Last week, we discussed the problems associated with cattle that have level hips. The same university, seedstock and show ring people who think cattle should have level hips also prefer long-bodied cattle – or what appear to be long-bodied cattle. When it comes to breeding animals, they are wrong on both counts!
In most cases… body length is an optical illusion. The animals that appear to be long bodied are Gutless Wonders. They are all legs with no body depth. When I am giving a ranch tour to a visitor and he says, “There’s a nice, long-bodied animal,” I cringe, because that would be one of my least favorite animals. Pictured below are two long-legged, rectangular-shaped Gutless Wonders. Notice they also have level hips.
Animals that appear to be long bodied are high-maintenance, late-maturing and hard-keeping. They are the type that grow and grow and grow before they are mature enough to start storing up energy in the form of fat. Custom feedlots love cattle like this – but cattle like this will not work in a real-world ranch environment. Cattle that work best on the ranch are low-maintenance, early-maturing and easy-fleshing.
When you consider the height of the Gutless Wonders above, they are about 50% body and 50% legs. Animals that work best in a grass-based environment are at least two-thirds body and one-third legs. They have tremendous depth, width, heart girth and spring of rib. Even though they are shorter, they will outweigh the Gutless Wonders by 100 to 300 pounds – because air doesn’t weigh anything!
Notice the Pharo animals pictured above are all wedge shaped – not rectangular shaped. The bulls are very masculine with more depth and width in the front. The cow is very feminine and gets wider and deeper as you go from head to rump. Masculine bulls will produce feminine cows and feminine cows will produce masculine bulls. In contrast, rectangular-shaped cows and bulls will produce sub-fertile offspring.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” ~ Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC)