A little bit of Hereford history in Uruguay

[KNERSIE]

I am with you on this. I did find that about the only country that had standards was South Africa. They even have to be inspected before a transfer can be made from one owner to another (Hereford Society).

Not quite how it works...

An animal born to two registered parents are taken up in the calf book. This animal is to be inspected between ages 12 and 36 months where they have to meet minimum standards set by the breeders society and a liniar classification is done. If the animal passes this inspection he is taken up in the registry, if not he can't be registered.

What probably is making the biggest contribution to keeping the cattle functional is every calf born is registered in the calfbook, this is compulsory. If a cow's intercalving period gets too long she is blacklisted and unless the breeder can give an adequate explanation she is scrapped from the registry.

Here is a link to our breed standards
http://www.studbook.co.za/Society/heref ... ndards.php

The UK also has a published breed standard, if I find my copy I'll scan and post it.

 

[HerefordSire]

I have bred dogs for awhile, and I am not aware of any standard that says a dog should have a sway back, in fact most standards call for a level topline, some call for a roached back. If you bought some books on canine structure you would soon realize why that is important.

I can't think of a reason that mother nature would have created a sway back for?

One thing I looked for when I started getting involved with cattle, was a standard for each breed, or specifically the angus, never found it. Many other species that are shown, all have standards to which they are bred to and judged by. It would sure help to have a standard for each breed of cattle, then you would have something to breed by.

I am with you on this. I did find that about the only country that had standards was South Africa. They even have to be inspected before a transfer can be made from one owner to another (Hereford Society). I can see where this would make for a general over all improvement for any registered breed which would eventually pass on to commercial producers.
I never owned a sway backed horse and have had a few. Never owned a swaybacked dog and I have had a bunch. Never owned a camel, don't want to. I have owned a few snakes, their backs are all over the place.
I like my cows to have good top lines. Same reason I tell my kids to set up straight. Don,t want them screwed up when they are old.

Does this appear to be a swayed-back horse?

 

[RD-Sam]

It's hard to tell what that horse is, it has it's head down and it's moving. It is well let down in the flank causing even more of a problem. If anything I would want to call it roach backed.

 

[HerefordSire]

Does this horse appear to be swayed-back?

 

[RD-Sam]

Yes it does.

 

[HerefordSire]

Yes it does.

Can you agree then that Secretariat, one of the greatest and fastest horses of all time, and mother nature are in agreeement and that swayed-backs do not affect animal performance?

 

[RD-Sam]

Does this horse appear to be swayed-back?
View attachment 1

And here is a Mustang that isn't.

 

[RD-Sam]

Yes it does.

Can you agree then that Secretariat, one of the greatest and fastest horses of all time, and mother nature are in agreeement and that swayed-backs do not affect animal performance?

Sorry, can't agree with that logic, sway backs do affect performance.

 

[novatech]

edited or deleted

 

[novatech]

Does this horse appear to be swayed-back?

No. The spine it self is probably straight. It is the bone on top of the spine that gives it the arched look. He looks pretty straight from hip to withers. From that point the spine continues in a straight line but the bone above and attached to the spine is much taller and has the effect of making a horse look swayback.

 

[HerefordSire]

Yes it does.

Can you agree then that Secretariat, one of the greatest and fastest horses of all time, and mother nature are in agreeement and that swayed-backs do not affect animal performance?

Sorry, can't agree with that logic, sway backs do affect performance.

Does this bull have a swayed-back?

 

[HerefordSire]

Does this horse appear to be swayed-back?

No. The spine it self is probably straight. It is the bone on top of the spine that gives it the arched look. He looks pretty straight from hip to withers. From that point the spine continues in a straight line but the bone above and attached to the spine is much taller and has the effect of making a horse look swayback.

Are you implying sway-backed animals are difficult to classify accurately?

 

[novatech]

Without doing an anatomy on the bull I would say he does. Most straight bred Brahman do not start their thoracic bone elevation until the are closer to the scapula. Herefords are normally the same.
If you drew a line from hip straight toward the front down the spine the spine would end up several inches below the top of the scapula.
Have you noticed I can Google too and come up the fancy names?

 

[novatech]

Are you implying sway-backed animals are difficult to classify accurately?

I said what I said. I did not or mean to imply anything.