When performing a visual evaluation of the animal, note the following features in particular: frame size, muscle and body structure, and breed character.
In a breeding herd, you need to select animals that possess traits
for a long life, reproductive efficiency, efficient feed to meat conversion,
and a type that will produce desirable carcass composition and performance.
The ability of the individual animal to meet these requirements is
shaped by heredity and the environment.
Today, production records are used to determine an animal’s genetic
potential and its response to the environment. But these records do not tell
the whole story. Physical characteristics remain important, and visual
evaluation is still a key part of the selection process.
It takes training and experience to accurately evaluate features.
The following is merely a broad guideline of what to look for:
1. Body
structure
The neck should be moderately long (an indicator of growth). The
loin and rump should be long, wide and level, so that the top of the animal is
long and strong.
Extremely short-bodied and short-legged cattle are associated with
excessive fat and inefficient growth. Excessively long legs and long bodies are
associated with late maturity and low-quality grades.
The rump of a beef animal should be deep and wide when viewed from
the rear, with the widest portion about midway between the tail-head and hock.
The shoulders should be well muscled. Extremely heavy, open shoulders can lead
to calving difficulties.
A beef animal should be moderately trim in the rear flank, underline
and brisket to prevent excessive waste. The chest floor and spring of ribs
should be wide, indicating body capacity and overall productiveness.
Bulls: Thick, heavy
and long muscling is desirable. This is indicated by length and size of
muscling in the forearm and gaskin areas, and width and bulge of muscling in
the stifle area when viewed from the rear and side. Thickness, length and bulge
of muscling in the back, loin and round indicate muscling in the areas of the
carcass with the highest-priced wholesale cuts. Avoid selecting an animal with
extreme muscling, so that its movement is impaired or it appears
double-muscled.
Females: Muscling should
be long, smooth and moderately thick. Short, coarse and bulky muscling is
usually a sign of poor reproductive efficiency and milk production.
3. Feet and
legs
In a beef animal, the legs should be squarely set under the four
corners of its body. The shoulders should not be too straight; this is an
indicator of leg problems.
Do not select an animal with signs of being post-legged,
knock-kneed, splay-footed, sickle-hocked or buck-kneed or one with short,
straight pasterns. The animal should move freely and easily.
Frame size indicates growth and, indirectly, the composition
(fat-to-lean ratio) of a beef animal. A large-framed animal is leaner at a
given weight than a small-framed one. Frame size is related to the slaughter
weight at which an animal should attain a given amount of fat thickness.
5. Reproductive
soundness
Bulls: A mature bull
should show a burly, masculine head with coarse hair, a heavy jaw, and heavy
muscling in the neck and shoulders.
The testicles should be well-developed and properly balanced in
relation to the animal’s age and size. The scrotum and testicles should be at
least 30cm in circumference on a 12-month-old bull to indicate adequate
reproductive ability.
Cows and
heifers: A female should show femininity, with a lean, refined head and
long, narrow and clean neck. Its overall body shape should be slightly angular,
with a small dewlap down the throat and in the brisket area. The shoulder
blades should extend to the top of the vertebrae, giving a lean appearance to
the top of the shoulders, which should be moderately muscled and clean.
A productive cow will have a broad chest and large spring of ribs,
indicating adequate body capacity. Females should be wide and long from hips to
pins, and deep from the pins to the stifle joint, indicating calving ease.
The widest portion of the fertile cow should be in the midrib. A
fertile female will have a level top line as opposed to a high tail-head.
The udder should be strongly attached with a level floor, and teats
should be proportional to body size.
‘An analysis of
beef cattle conformation,’ by Dr Brett Barham et al (University of Arkansas,
Division of Agriculture).
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