Badlands,
We must be making the same mistakes, I have frame 3.5 cows that is 1300 lbs native grazing only. Off course they are the exception, but in the registered herd the tallest framed cow is a frame 6 and the smallest a frame 3.5 and not a single one weighs less than 1200lbs in their working clothes, the average being about 1300 and the heaviest 1450 lbs. This is either on pasture or veld, no grain whatsoever.
That was my point in asking which of the two heifers oakcreek prefers. I should have been more specific saying that udder quality should be disregarded. Under my conditions where cattle are expected to thrive on low quality grazing and for long periods of time have to browse leaves for their nutrition, the heifer on the right is more likely to work for me. I need that extra barrel capacity and heartgirth and also a good layer of backfat for cows to work for me.
Other than that I agree the one on the left has a better udder, a better haircoat and probably a better neck attachment, I am questioning the strength of her loin, though. She would definately do better in the showring than the one on the right, at least over here.
I hope to have made my point that we as breeders have to breed what works for us and for our neighbours or other bull customers. The showring or the trend of the time seldom takes the commercial producer that runs his cattle on native grass into account. Herefords were once the king of the range, the drive for smaller cattle for the showring made them unable to compete as a beef breed with the more moderate cattle of the time and they lost that position.
We should ask ourselves if the herefords' ability to lay on fat in good times to use as an energy reserve in lean times wasn't the trait that made them the no 1 choice for the range in the first place. Now the drive is for carcass traits with almost no backfat, the result is harder keeping cattle. Shouldn't we leave this terminal types for the continental breeds and get back to what made them so popular in the first place?
