What does the terms "Short ear" + "Long ear" refer to?

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I don't know where you are from. I hadn't heard it before CT either, but up here it is not an issue. Down south there are Brahman influenced cattle, the brahman have long ears (not like a dog, but look them up and you will see). This is carried into their offspring, and you can tell that they are part Brahman. Short ears are what we would just call "ears".
 
I'm not sure but I'm guessing when you get to SE Georgia you'll be running across quite a bit of "eared" cattle.
The Brahman influence helps out with the heat down here in the south. Lots of composite breeds you'll get to know are Brahman influence also. Like Brafords, Brangus, Charbray, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmaster, etc. Lots and lots of them.
 
What got me too ask this question is a thread a couple of post down from this one:

Re: Anyone doing this?
by backhoeboogie on Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:45 am

Day old holstein heifers were bringing $800 and up. Bull calves were still pretty cheap. Most dairies quit crossing because of heifer prices. Why would they cross breed and have a heifer worth $150 maybe? I haven't priced heifers since the milk price bust.

Mostly I buy brangus heifer calves that are split from an aged cow when they are sold as pairs and no one bids. If the heifer calf has shortened ears, I don't take her. My nurse cow calves with a half brangus calf each year. The steers are usually black and make a lot of money. The heifers both natural and grafted are added to the herd.
Our ancestors gave us this. They fought to make it what it is. All we have to do is defend it.


Daniel
 
It is just terms that I have heard most of my life. But it is the same way for "tiger stripe" in this forum. Everyone I have ever known in person referred to them as brindles.

The previous posters are correct. You have what is referred to as 1/4 ear, 1/2 ear and full ear referring to the amount of brahman influence. You can hear things like "a little over a half ear".

We have had over 26 days of triple digit temperatures this summer here where I live. The vet tells me it is not so much the high temps during the day that get cold climate cattle in trouble but rather the over night temps in the 80's.

There are many terms used in this forum I have never experienced. Things like "second calf heifer". Every one I have ever been around referred to heifers and cows as in a filly to a mare.

So if you see a term used that doesn't make sense, don't feel like you should know it. I experience the same things.

In this particular case I am referring to animals I intend to retain for my herd. I am trying to add another 50 plus cows to the group. Once I have an entire herd of what I want that is suitable for this climate, I can run a terminal bull and trim the ear (amount of ear) for market steers. Locally the shorter eared heifers will bring less at the sale barn tho.
 
backhoeboogie said:
There are many terms used in this forum I have never experienced. Things like "second calf heifer". Every one I have ever been around referred to heifers and cows as in a filly to a mare.
quote]

I read a new one on here somewhere earlier tonight. Somebody was talking about the "yearlings" he was going to get for $50/head. Turned out they were 3 weeks old.
 
ga. prime":1q00dh1x said:
backhoeboogie":1q00dh1x said:
There are many terms used in this forum I have never experienced. Things like "second calf heifer". Every one I have ever been around referred to heifers and cows as in a filly to a mare.
quote]

I read a new one on here somewhere earlier tonight. Somebody was talking about the "yearlings" he was going to get for $50/head. Turned out they were 3 weeks old.

Think we all throw terms around loosely sometimes. Yearlings, heifers, bull etc. Around here a lot of folks refer to "2nd calf heifers" especially among dairy folks. And seems anything can also be yearling. As for the ear, as Boogie said, cattle with some "ear" (pointed and a bit longer) seem to sell better in this area but not true in other areas. I've heard the shorter earred cattle referred to as "Teddy Bear" ears as well.
 
backhoeboogie":1p8bw29t said:
It is just terms that I have heard most of my life. But it is the same way for "tiger stripe" in this forum. Everyone I have ever known in person referred to them as brindles. The previous posters are correct. You have what is referred to as 1/4 ear, 1/2 ear and full ear referring to the amount of brahman influence. You can hear things like "a little over a half ear".

We have had over 26 days of triple digit temperatures this summer here where I live. The vet tells me it is not so much the high temps during the day that get cold climate cattle in trouble but rather the over night temps in the 80's.

There are many terms used in this forum I have never experienced. Things like "second calf heifer". Every one I have ever been around referred to heifers and cows as in a filly to a mare.

So if you see a term used that doesn't make sense, don't feel like you should know it. I experience the same things.

In this particular case I am referring to animals I intend to retain for my herd. I am trying to add another 50 plus cows to the group. Once I have an entire herd of what I want that is suitable for this climate, I can run a terminal bull and trim the ear (amount of ear) for market steers. Locally the shorter eared heifers will bring less at the sale barn tho.
Around here they have always been tigger stripe but if someone said brindle you knew what they were talking about. I have never heard of second calf heifers, and anything with a longer ear is just called a little ear.
 
Way back when everyone got excited about this, I pulled something like 25 years of auction tags and even had some of Dad's before then. On all of the hand written bills and the computer bills, the codes were things like "brnd" or "brdl" or something similar from the auction barns. No where did I see "TS" or anything similar to that. I still haven't.

It is no big deal and I have only been around cattle since my earliest memories in the 60's.


Tiger Stripe was very funny when I first heard it used. And as you say, I knew what was meant.
 
I believe the term tiger stripe is used in marketing. A tiger stripe is a brindle. When most folks talk about a Tiger stripe they are refering to a Brahman X Hereford hybrid. A Hereford X Jersey will produce a brindle calf as well as several other breed combinations.
 

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