Hi I,m new. chook pen jen.

[chook pen jen]

I dont think Brooklyn would let her, but I will keep an eye on them.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

The heifer was weaned about a week and a half ago.I am seriously thinking about Dodger after yesterdays preformance,she was very fast, but DH said its not a female name.

So what if it's not really a female name. Our surviving twin is Timothy (after the forage type as mom is clover) and thewife has a Johnny cow. If Dodger fits then it sounds good to me.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I hope this don't offed you chook but I don't like how that heifer's back legs are camped under her like that. It could be because she's not on level ground, but if she still has that conformation even on level ground then I'd worry more about how she'd grow out of that than dealing with momma's horns. With her back legs like that she'll break down quicker because most of her weight is placed on her back feet instead of all four. Won't be too great for her when she's getting bred in the future either. She looks like she's got it worse than her momma....

Just something I noticed. It probably isn't anything important to you but to me it's hard to not notice that.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

WRB, I worried about that too but, take a look at her in the pic of the two of them. She looks okay there. I think maybe in the pic of her alone it's just the way she was standing.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

WRB, I worried about that too but, take a look at her in the pic of the two of them. She looks okay there. I think maybe in the pic of her alone it's just the way she was standing.

I did look at the one with the two of them, she still has her legs camped under her...and probably slightly sickle-hocked..how old is little miss Dodgess btw? (More female version of Dodger. )

Chook and kitty, compare her leg structure with the structure pictured in Cattle Conformation Analysis guide. Notice the calf's legs on p. 10 (Fig. 10). Though the animal in that picture is standing straight, if the heifer in chook's pics where to be standing on level ground she'd still get like this, though not as prominant.

I just noticed this now: Brooklyn, if you look at the last two pics of her you can also see how she's cow-hocked; her back legs are pointed outwards, and she'd also walk with a twisting, rotating action which would put pressure on the inside of her feet, and, from looking at the first pic, on her heels as well (though without the slight incline she wouldn't appear like that as much).

 

[Farmer Kitty]

WRB, I noticed Brooklyn's hockingin and toes out but, there isn't much she can do except for breeding it out of the line.

As for Dodgess (I like this idea)or Dodger, I seem to be having trouble with the program to open the guide but, right now it looks like her toes (on rear legs) are right under her where they belong. What am I over looking?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Finally got the program working. I see what you are talking about but, it doesn't appear to be all that bad on this heifer and we know they are not all perfect.

I think with watching the bulls used to breed these two, the herd will have good legs in the future. I know our herd had horrible legs when DH took over the farm and watching the bulls we used we now have good legs under most of them.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

What I'm seeing with Dodgess is that if you draw a line down from her rump all the way down to the ground you'll notice her legs do follow the line down except they don't follow it straight and true if her legs were straighter. Notice I said slightly sickle-hocked. The steer in the document has an extreme form of it (if you were or are able to get the file open). The other thing that could be throwing it off is her front legs: they are a bit under her making her almost look buck-kneed.

See here:

Now I know this probably isn't a big deal and I'm probably making it out to be like that, but it would be one of those things that I would want to improve in a herd. I'd let her grow out to see how she'll fill in, but its something to keep an eye on, if it were me.



edit: good you got it working, i think it was a fair size file...but yes not all animals are perfect, but its just something that I couldn't help but notice. Again, it could be that she's not standing on level ground which probably makes her look worse in the pic than if we were to see her in the flesh.

 

[Thewife]

The heifer was weaned about a week and a half ago.I am seriously thinking about Dodger after yesterdays preformance,she was very fast, but DH said its not a female name.

So what if it's not really a female name. Our surviving twin is Timothy (after the forage type as mom is clover) and thewife has a Johnny cow. If Dodger fits then it sounds good to me.

I like giving boys names to cows just to mess with Mr X! He will refer to them as hims, even though he knows they are hers!
I have a Johnny, a Bob, a Clancy, a Nicky and a Sam!
If you don't mind, I think I will name Sams baby Dodger! She has a way of dodging my camera!

 

[Imissmygirls]

I am not familiar with the breed, but the toes look long and a hoof trim might do wonders for them all. It often helps if you trim the calves as short as possible right away- equivalent to putting corrective shoes on babies.