Hereford 4H steer

[Chris H]

Here is GS's steer for our fair in August. His maternal half-sister w/calf is in the breeding forum, he hopes to also take her as cow/calf(she's the escape artist, arrrrrgghh!).

Not real good pictures, he kept squirming to get brushed more -- we had an outbreak of lice, double arrrrrgghh!

Sorry about the size, but if you click on the thumbnail it will take you to the larger image.

 

[Chris H]

Here are the pictures, I wasn't allowed to edit my post any more.

 

[KNERSIE]

Very nice beefy steer. I assume his hindleg structure is the reason why he is a steer and not a bull?

 

[novatech]

Very nice beefy steer. I assume his hindleg structure is the reason why he is a steer and not a bull?

You know you need to explain those kind of things for some of us needing to learn.
I assume you are talking about him being Cow-hocked.

 

[Chris H]

Very nice beefy steer. I assume his hindleg structure is the reason why he is a steer and not a bull?

I'm going to look again at the hindlegs. I noticed that in the picture but never noticed it before. It's possible he was twisting to get his butt scratched. But, he does tend to stand with his legs stretched out too far when we're trying to set him up.
The biggest reason he's a steer is we thought we'd be able to get him out to shows throughout the winter as a steer more than we could as a bull. Unfortunately, we got to one jackpot and my husband had a heart attack soon after. That has changed a few of our plans.
We raised the steer's sire and have 10 cows bred to him for this year. We've also got a nice May heifer from him.

 

[KNERSIE]

Very nice beefy steer. I assume his hindleg structure is the reason why he is a steer and not a bull?

You know you need to explain those kind of things for some of us needing to learn.
I assume you are talking about him being Cow-hocked.

Yes, he most definately is very cowhocked and he is also too upright in his rear pasterns. Idealy you want the pastern and the ground to form a 45degree angle, in his case i doubt its much less than 60 degrees. You can also argue that he turns his front toes out slightly, but I don't see that as a problem in this case. Beef conformation wise he is right on the money.

Usually standing stretched out is an indication of too much set in the hocks and shoulder, he has slightly more set than ideal, but still well within the accepted range.

 

[Chris H]

Here he is 4 months ago, same young man but he's also grown an inch or two in the last four months! He was still a bull at this picture, we cut him the first Sat in November. He's never looked to be cowhocked, but this picture does show his pasterns are too straight.

 

[Chris H]

Oh, please be sure to pop over to the breed board and evaluate this steers maternal half sister in 'Grandsons Pure Gold Heifer'. The half sister is the cow, not the calf. I think her legs exhibit a good set with a good angle on the pasterns. This steer's sire has pasterns that are a bit short and my intentions are to use him more as a terminal type bull.

 

[Chris H]

I just wanted to post a pic of the steer before he went off to hamburger heaven...
He got 3rd in the Hereford class, he might have gotten 2nd if he'd held still long enough for the judge to get a good feel over his ribs. He was also 3rd in the bred & owned steers, competing against all breeds in that class.

 

[3waycross]

Chris
It looks like he did a great job with him. Congrats!