Meaning of letters at sale ring

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osagetears

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Just started a cow/calf operation last year, and not totally familiar with designations at the sale ring - like the letters "SS" or "A" on a cow.
 
Every sale barn has their own method. Where I worked we put stages O, I, II, III on their hip in chalk. And sale tags on their forehead for age; heifers - 8 none, 9-11 one, 12 and up two. It worked find for small groups, but when we started sorting larger group of if it had rained. You couldn't see the marks or the head tags would run off.
Where I buy cows now they use color coded for the stage: yellow - open, blue- first, pink- second, green -third. Then they write the age on the colored paper.
like Tom4018 said ss- short & solid, A - aged.
 
Sales here can be different depending on the vet doing the check, barn changes vet then their system changes. Gets confusing sometimes. Most here doing the aging close to the same but the preg checks they really vary, some will say how many months bred and others just say 1st, 2nd or 3rd stage.
 
I know one sale barn that uses different color and location of ear tags to tell age and expected delivery. There is a big board up above the auctioneer explaining what color and which ear the tag means.
The two closest to me paint the number of months bred on the hip. A big V or NV on the side for bangs vaccinated or not. And a painted slash mark for age. Young cows the slash is over the shoulder. Broken mouth is at the tail head.
 
I sure don't think much of someone trying to call age past 5. Once all the adult teeth are in it's all about wear
That can vary greatly depending on what kinda country the cow grazes on.
Once a cow gets middle aged it's all about condition of the teeth. A solid mouth 9 year old might be better than a ss or broke mouth 6 year old.
 
I sure don't think much of someone trying to call age past 5. Once all the adult teeth are in it's all about wear
That can vary greatly depending on what kinda country the cow grazes on.
Once a cow gets middle aged it's all about condition of the teeth. A solid mouth 9 year old might be better than a ss or broke mouth 6 year old.
Yes, I agree. However when I was aging for the vet, if a 6,7,8yr old was broken mouthed. I called her aged. It's all about the person aging. I almost got into a fist fight because I was calling bred heifers 3years old by there teeth (They had their second set of permanent teeth), but according to their registration papers they were two.
I've also seen cows I personally raised be called much younger than they actually were.
If you age commercial cows for public sale you better have a lot of experience.
 
the sale barn that i used had "ss" for short solid and "bm" for broken mouth or aged cow with little or no teeth.
 
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