Muscle is the product beef producers produce! However, muscle expression is uniquely different in bulls, steers, and females. In hormonally balanced cattle this trait is expressed differently due to sex hormones.
Testosterone makes muscle. A masculine, hormonally balanced bull will have tone and shape to his muscle. He’ll also have the evidence of muscling in his neck. This is a secondary sexual trait. Testosterone will also create a coarser hair coat over the head and neck, tail switch, and sheath tassels. The neck and crest will be visibly darker in color than the hair covering the center-body and hind quarters.
Estrogen makes fat. Females should be well fleshed and full bodied, absent of significant muscle shape and tone. A beef cow will look like a fuller bodied, easier fleshing dairy cow if she is hormonally balanced. She will also be more uniform in color and refined in structure. Her hair will be more silky in nature and her switch hair much finer.
In bulls and females, excessive bone is a product of growth hormones being propagated over sex hormones.
A steer’s growth and shape are determined by growth hormones rather than sex hormones. Even a really well-muscled steer that has been castrated early in life won’t be limited in the length of his long bones. A well-muscled steer will not have the neck muscling and crest of a hormonally balanced bull. A steer will have the ability to put a layer of fat on without the fat being burned up by testosterone.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” ~ Winston Churchill
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