1. A method for distinguishing bovines that have an increased shipping weight, increased average daily gain and increased hot carcass weight, comprising: isolating genomic DNA from a bovine; amplifying a region of the bovine POMC gene using an oligonucleotide pair to form nucleic acid amplification sequences comprising amplified POMC gene polymorphism sequences; detecting a polymorphism present in the POMC gene at position 254 of SEQ ID NO: 2; analyzing the polymorphism, and wherein the presence of a “T” residue distinguishes a bovine having an increased shipping weight, increased average daily gain and increased hot carcass weight, as compared to bovines with a “C” residue at position 254 of SEQ ID NO: 2.