I think when you get right down to it, it is a "cosmetic" choice as much or more so than anything else. I don't like a high tail setting either, but when it is in competition with other traits, it is a low priority!
Doc, I think that is a near-perfect answer! Of course, I have to say that, as that is the one that I give. LOL. I don't like it either in a cow. Don't know if it REALLY damages anything in a biological sense. But, it generally hurts the sale price.
Now, I understand that there are some older observations that the high tailset cattle also had tipped up vulva's which could catch trash from the "top garbage chute", so we need to think about that. Knersie would probably mention that, as that was something observed in the Bonsmara evolution.
I think it is probably something to avoid in selecting our young females, but if a cow has had a dozen calves, then she has demonstrated that it doesn't impact her.
These are odd cows when we see them. My Tarentaise cows have high tailheads, these cows don't have high tailheads in the way I think about it. They are more "short" or "pushed in" than "high".
I don't mind a high tailhead, that definately will contribute to ease of calving, but I don't like these "short" tailhead cows.
As to the "best" angle from hooks to pins that Knersie asked about. I would rather have them sloping from hooks to pins than the other way around, or even flat. Sloped hips present a larger opening to the calf, like you said. On the other hand, when they lay down to calve as some do, they pull the legs up under themselves and make a slope anyway. Also, sometimes heavy muscled bulls are mistaken for sloping off, when they don't. The muscle makes it look like they are sloping, but they aren't. In the animal kingdom, sloped hips are built for speed and athleticism, I think. While some of that might be important in a cow, I think we can find something that works between the wild kingdom and the show ring.
Now, a common thing I see is people trying to pin down "ideal slope". They say 2 - 3 % from hooks to pins. Well, I think they can't tell that very well, as on an 18" hip, that would only be about 2/10 of a inch, so actually quite flat. That is a pretty astute eyeball! Maybe they mean 2-3" of slope, and on an 18" hip, that would be about a 11-17% slope. Either way, when we try to put everything into a number, it sometimes get's real stoopid. Mostly, if you put a pencil to something someone tells you for about 5 minutes, you can pretty well figure out if they are BS'ing you.
beef, good catch! You haven't seen too many Drs. argue I bet. It gets convoluted and sometimes we miss the little particulars, but I think we are on the same page. LOL. We knew what cow we were talking about, and we just passed it by.
Badlands
The cow y'all are, or should be, talking about is: G A R Precision 2536.
