Lucky_P":r4nz0x1p said:
Wonder how the folks who have their cattle's hooves trimmed on a regular basis are gonna report scores... and how do we interpret(and believe) those reported scores...?
It's like birth weights; the data is only as good as the person recording it. But, hopefully, the abundance of data will knock out the outliers.
If our breed was taking feet scores, and I had a cow that needed a trim, I would record her ACTUAL type of feet, not what it looks like after she is trimmed.
I wonder how many people do not realize the dairy industry trims their dairy cattle on a regular basis? And these are cows that are in pasture, not standing on concrete all day.
And on the topic of feet; Upgrade is a Simmental sire, was at the top of the list for MANY years now for the most registered cattle in the breed. We have used him heavy on our farm. I had heard from numerous people about his tendency to throw bad feet. I have NEVER had a bad footed one, until this year! We steered him, and are raising him for the freezer, however I am not sure he will make it to 1300 pounds. His inside claw on front and back feet is very small, and the outside claw grows very flat and out (hard to explain). Because of this, he is lame, has big swollen knees, and spends a lot of time laying around. My vet thinks he might have OCD (joint issue). Now, when he was born, it was a very cold morning and when I found him I thought he was dead (frozen and wet). We had him in our bathtub for several hours to warm him, and he spent his first few days in the house keeping him warm. After that, he went out with his dam. So, are his feet a result of his condition (he was ice cold, so did that do damage to the tissues that grow hoof?) or genetics? Who knows, but he is being taken out of the gene pool regardless.