Okay, this will probably be way more than you want, but here goes:
I look for three main areas of traits - fertility, structure and carcase.
Fertility - begin from the head.
- a feminine head
- trim in the brisket (should be loose rather than full and tight
ie not full of fat),
- a long feminine neck with soft hair and skin and wrinkles,
- smooth, well laid in shoulders,
- wide hips and wide pins,
- length from the hips to the pins, (this and the point above ^
is pelvic capacity - you want a large pelvic capacity)
- a slight downwards angle from the hips to the pins (a lot of
people on these boards frown on this and look for a level hip
to pin, but in my experience the angle helps when calving -
look at an indicus animal, the angulation is one of the
reasons they are easy calvers)
- a well laid in tail setting - not high (again, a high tail setting
seems to be the trend in the American showring, but this is
not a productive trait)
- udder - teats not too long on a young heifer, I dont care if
she has extra teats but some people dont like it. I like to
see the teats pointing inwards slightly, because then when
she fills up with milk they will pop out a bit and be pointing
straight down. Stand at the back of her and look for lots of
folds in her udder, indicating the potential for a large udder.
- vulva - avoid heifers that have underdeveloped vulvas, as it
can indicate fertility problems
Structure - start again from the front end
- correctly angled shoulders
- correct angulation in the front legs (ie not toed in or out,
not over or under angulated)
- straight and strong topline
- good capacity and good depth of body
- good spring of rib
- strong over the hips
- correct tail setting
- correct angulation through the back legs - ie not cow
hocked, sickle hocked, not too straight, not too angulated
- watch her walking and see if she 'tracks' - that is, her back
hooves land in the spot where her front hooves were
Carcase - begin again at the head. Note that heifers generally dont and shouldnt carry as much muscle as a steer. If they do, fertility problems can occur. Look for moderate muscling in a heifer.
- moderate width between the shoulder blades - avoid animals
whose shoulder blades come to a point as these will
generally be narrow throughout the body.
- moderate width and muscling along the topline
- good depth of body and spring of rib
- good length of body
- moderate muscling in the hindquarter avoid heifers that are
excessively muscled over the pins, as these are the ones
which will generally have the most problems
- examine the heifer for fat deposits - in the brisket, over the
ribs and rump, around the tail head and in the udder. Heifers
that are too fat will get deposits in the udder, and this may
affect their milking ability. They also lay down fat in the
pelvis, which limits the movement of the pelvis during
parturition and thus can create calving difficulties.
Good luck and have fun!
