Ideal Beef Cattle Conformation Beef Steer

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Conformation in cattle is 1 of the utmost important qualities that a cattle producer must know about and understand when raising a good, solid breeding herd of cattle. Conformation is the desirable and undesirable skeletal and muscular structures of an animal. It covers all of the important areas of an beast's structure, from the legs, the spine (or top-line) and the hind quarters to the neck and caput.

The skeletal and muscular structure is more important in herd bulls than in cows, however cows must also have skilful conformation and exist in body condition in gild to exist accounted good, solid and high productive cows that are suitable for your breeding herd.

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Start past looking at pictures. You can start judging conformation of a bull, cow, steer or heifer but by looking at pictures on the Internet or in any book or magazine that has cattle in it. Your local agronomical newspaper is besides a practiced source, as it ofttimes has advertisements for bull sales showing the "top bulls" that are going to be for sale, co-ordinate to their breed (i.e., Angus, Red Angus, Hereford, Simmental, Limousin, Beefmaster, Brahman, etc.)
- If yous practice a search on the Web and type in "bull sales" or "cattle sales" in the heading of such popular search engines as Google or Yahoo!, yous will find unlike pictures of cattle to study from. Mostly, these kind of pictures are the best to critique from, conformationally speaking.
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Get-go past first looking at the overall condition and body of the animal, before closing in and doing a close study of the bull or cow, from caput to tail to feet. The following is a guideline of what characteristics platonic in a typical bovine how they may be faulty.

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The overall body conformation of a bull and a cow should exist deep with plenty of capacity. They should also be long-bodied, only not also long, nor likewise short. Long-bodied cattle tend to have lower quality carcass grades and are later maturing. Brusk-bodied cattle tend to put on fat more apace than what is desirable, and likewise accept poor growth rates.
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A beef fauna should exist moderately trim in its underline and brisket to preclude excessive waste. At the same time, information technology should show good depth indicating body capacity. The chest floor, equally well every bit spring of ribs, should exhibit practiced torso capacity and overall productiveness. Adequate width betwixt forepart and hind legs likewise indicate good and muscling body capacity.

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The Topline. The topline is the spinal column from the neck to the tailhead of an animate being. Most of the topline is taken from the last 2 thirds of the creature, from the middle of the shoulders to the rump. The meridian line must be straight, with no spinal protrusions or bumps along it.
- Roach-backed bulls are strongly selected against because this impedes a bull's power to brood properly and to travel long distances without creating some sort of leg or spinal injury sometime in the future. Information technology's non so bad in cows, but it can make them cull themselves in a matter of time.
- Sway-backed cattle are likewise selected confronting, every bit this tin likewise hamper movement and ability to properly displace weight on the feet. Sway backs are typically attributed to backs that are too long in length, and results in weakness in structural support of the vertebrae, and also causes irregular-shaped loin muscles. Practiced loin muscle is correlated to high fertility, and bad or weak loin muscle is a sign of poor fertility.
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Shoulders. Skillful shoulder width in either cows or bulls indicates good capacity in the ribcage, where the heart and lungs are located.
- In bulls. Generally, the wider the shoulders in bulls, the better. A bull should have shoulders that are ii inches (5cm) or more wider than his rump. Wide shoulders bespeak masculinity in bulls and is the highest indicator of reproductive efficiency. He is too able to sire sons, when mated to proper phenotypical (feminine) cows, that make swell herd sires. His daughters will reach puberty early, breed back and wean a heavy dogie. Wide shoulders unremarkably means a larger scrotum, since masculinity in a bull is in the wide, deep shoulders and short neck with a rump like in width to the front end.
  - Yearling bulls with adept shoulder widths correlates with uniform gestation periods, birth weights, meliorate calving ease and more uniform weaning weights.
- In cows. Shoulder width should not exceed the width of the rump past more than than +/- half an inch (1.27cm). Also deep and wide a shoulder leads to reduced femininity and lack of good milk production. Too narrow or shallow, and the moo-cow is a higher maintenance and even poses reproductive problems and increased risk of genital defects in herself and her daughters and sons.
- Shoulders in cattle should be of fifty-fifty length, and not go over the topline (which is typically called "coarse-shouldered"). Shoulders should also not exist open nor extremely heavy (where they tin exceed rump width by over 2 inches/5cm), equally they are often indicators of calving difficulties.
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The Centre-girth. The heart girth is the area from behind the shoulders down to backside the elbows. Adept depth of heart girth in cattle is a sign of skillful fodder convertibility and good anxiety and leg conformation. The heart girth is where the organs (eye, lungs, etc.) sit, enabling the animal to do and alive every bit information technology does. The circumference of the centre girth should exist equal to or greater than the tiptop line. The closer in measurement the centre girth is in the animal, the more adaptable, vigorous and efficient the animal will be.
- Smaller heart girths are undesirable, because they tin can permit bad conformation in the front feet (anxiety toe out, for example), they cannot do well in grass alone, and are an overall loftier maintenance beast.

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Rump characteristics: The rump of an animal should be deep, wide, long and level in its elevation. The loin in bulls should be allowed to bow out slightly over the rump'southward topline.
- Rump length in bulls and cows. Rump length should not exist too tall nor too short. Tall rumps often indicate poorer muscling power and thus college maintenance, especially on grass. Taller animals tend to end later and crave more energy-based feeds to actually reach finished weight. The ideal rump length in cows is 38 percent to forty per centum of two thirds of the topline.
- Rump width in bulls and cows. The greater the width of the rump, the ameliorate. Wider rumps and hips in cows is a sign of good calving-power and fertility, as well as early on maturing and low maintenance. Wide rumps in bulls correlate to broad shoulders and shorter necks, which is indicative of masculinity.
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Flank conformation. The higher the flank circumference is than the middle-girth, the higher the reproductive power of the cow. This is considering the flank is located right on the hindquarters of an beast.

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The Forehead: The brow (from the poll [the top-nearly indicate of a bovine'due south head] to but above the eyes) in a balderdash should be wide and wide, but not so much so that information technology makes him await similar he has a "pallet head," or a forehead that is flat and bony without much characteristic as far every bit masculinity is concerned.
- In virtually bulls, like in Charolais and Herefords, curly pilus on the forehead commonly symbolizes a bull'southward good fertility and masculinity.
- Calving-ease bulls (those bulls who sire calves that are built-in small and light-weight, according to breed standards) tend to have a smaller head in proportion to the rest of their trunk than bulls who are not considered calving-ease.
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In cows and heifers (and fifty-fifty in steers), head characteristics should be the opposite of a bull's. She (or "he" for a steer) should look more than feminine and refined than a bull of her convenance. For instance, Hereford or Charolais cows and heifers do not have the curly foreheads of their male counterparts.
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The Eyes: Funny though information technology seems, eye structure in cattle is quite important, particularly in areas where tall plants, dust, and other strange objects can easily enter the eye and cause such problems as pink eye or cancer center. Pinkish eye and cancer eye are serious eye diseases in those animals that lack pigment effectually their eyes and tend to have poor eye conformation.
- The platonic middle construction of a bovine should not exist bulged out with the lashes virtually horizontal with the ground. Eyes should be well-set, or placed well in the eye-sockets of the beast. Cattle with well-set eyes have lashes that are more parallel to the side of the animal's face than to the ground.
  - Skilful pigmentation (not fractional) in and effectually their optics are far less predisposed to eye injury and cancer heart, besides equally sun glare, UV light and reduced fly-related issues.
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The Jaw: A bovine'due south jaw should be evenly set, neither undershot nor overshot. They should exist free of abscesses, swellings, and any other lesions or injuries that would impede the fauna to eat properly nor gain in weight like information technology usually should. Often undershot/overshot jaw characteristics are genetic defects that are passed on to offspring.
- Annotation, though, that immature calves that have undershot or overshot jaws tend to abound out of that and retain normal jaw conformation equally they grow older. It tin can be serious in other animals though, and these are the ones that need to be culled.
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Teeth: Teeth impact product because they are needed to graze and break downward foodstuffs into smaller particles, and must be in skilful condition to practice so. Teeth that are worn downwardly to the gums affects torso status, pregnancy status and production.
- Depending on the vegetation that cows are on, most wearing, on average, begins to show between five to vii years of age. By historic period twelve, many or most of the teeth may be triangular in shape or worn smooth to the gum line. Sandy soil environments tend to have a greater impact on teeth wear than any other environment.
- Cows and bulls with teeth that are down to the gums or that have deteriorated should be culled from the herd.

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Neck conformation in bulls is very important. A good bull should take a thick crest over his neck as well equally a short neck. Curt necks in bulls are a good indicator of libido and high testosterone, besides as larger scrotal circumference (which relate to college levels of hormones) and wider, more muscular shoulders. Brusk-necked bulls tend to sire wide-rumped (more depth in the hindquarters) daughters, and daughters that mature early on.
- Bulls with longer necks. On the contrary, bulls with longer necks (and therefore less of a crest) are afterward maturing, have poorer libido and testosterone levels, are difficult-keepers and sire daughters that are afterwards-maturing. Bulls with longer necks aren't worth the try to go on around considering of their overall lack in masculinity and inferior genetics.
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Neck conformation in cows draws a line between too long and too short. Long-necked cows tend to exist too dairy and higher maintenance. This is because cows that accept longer necks tend to exist over-productive milkers, and because of this higher selection in milking power, will exist later maturing and belatedly breeders.
- Cows that have as well short of necks, on the other hand, are more masculine in conformation, with big shoulders, poorer milking ability and loss of femininity.
- A cow should accept a neck length that is half the length of her trunk, neither as well long nor as well short.^[1]

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Scrotal conformation in bulls: The scrotum of a bull should look football shaped, and for nearly yearlings, scrotal circumference should range from 35" to 40", depending on the breed. Smaller bulls tend to have smaller scrotal circumferences than big bulls. Irregular shaped testicles (uneven size, epididymis not at the lesser of the testes, etc.) can be genetically passed on to sons and daughters. Scrotal conformation in sons could exist worse, and in daughters, udder conformation could cause decrease in milking ability, large teats, sagginess in the udder, and cause the udder to pause down early.
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Teat and udder conformation in cows: A moo-cow should have an udder with uniform quarters and small teats. Each teat should be equally spaced under each quarter. Teats should non exist big, as large teats brand it more hard for a newborn calf to latch onto and suckle from or to get adequate colostrum from.
- The udder should the tucked neatly away in between her hind legs, with a level udder floor and no exhibition of any quartering (i.eastward., one quarter is larger than the other). The udder should blend in with the lower role of the belly quite smoothly, with no V or crevice between the udder and the belly. It should attach loftier up backside the dorsum legs, and non be tilted up in front end or downward in the back.
  - The median suspensory ligament is responsible for proper attachment to the cow'due south body wall. A poor suspensory ligament will allow the udder to hang downwardly too far from the body and subjects the udder to serious problems like mastitis and gamble of injury.
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Poor udder conformation in your beef or dairy herd will reduce udder longevity of your cattle. Like in dairy cows, producers that select for more milk production in terms of college maternal weaning weight and milk Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) values take a moderate genetic animosity with udder quality.
- Thus, it is ever best to match genetics with environmental weather yous are raising your cattle in, and never go to extremes, specially with beef cows.

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Legs should be squarely fix under each of the iv corners of the beast and be reasonably, naturally directly. The movement of the fauna should have a free and easy gait every bit opposed to being uncoordinated, wearisome, stiff and/or restricted. Animals with uneven, small, curled or twisted toes and/or crooked feet usually become lame.
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Forepart leg conformation. Common issues that come with the forepart legs and feet are conditions like beingness buck-kneed, calf-kneed, toed-out and toed-in.
- Buck-kneed cattle tend to have an over-extension of the articulatio genus, making them seem similar they're going to bend downwardly onto their knees instead of standing straight.
- Calf-kneed cattle are the contrary of buck-kneed, with the knee joint extending backwards, pushing the feet forward. This condition is also chosen back-at-the-knee joint.
- Toed-out or splay-footed cattle take knees that are pointed in towards each other causing their front end feet to face outward than straight ahead. Cattle tend to take a gait where they swing the feet out and back in.
- Toed-in or pigeon-toed cattle are the contrary of being toed-out (knees pointing out instead of in), and move the opposite way besides: swinging their feet in so out as they walk.
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Hind leg conformation: The common issues that come with bad conformation of the hind legs e'er tends to beginning at the hocks and the pasterns. If the hocks and pasterns are positioned wrong, so this affects the stance of the anxiety. For case, a bovine with moo-cow-hocked legs will have back feet that are toed-in, and a bovine that is wide-at-the-hocks accept back feet that are toed out.
- Moo-cow-hocked or splay-footed cattle are those that take their hocks pointing in towards each other.
- Wide-at-the-hocks or pigeon-toed is opposite of the previously mentioned, with the hocks pointing away from each other at an outwards angle.
  - Both bad hind leg conformation brand the animate being make a twisting, rotation activity when moving.
- Mail-legged animals have very little curvature in the hocks. Animals with postal service-leggedness are predisposed to stifle injury and often accept a curt, stilted pace.
- Sickle-hocked animals are the extreme opposite to being postal service-legged: the brute has too much angle in the hocks, making it sit dorsum on the heels of the pes and develop hock weaknesses.
- Narrow-stance at the hind legs is where the hind legs are literally so close together that y'all can't see the front end of the animate being.
  - Animals with this bad conformation may also be slightly cow-hocked, and be predisposed to soreness and raw pare from the hind feet rubbing together then ofttimes.
  - Animals with this stance tend to walk with each pes moving in on each other or in towards the middle of their body.
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Toes: Toe structure of the bovine volition likewise have an impact on mobility and opinion. Bulls and cows that take overgrown toes will not walk usually, and walk on the back of their heels than on their whole foot.
- Toes of uneven width and length volition besides bear on the mobility and weight distribution of the beast.
- Bulls with a status called screw hook, which is a highly heritable condition and occurs when one toe is thinner than the other and volition abound over the other toe, will be predisposed to lameness and lack of proper mobility. Bulls with this condition should be culled.
- Other toe abnormalities to lookout out for are:
  - Short hooves that are worn at the toe, indicating the foot has been dragged as the beast walks
  - Long, narrow hooves with shallow heels, often associated with weak hocks and pasterns and sometimes form scissor hooves (toes cross over each other as they grow).

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Question

What should a breeding cows hips look like?

The hips or pelvic structure of a cow needs to exist deep and wide. The pin bones of the hips need to be broad with lots of length between hooks and pins, and wide hook bones also. This creates enough of room for calving. The pelvis should be tipped downward at the rear rather than tipped up. Tipped upwardly usually is conducive to calving issues.
Question

Does trunk status contribute to conformation?

No. They are two unlike things. Torso condition is level of fat on the animal, and conformation is skeletal structure.
Question

Explain the importance of well sprung-out rib cage in a dairy animate being

Well-sprung ribs indicate good capacity for middle and lungs and other eternal organs, similar some of the rumen and reticulum likewise.
Question

How does a cow's stance demand to be?

Squarely under her, with feet under the shoulders and hips. It's really hard to tell if a cow'south continuing properly if yous are looking at her while she's continuing on uneven footing, and so be aware of that.
Question

My balderdash has won multiple one thousand championships, but he has abnormally modest feet. What are the chances that he will laissez passer this small foot trait to his offspring?

The heritability is quite low, effectually 15 to 20% for most breeds.
Question

Is at that place any way to put a heifer into heat?

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The standard treatment for cows with a corpus luteum (CL) is an injection of prostaglandin (PG) which volition bring most cows into heat two to four days after injection. Combining the PG with heat detection focused on the treated cow will result in cows getting pregnant more rapidly.

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The most of import characteristics to notation in bulls are feet and legs, shoulders, neck, rump and scrotum, as well equally overall muscling and masculinity.
The nigh important characteristics to note in cows are the capacity in the hindquarters, the udder, overall femininity, feet and legs, and overall body capacity.
Some pictures may exist harder to judge than others considering of the angle they were taken and the height the lensman was standing at when taking pictures of his/her cattle.

It may be a little harder to practice any judging with cattle in real-life. however, peculiarly if y'all accept your time and don't bustle through it all, y'all may find it much easier to do whatsoever conformational judging in real-life than just by using 2D images off a newspaper or computer.
Sometimes a moving-picture show doesn't tell the whole story, i.e., things aren't always what they seem in a photograph.
Don't get overwhelmed with all the terminology and what-non, particularly if you've decided to go off of the Bovine Engineering site. Apply your basic cognition of correct structural conformation to make you initial attempts at judging cattle.

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Stockdill Golou1940

Ideal Beef Cattle Conformation Beef Steer

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