The Importance Of The Tail

[greenwillowhereford II]

I was reminded of this as I walked past my bull tonight after dark, and his tail switched me so hard that it hurt! I've noticed his tail seems heavier, and hurts worse than those of my cows. All my cattle have good long tails with good switches on the end, and I am convinced that such a tail is important to keeping flies at bay. I'd like to hear other opinions on this, including from Knersie, Dun, and Doc.

 

[bigbull338]

your right a cows/bulls tail is used as a fly swatter.an some tail switches are thicker an heavier than others.

 

[Third Row]

The fly swatting ability of a tail isn't ground breaking science.

 

[dun]

The switch is also known as the "dairymans towel", and for good reason

 

[MikeC]

There is nothing worse than being hit across the face/mouth with a tail caked with prairie mud and cockleburs.

Some dairymen in my area even removed the tails (all except about a foot) when working in a flat dairy barn.

Oxtail makes a pretty good soup.

 

[dun]

There is nothing worse than being hit across the face/mouth with a tail caked with prairie mud and cockleburs.

Some dairymen in my area even removed the tails (all except about a foot) when working in a flat dairy barn.

Oxtail makes a pretty good soup.

We've got a few parrallel parlors that have the tails removed. Surprising how good a cow can get with crushing a fly with the end of the stub.

 

[novatech]

I thought they were there to give something to twist and move them through the chute. ;-)

 

[mermill2]

Cows tail is an accurate precision fly swatter or whatever else it needs to swat.Hits on target most of the time.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Cows tail is an accurate precision fly swatter or whatever else it needs to swat.Hits on target most of the time.

with it being a continuation of the spine its probably like us using our hand,, mind over matter

 

[TexasBred]

I thought they were there to give something to twist and move them through the chute. ;-)

hahaha...you too???

Some dairymen "dock" the tails and only leave about a foot hanging..clodded up with dirt and manure some think they increase incidence of mastitis. Everytime I run a cow thru the chute I trim the switch on her tail just to make it less likely to get caught in something. Do the same for anything going to the sale. Just makes them look a little bit better.

 

[KNERSIE]

Jan Bonsma believed a long silky tailswitch is an indication of a fertile cow well adapted to her environment. Coarse tailswitches in cows usually indicates lower estrogen levels with resulting lowered fertility.

The opposite apply for bulls. IN a bull a long coarse tailswitch indicates higher levels of testosterone.

 

[dieselbeef]

i thought that was a handle for loadin em into the trailer...but its always covered in poopys

 

[Wisteria Farms]

i thought that was a handle for loadin em into the trailer...but its always covered in poopys

Dieselbeef using the word "poopys" just doesn't seem right....I guess I'm too tired because it struck me funny :banana:

 

[ANAZAZI]

Jan Bonsma believed a long silky tailswitch is an indication of a fertile cow well adapted to her environment. Coarse tailswitches in cows usually indicates lower estrogen levels with resulting lowered fertility.

The opposite apply for bulls. IN a bull a long coarse tailswitch indicates higher levels of testosterone.

Mr Bonsma is one favourite of mine ever since I started digging for info on how to make adequate composite breeds. Salorn and bonsmara being two of my ideals.

I have a piedmontese bull called Kwiszats haderach, whom i will post eventually. His tail is very thin, and the switch is heavy. I have read somewhere that thin tails equals hard keepers, although this one seems to be an exeption as he has hardly melted at all when pulled from a ration of as much feed he wanted.

 

[S&S Farms]

When fly season is over we cut the switches back so they dont have mud filled switches at calving time. We do this when we preg check in the fall. We also do not cut the cull cows switches back so it is easy to identify with out reading a tag.

Jeff