# Anatomy of cattle!



## Farmer Kitty

The inside view:






Outside view of a dairy animal:




Outside view of a beef animal:




Skeletal view of a beef animal:




View of a cow's digestive track:




Cows stomachs
1. The Rumen - this is the largest part and holds upto 50 gallons of partially digested food. This is where the 'cud' comes from. Good bacteria in the Rumen helps soften and digest the cow's food and provides protein for the cow. 
2. The Recticulum - this part of the stomach is called the 'hardware' stomach. This is because if the cow eats something it shouldn't have like a peice of fencing, it lodges here in the Recticulum and cause no damage to the cow. Also, the grass that has been eaten is also softened further and and formed into small wads of cud. Each cud returns to the cow's mouth and is chewed 40-60 times and then swallowed properly. 
3. The Omasum - this part of the stomach is a 'filter'. It filters through all the food the cow eats. The cud is also pressed and broken down further. 
4. The Abomasum - this part of the stomach is like a human's stomach and is connected to the intestines. Here, the food is finally digested by the cow's stomach juices and essential nutrients that the cow needs are passed through the bloodstream. The rest is passed through to the intestines and produces a 'cow pat'. 

Female reproductive tract:


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## Farmer Kitty

Expected Finish Weight (in pounds) for a Steer


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## wynedot55

i see you found the pics an images you was looking for.theres lots of helpful info there for newbies.


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## Farmer Kitty




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## Farmer Kitty

wynedot55 said:
			
		

> i see you found the pics an images you was looking for.theres lots of helpful info there for newbies.


Yes, I found a bunch of pics and images but, if anyone knows/has more they think would be helpful to others I'm still looking for more.


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## WildRoseBeef

Body Condition Scoring of Cattle (applies to both beef and dairy)






















To get American values, AmBCS=CndBCS*2 - 1

BCS is best used in relation to reproductive ability (breed-back and calving) and feed efficiency, since it is a subjective measure of the amount of fat that an animal is carrying.  It's now being encouraged to be used in beef cows in terms of feeding costs as well as reproductive efficiencies.


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## Farmer Kitty

Thank you for the great info! I hadn't thought to look for body conditioning info.


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## wynedot55




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## WildRoseBeef

Your welcome...and thanks for the welcome.

I have some more info on the different breeds I could scan off of from one of the beef books I have...got some good info here, but I know there's still something missing....can't think of it though..


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## WildRoseBeef

More things...

Reproductive anatomy of the bull:





Ovaries of the cow





Heat cycle graph





I'm still working on getting the cattle breed charts (which contain both beef and dairy breeds!) together, so I'll post them maybe tomorrow.


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## wynedot55

those have alot of good info.thanks for posting them.


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## WildRoseBeef

Here's the chart that I decided would be "easier" to type out instead of copying it to here:

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=236


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## Farmer Kitty

WildRoseBeef said:
			
		

> Here's the chart that I decided would be "easier" to type out instead of copying it to here:
> 
> WildRoseBeef's Breed Info Chart


Real nice job.  I'll link to it from my breed page and I'll put it into the index.


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## WildRoseBeef

Farmer Kitty said:
			
		

> WildRoseBeef said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the chart that I decided would be "easier" to type out instead of copying it to here:
> 
> WildRoseBeef's Breed Info Chart
> 
> 
> 
> Real nice job.  I'll link to it from my breed page and I'll put it into the index.
Click to expand...

Sounds great!


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## m.holloway

holy cow more info! when i get done drinking coffe and feeding the 2 cows large herd. haha i'll print out the charts and stuff. good for 4h. thanks . Mare and info for me too!


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## WildRoseBeef

My page for Body Condition Scoring in Cattle.

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=236-bcs-of-cows


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## Farmer Kitty

WildRoseBeef said:
			
		

> My page for Body Condition Scoring in Cattle.
> 
> http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=236-bcs-of-cows


Looks good! 

WildRoseBeef's Body Condition Scoring in Cattle


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## WildRoseBeef

What to look for when selecting good cows and bulls for your herd:


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## Farmer Kitty




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## wynedot55

more great info.


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## WildRoseBeef

Some more:






Muscling differences in bulls




Size differences in bulls




Where to measure for linear measurement in cattle




Differences in wastiness in beef cattle

More to come, of course.


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## Farmer Kitty




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## WildRoseBeef

thanks


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## wynedot55

looks real good.


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## WildRoseBeef

More, this time this diagram's probably _the_ most important information to have on this site; Conformation in Cattle


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## Farmer Kitty




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## Imissmygirls

wildrose, where did your diagrams come from? They look like great teaching tools for 4H!!


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## WildRoseBeef

Imissmygirls said:
			
		

> wildrose, where did your diagrams come from? They look like great teaching tools for 4H!!


They come from a book called Beef Cattle Science by M.E. Ensminger.  It's THE best beef book I've ever had, to be honest!


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## WildRoseBeef

Here's another GREAT document on cattle conformation:

An Analysis of Beef Cattle Conformation 

I also found this to be of interest, especially to those who are breeding cattle with Hereford influence:

Selection for Problem Free Eyes 

And some more articles of interest:

Selection of Beef Cattle for Functional Efficiency 
Judging Dairy Cattle WARNING: 4.56 MB file!
A Guide to Udder and Teat Scoring Beef Cows 
Genetics of Coat Colour in Cattle 
Beef Cattle Anatomy and Ultrasound 
Reproductive Tract Anatomy and Physiology of the Bull 
Preventing Hoof Problems for Dairy and Beef Cattle 

And a bit of a test/worksheet to see/practice [how good you are with] cattle anatomy. 
Beef Cattle Terminology 

There, I think that's good enough....for now.


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## Farmer Kitty

WildRoseBeef said:
			
		

> There, I think that's good enough....for now.


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## Farmer Kitty

The one on coat color doesn't mention my Blue holsteins.  Just red and black.


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## HartRice

Is the information on here something that could be used for 4-H for a kid that is doing his beef project for the first time? Is there someone he would need to get permission from? Thanks a bunch for any help.


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## Livestock-ID

Excellent post of Cattle Anatomy. Great info for newbie's. 

http://livestock-id.blogspot.com/2010/04/approved-usda-cattle-ear-tags-840-tags.html


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## Cattledrawer

Thanks for posting those! I'm in 4H so I need to study up on cattle parts..


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## Livestock lover

Good job!


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## greybeard

It's a shame so many pics were lost to Photobucket's image carnage.

I wish to add something different to it. Beef cutout.






I'm going to focus right now, on a sort of forgotten or rarely used, but flavorful, tender, and juicy cut..the top blade.
Note from the Chuck..you will see a 'triangle pot roast".
This is actually a top blade roast, a fairly tough cut, that has tough silverskin on one side, and a similarly tough connective membrane down the center that will not break down during cooking. Depending on the size and growth of the animal, it can be a fairly big cut of beef.
I've seen it prepared and sold 2 different ways as steaks.

This is what the roast will look like whole:




In my part of the world, this roast would be split down the center lengthwise or horizontally, fillet style.. with the center membrane removed and makes 2 of the best and least expensive steaks you can get. Flat iron steaks.







Sometimes, you will see these steaks sold cut the other way. Sliced against the grain. I don't care for this method. It leaves the center membrane in place, but you do get a lot of little 'petite' steaks out of it, and you'll often see these in your local grocery stores, but these are not 'flat irons' tho they are the exact same piece of beef, just cut differently.




 In this case, it would be a top blade steak, with the roast cut horizontally into little steaks. In the next picture the center connective tissue that would have been filleted out  for a flat iron is notated..






IF you are going to cut and cook them this way, I really suggest you trim that line of connective tissue out before cooking. Should look like this:


For those of you in North Texas, and traveling thru Atlanta tx on US 59, I suggest The Ranch Steak house.  On the left if going North, right next to Travel Inn motel. They do the flat iron right and for less than $20 full meal..


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## RollingAcres

@greybeard What about Tri Tip? I don't see that in the chart above, wondering which part it would be? I've seen this cut of meat sold in the store before.


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## greybeard

TriTip comes from the sirloin primal. There are a lot of cuts from any specific area, that aren't available if another cut is chosen, and in some areas, the sirloin is simply cut into steaks, bottom and top.  Not long ago, the tri tip was just ground into burger.


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