Bad Bag or Just Don't Look ?

[Nesikep]

It is hard to tell, but I found that if they have very tapered teats, that usually gets worse every time, cylindrical teats seem to not go bad.... Grandmother of this cow (pictured above) was a Saler/Herf cross, put her down after 16 calves, her last calves were her best also, Always had a good bag, and her mother mostly hereford, had 13 calves, and no deterioration of the udder.

 

[inyati13]

I am in the same boat as you with the cow pictured below. She is a registered Simangus with prized genes in her pedigree. She came out of the Hudson Pine/Rocking P breeding partnership. But someone didn't tell her she was suppose to have a perfect udder. The fact is: you could breed her to a donkey and she will have the best calf in the herd. Moderate to slightly big calves which are heavily muscled and grow like a weed. Very easy on my pastures for her to wean a 700 pound calf in 6 months. So despite her udder, I still have her.

 

[highgrit]

The only problem with her is you shouldn't keep her calves for replacements Inyati. A bad udder is a problem that can be passed on to the next generation.

 

[Aaron]

The only problem with her is you shouldn't keep her calves for replacements Inyati. A bad udder is a problem that can be passed on to the next generation.

Bred to the right bull each time, you can turn one around in a few generations. I've got a line that I have continually kept a heifer each time and the 4th generation will calve next spring - you wouldn't believe the difference between the 1st and 3rd generation. Teats still have some length to them, but funnel teats and poor suspension are gone.

 

[Nesikep]

Those teats shouldn't be a problem for a calf to find all 4 in short order.. I'm guessing that being a heavy milker, the calf gets the front 2 and doesn't need the back ones until the 3rd week or so, which is just making the problem worse, and perhaps was a part of the cause of it to begin with. I don't care much about teat length as long as the calf can get them, and when I want milk I want to be able to grab a handful too.
Aaron is right, bred to the right bull her calves could be just fine... I just have a hard time judging the udder of a bull. I got pretty lucky with my GV bull, though I did get a bunch of extra teats on some cows, they all milk well and have better udders than their mothers.

 

[Aaron]

Those teats shouldn't be a problem for a calf to find all 4 in short order.. I'm guessing that being a heavy milker, the calf gets the front 2 and doesn't need the back ones until the 3rd week or so, which is just making the problem worse, and perhaps was a part of the cause of it to begin with. I don't care much about teat length as long as the calf can get them, and when I want milk I want to be able to grab a handful too.
Aaron is right, bred to the right bull her calves could be just fine... I just have a hard time judging the udder of a bull. I got pretty lucky with my GV bull, though I did get a bunch of extra teats on some cows, they all milk well and have better udders than their mothers.

If a seller can't be bothered or doesn't want to show you the mother of your prospective herdsire, then it should be red flags not to buy from them. I have such a list and it continues to grow.

 

[highgrit]

That's some great advice Aaron, thanks. I will remember that on my next bull purchase. I sold a yearling bull about a month ago. He was really nice, but had to much sheath for my liking. But the man that bought him wanted to see his sire and then wanted him anyway. But I would not register him even though I could have. I want to see his calves, and him in a year or two.

 

[randiliana]

To me, and I'm a commercial producer, I don't really worry about a cow's udder, unless, I have to help the calf with it (or it is literally so bad it is dragging on the ground). Not to say I don't pay attention to them, but that I won't cull a cow just because she doesn't have a 'Perfect' udder. I won't keep a heifer off of her if her udder is bad enough, though. I'd keep a calf off the cow of inyati's in a heart beat, but then again, I'm not a seedstock producer, and I'm not going to affect anyone's bottom line but my own. We don't have a lot of problems with udders, and as far as mastitis goes, we've had more problems with 'good' uddered cows than with poor ones... Now having said that, we have a pasture that we run a terminal bull in, and that is where all the 'bad' cows go. Anything with a bad enough udder, bad feet (I worry more about them than udders), poor temperaments (although those don't usually stick around long enough to get bred a second time), and poorer producing cows that can use that little extra boost of hybrid vigour.

Just remember, in the pursuit of perfection, there is going to be a lot of non-perfect results.....If we kept only the perfect ones, our herds would be pretty tiny.... It's just a matter of deciding how perfect we need them to be.

 

[inyati13]

To me, and I'm a commercial producer, I don't really worry about a cow's udder, unless, I have to help the calf with it (or it is literally so bad it is dragging on the ground). Not to say I don't pay attention to them, but that I won't cull a cow just because she doesn't have a 'Perfect' udder. I won't keep a heifer off of her if her udder is bad enough, though. I'd keep a calf off the cow of inyati's in a heart beat, but then again, I'm not a seedstock producer, and I'm not going to affect anyone's bottom line but my own. We don't have a lot of problems with udders, and as far as mastitis goes, we've had more problems with 'good' uddered cows than with poor ones... Now having said that, we have a pasture that we run a terminal bull in, and that is where all the 'bad' cows go. Anything with a bad enough udder, bad feet (I worry more about them than udders), poor temperaments (although those don't usually stick around long enough to get bred a second time), and poorer producing cows that can use that little extra boost of hybrid vigour.

Just remember, in the pursuit of perfection, there is going to be a lot of non-perfect results.....If we kept only the perfect ones, our herds would be pretty tiny.... It's just a matter of deciding how perfect we need them to be.

I have had that thought. It reminds me of what AllForage said, "Cows always disappoint." Not always but I think his point is that there are too many traits that cows are judged by for all of them to be excellent.

 

[Nesikep]

I think the first order of business should be raising a good calf every year... Pretty certainly is nice, but not mission critical to commercial folk. I put a lot of value on temperament, and all my cows 6 years old and less are pretty much all milkable and come to me for neck rubs, I loathe hoof trimming, so that's important to me too. Udders, well, that falls into the "pretty" category, since I have the temperament well taken care of, it's not much work to give a calf a hand (er, finger) to get latched on. I like nice flat toplines like everyone else, but the bottom line is more important.

 

[Gators Rule]

Mine is like the one Cowgirl Jenna describes... She's had the first calf of the year about 5 times, and it's always in the top 20%.

a video is worth more... Here is "Sabine" a day after calving. This year it took her granddaughter (a real thief) to find the hind quarters.
[youtube]4mhECCMxi1w[/youtube]

Goodness..! it looks like her teats are no more than 10-12 inches off the ground. A calf would get a crick in his/her neck by nursing her.

 

[Nesikep]

hehe, yep!... On the other hand, I milked a gallon of colostrum out of 1 quarter last year... I didn't have the patience to milk all 4!