cow hocked

[AllForage]

Ron I said I was glad you visited a real operation not fluff and show.

I will still question 2000 pound cows, but that's just my problem.

 

[chippie]

I didn't read the entire thread.
However, maybe the cow hocks come from his cows more so than the bulls. It takes a very prepotent bull to overrule a cow's defects.
Very often people will breed a less than stellar cow to a good bull hoping that the bull will correct the cow's faults. It may in the first generation, but the faults are still there in the genetics and will show up later one way or another.
Just my two cents.

 

[AllForage]

I didn't read the entire thread.
However, maybe the cow hocks come from his cows more so than the bulls. It takes a very prepotent bull to overrule a cow's defects.
Very often people will breed a less than stellar cow to a good bull hoping that the bull will correct the cow's faults. It may in the first generation, but the faults are still there in the genetics and will show up later one way or another.
Just my two cents.

Thanks Chippie but he has been on the same course for many, many years. So yes that is possible but I think it is his breeding decisions

 

[inyati13]

Ron I said I was glad you visited a real operation not fluff and show.

I will still question 2000 pound cows, but that's just my problem.

Ryan my friend, I errored. I thought you were employing antithesis which is to mean the opposite of what you say. So I apologize for over thinking that one. I take it you are sincere that Misty Meadows has some substance instead of fluff and puff. I should also be careful giving the impression that his cows are 2000 pounds. The two in that range were his donor cows. In fairness, I should mention that his cows are certainly big but I see a large percentage of cows in this state that are big. But I will not cover up the fact that his cows are uniformly big, ranging from 1600 to 1800. I was impressed how similiar his cows were. A herd of cows of any size that shares the same characteristics is lovely to me. BTW: He freely showed us that he still has some foot issues which I mention as it is the subject of this thread. On cow had a screw claw. I guess I could ponder why she had not been culled. He did say he had he for several years and is productive. Keep in mind, he is a producer who sells both commercial and seedstock. I would doubt that he would market her calves as seedstock. But I am only guessing!

 

[Nesikep]

To answer the original question, cowhocks aren't a bog deal on hard rocky ground and cows that are cowhocked can still live their full potential productive life, however when you run them in areas where the hooves would not naturally wear off like in the Kalahari Desert here, you have a mess on your hands. Even in that conditions you often see old bulls whose hooves had never been touched.

How the hooves wear off is directly affected by leg structure above the hoof and in the end we all want problem free cattle, structural soundness isn't a fancy point, it is a neccessity (for everyone selling seedstock), whether your environment reminds you of that or not.

That is exactly the problem we have around here when the leg structure isn't correct.. We had some that were really bad for it but have gotten rid of those.. Now I trim hooves once every couple years if I'm feeling ambitious... Some cows will let me do it when they're laying down, which makes my life a lot easier. Unless I have them corralled for a long time they'll usually wear them off fine on their own