similar to the nine-month younger healthy animal (left) (f). g An 18-month old animal with dwarfism with excessive skin in the neck area. h The weight of the animal shown in d (blue) is compared to the weight of 74,422 Fleckvieh calves (grey boxes). The upper dotted line represents the growth of Fleckvieh bulls observed in Geuder et al. [46]. The lower dotted line is a growth curve assuming an average weight gain of 1000 g/day, i.e., a lower bound estimate for the growth of Fleckvieh bulls