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cowgirl8

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As we were passing a herd of cows belonging to someone else, i noted something there that i find important to not have. If you drive through our herds, you will not find one bad udder. I put my foot down on crap udders. Big teats, low bags, nonworking quarters, nope nope and nope... I look at others cows and the amount of bad udders i see in others herds would never work for me. As our herds become what we've worked hard to make in 45 years.. Our mostly old simbra udders from the 90s were ok at first, but, as they aged the lower they got not to mention they are one of the breeds i dont like working with when they have a new calf and when, and it almost always happens, the udder gets so low the tall calf cant nurse (LUTC syndrome) . Our cows have simbra mixed in now, but they have the better udder from the mixes than did our reg simbras.. Most of our last century reg simbras are washed out now, but kept the fast growing trait they have. Back in the day, before i was involved with what we keep, we had way too many floppy udders. Its taken years..
What is the #1 important thing you want to see on your cows? Note, not a huge weanling, we all want that....lol
 
Should add a survey link.

Top 5 Traits for Our Herd:
1. Temperament
2. Fertility
3. Phenotype
4. Udder and feet
5. Longevity

Couple extras we are working on improving:
Gestation length
Mature cow size/frame size
Birth Weights (70-90 lbs target)

Temperament is #1 for us because we have small kids and injury prevention is key for everyone. High strung, high stress or aggressive cows result in injuries, hard breeders, and hard handling. So I butcher or ship those for ground beef or just flat don't buy them to start with.
 
Those are important.. temperament gets settled at weaning here.. We never have problems with feet... maybe with what i call Crackatoea, but those mostly resolve themselves and only happens when it gets dry.. We've worked hard to get our cows black and polled.. but since we did deal heavily with sims and simbras in the 70s to 90s... we've worked hard to get the spots off and black and some would say our cows might be a little bigger than average.. We added angus for the black and good udders. One mix we've stopped with is hereford. We did have a black hereford mix bull but his calves were way too big. So we only had him one season.. but, i do not like herefords.. dont like them at all.. most have bad udders...ugly pink ones.
There is a guy near here that i know has fertility problems because i see so many unused udders.. he doesnt write down who calved and when.. doesnt keep up with it at all.. crazy.. We shoot for 95%... some years better, some years a little short.... but it is an average.
 
Those are important.. temperament gets settled at weaning here.. We never have problems with feet... maybe with what i call Crackatoea, but those mostly resolve themselves and only happens when it gets dry.. We've worked hard to get our cows black and polled.. but since we did deal heavily with sims and simbras in the 70s to 90s... we've worked hard to get the spots off and black and some would say our cows might be a little bigger than average.. We added angus for the black and good udders. One mix we've stopped with is hereford. We did have a black hereford mix bull but his calves were way too big. So we only had him one season.. but, i do not like herefords.. dont like them at all.. most have bad udders...ugly pink ones.
There is a guy near here that i know has fertility problems because i see so many unused udders.. he doesnt write down who calved and when.. doesnt keep up with it at all.. crazy.. We shoot for 95%... some years better, some years a little short.... but it is an average.
For your neighbor--

That is silly. Like flushing money down the toilet.

All it takes is one fall to preg check. And preg check again after calving season in the spring. Cut out all those freeloaders.
 
1 feed efficiency/ability to thrive in environment
2 fertility
3 mother ability
if these aren't met I don't care what other traits they have they won't be around very long here.
I expect them to maintain body condition in the environment/conditions they are in.
I also expect them to breed back every year.
I expect them to raise a marketable calf without a lot of intervention from me.
I am not raising dairy cows I expect my cows to protect and take care of their calf. Not just squirt it out and walk away or pay little attention to where it is or what is threatening it.
I don't want a man eater but I expect them to be defensive around their newborn calf.
 
I got rid of our best cow this Fall. Was at least 12 years old. Had 1 ruined quarter, been that way for years. She always raised the nicest calf. Charolais/Limo cross, black nose white. Wish I had kept a bull from her. That said, I can't stand to see poor udders.

Temperament is highest on my list.

I want normal cattle. To me, a perfect cow is a normal cow.
 
For me there isn't an order of importance, since any of several things will send them down the road. They have to raise a calf every year, and I don't put up with a bad bag or a bad attitude.

And by bad attitude, I don't mind one getting a little snorty if I get between her and her calf, but I hate it when one acts wild all the time, and doesn't want to come into the pen when I put out feed. One cow like that will cause all kinds of problems, and the least of those is when they hang back there's usually some more that will hang back with her that otherwise would have walked in without hesitating.
 
I got rid of our best cow this Fall. Was at least 12 years old. Had 1 ruined quarter, been that way for years. She always raised the nicest calf. Charolais/Limo cross, black nose white. Wish I had kept a bull from her. That said, I can't stand to see poor udders.

Temperament is highest on my list.

I want normal cattle. To me, a perfect cow is a normal cow.
That one bad teat may be the one a calf decides to nurse on. While trying to get it to work, the other teats are getting big and rigid.. a calf can starve with a nice udder with one bad teat.. I dont like rogue back teats, the 5 and 6 teats that are sometimes on the back, or one between front and back.. hate those too...
 
I kinda agree with @Rafter S - not 1 item is most important IN MY HERD. If I was buying - feet and legs #1, then all the above. I am super picky, but I have to be - phenotype, genotype, temperament, etc. I rarely buy any female that doesn't fit into the upper end of my herd. And I don't buy any males, LOL.
With my calving season (Jan/Feb) - they all calve in pens. I do not care if the cow is protective IN THE PEN. Once I open the gate & turn them out, I best not have to watch my back.
 
Biggest for me:
1. Health-Weight...I want to see all 5's to 7's in a field before winter, if i see a 2 or 3 it pains me.
2. Temperament, i like to see happy cows and bulls that treat me with respect as i'm giving them the upmost respect. Do me wrong...and the coach will sideline you right out of the field permanently. Little unavoidable mishaps fine..looking for anything intentional. Whining for treats and grumbling with calf accepted...but the few times i heard grumbling for no reason and foot pawing in dirt I walk to them and raise my voice, give them the coach speech treatment and clear that behavior immediately. They seem to understand what i accept and what i won't accept. Especially the day when i had a bag of treats ready to pour and my young bull came in too fast too excited and i had to run behind the truck....they learned an important lesson...they got yelled at and fed nothing. The only time i really let them know i was angry with them, all suffer as a team. The next time i went out you could see the new alignment in their faces....a cow even walked in front of Mr. Bull and looked at him... telling him to be nice.
3. Mothering-protective...I have one mother (bottom of hierarchy cow) that doesn't defend her milk and other small calves rob from her, she's getting thin....and her calf goes hungry. She's on my 2022 to be sold list. Her condition was deteriorating now it's stable, she's still too thin. Need to inject her with some bull hormone...do they make that?
 
1. Feet
2. Big and black
3. Fertility
4. Disposition
What twobyrdsmg said
Interesting.... you notice their feet, why?...hooves too big, aligned-crooked, muddy, embedded rocks-nails or needs trimming? Or their gait? Recently I learned some women actually look at the quality of a man's shoes but i think that's for judging wealth, cleanliness, organization and dating. I guess i didn't impress any women...kept me safe out of the limelight.
 
Interesting.... you notice their feet, why?...hooves too big, aligned-crooked, muddy, embedded rocks-nails or needs trimming? Or their gait? Recently I learned some women actually look at the quality of a man's shoes but i think that's for judging wealth, cleanliness, organization and dating. I guess i didn't impress any women...kept me safe out of the limelight.

Well, MR Texas good thing I didn't look at my husband's shoes before ;)

If you haven't had or seen any with bad feet then either you aren't watching the animals very closely or you have been very lucky. Maybe you should buy a lottery ticket.

I have seen long toes, sand cracks, poor pigment (that's a thing with many breeds), too small of foot for their body mass or type, bad angle, toes too far in, toes too far out, and screw claw (just to name a few things). I didn't buy a lottery ticket!
 
Interesting.... you notice their feet, why?...hooves too big, aligned-crooked, muddy, embedded rocks-nails or needs trimming? Or their gait? Recently I learned some women actually look at the quality of a man's shoes but i think that's for judging wealth, cleanliness, organization and dating. I guess i didn't impress any women...kept me safe out of the limelight.

It all starts in the feet. If the feet are messed up it can throw off everything, hips, knees, ect. A bull with bad feet can throw his knee or hip out in a minute.
Cant keep a cow in the herd longer than 4 or 5 years old if they have a foot all crossed up the toes cross over like that see me showing haha
If they have feet with the wrong angle it can cause them to start walking with their legs way out. Ever saw a person wear shoes way to big.
 
It all starts in the feet. If the feet are messed up it can throw off everything, hips, knees, ect. A bull with bad feet can throw his knee or hip out in a minute.
Cant keep a cow in the herd longer than 4 or 5 years old if they have a foot all crossed up the toes cross over like that see me showing haha
If they have feet with the wrong angle it can cause them to start walking with their legs way out. Ever saw a person wear shoes way to big.
Wow...i thought all hooves were approximately the same. I learned something. Never noticed any issues on any of my cattle....i just watch for hoof rot...if they're in the mud or water too much.
 
The question was actually while walking in your herd, what do you SEE that is important... I see a sea of good udders in ours..
 
Cattle are just like horses, when buying start at the ground and work up. Without good feet, let's say a they have a limp or something, you can't even get a good cull price.

The question was actually while walking in your herd, what do you SEE that is important... I see a sea of good udders in ours..
What's important? A calf. That's the end game isn't it? As SBMF said, maternal qualities are the make or break factor. Good udders are high on the list, but it's hard to pick out just one. I've had super looking cows who didn't act like they cared one way or another about their calf, it's just good baby was vigorous and kept up. Notice I said had. I want that doting momma, especially in the first couple weeks, the one who worries over her baby like it's the only one she'll ever have. That's a good place to start.
 

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