Pictures of my cows

Wehner Homestead

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Is Scaper in the second pic you posted? If so, she appears large enough to be bred. Another comparison pic idea would be the two side by side and reminding me of their age difference...
 

farmerjan

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Looking at the pics reminds me that way back, in this country, and probably many others, red devons as well as our red polls, were more of a dual purpose animal. So the older type didn't have the muscle or the "butts" on them. A couple of the pics showed them being milked. In New England they were a triple purpose animal; milk, meat and draft. They are bred more for meat nowadays. Hence the reasoning behind GB saying to get a bull that will put depth and muscle and rear end on them. I find that our red polls do not have the butts I like to see, but our original cows were more of the dual purpose type.
 

RollingAcres

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@greybeard and @farmerjan so how/what do I look at when selecting a bull(we will most probably go with AI) that will put some depth and muscle and rear end on them?
I have posted here https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/rolling-acres-this-and-that.37787/page-3#post-550120 on the 3 bulls we have picked out. Redemption is one of them. Just wondering based on the info on the pic below, is there a way to tell if the bull can put add some depth and rear end.
redemption.jpg
 

greybeard

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@greybeard and @farmerjan so how/what do I look at when selecting a bull(we will most probably go with AI) that will put some depth and muscle and rear end on them?
I have posted here https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/rolling-acres-this-and-that.37787/page-3#post-550120 on the 3 bulls we have picked out. Redemption is one of them. Just wondering based on the info on the pic below, is there a way to tell if the bull can put add some depth and rear end. View attachment 47697
If he don't there's something bad wrong.
He's standing a bit funny, but look at the whole mass of rump muscle behind that rear leg and hooks to pins. There are some with a more prominent rump but that one will work for sure.

If you are unsure what to look for in a heifer, here's a slide presentation that show length, depth and width pretty good as well as proper leg and hoof structure in beef cattle heifers. (there will be an ad of some kind open right below the slide box you can close (click the X) before beginning the slide presentation.)
http://slideplayer.com/slide/5791638/#

When we speak of adding 'rump' we aren't just talking about the onion ass or caboose behind the leg. You won't be getting a great big bulbous btt like you see in double muscled breeds (Belgian Blues) or even like you see in the Blonde d'Aquitaine, but you should see a good addition of muscle back there using a bull such as you pictured. The way we use the rump term, it generally includes the round and it's in 3 dimensions.
1. Length of the rear from hooks to pin bones.
2. Height from top of shank to top of rump--just below the tailhead.
3. Depth of that muscle from just inside the skin to centerline of backbone.
A different breed of course, but a pretty good example. I probably have the front vertical part of these lines a bit rearward of where they actually are, but this heifer has a great 'rump'. Lots of distance between hooks and pins. She is also very long bodied for her breed--inner distance between front and rear legs.

rump.jpg
 
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