The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of some 96 putative functional variants on growth traits in beef cattle. Some 5,964 Simmental, 2,982 Gelbvieh and 2,871 Red Angus animals were genotyped and recorded for birth, weaning and yearling weights. Some functional variants in the HMGA2, NCAPG, ARRDC3, PLAG1 and ERGIC1 genes were among the markers significantly associated with remarkable impact on body weights. The most significant variant was rs109570900 encoding p.Ile442Met in NCAPG, where animals with GG compare to TT genotypes were on average 4.4 lb heavier at birth, 16.7 lb heavier at weaning and 35.7 lb heavier at yearling. Knowledge of such functional variants would create new opportunities for the selection of animals with appropriate body weights for harvest or maternal purposes and could decrease dystocia in beef cattle population.