How they mark bred cows differs

[Dave]

What is a "spread" mouth cow? I'm familiar with short and solid, broken mouth, and smooth mouth, but not spread mouth.

I never hear the term short solid here. I assume short solid and spread mouth are the same thing. I have noticed in the past that what I would call and short solid has some space between the teeth. Any more I don't look at their teeth myself. The other sale I buy at just calls them 9-10 year olds. The next step is broken mouth.

 

[GoWyo]

I never hear the term short solid here. I assume short solid and spread mouth are the same thing. I have noticed in the past that what I would call and short solid has some space between the teeth. Any more I don't look at their teeth myself. The other sale I buy at just calls them 9-10 year olds. The next step is broken mouth.

My vet the other day called some of the older cows "solid with buttons and corners" but I know that's not a sale barn term. I guess those might be short solids. Front teeth were worn down to look like buttons and the lower incisors still had corners.

 

[Travlr]

I never hear the term short solid here. I assume short solid and spread mouth are the same thing. I have noticed in the past that what I would call and short solid has some space between the teeth. Any more I don't look at their teeth myself. The other sale I buy at just calls them 9-10 year olds. The next step is broken mouth.

So spread mouth are teeth with space between them? Like maybe an old cow with a wide muzzle that still has her teeth?

Short and solid are worn out teeth but they are all there. I've seen short solid cows come off the desert at three years old. Scarce forage close to the ground, and the sand just wears their teeth down in a hurry.