Beef Cow Udder Selection

  The Beef Cattle Cow Udder, Its Looks And Conformation

  You may think selection based on looks and conformation of the udder and teats is strictly a personal opinion but I challenge you to take a closer look at its possible contribution to profit potential.

  I believe the look and conformation of a beef cow's udder and all it's parts are extremely important for the cow to contribute her maximum potential towards making a profit in a beef cattle operation. Something that deserves considerable consideration whether for a registered seedstock or commercial operation. Probably more so for a registered seedstock operation because an unsound udder will propagate further down the line. See image to the left for a side view of a well attached, level good udder.

  Beef cows with a poor udder should be considered one of the major management challenges for any beef cattle operation, especially true for seedstock producers. Your commercial customers for sure will not have nor want to acquire the needed labor to manage cows that need to have extra "Milk Outs" of one or more quarters until her calf grows big enough to handle the job. And as you might expect this extra "Milk Out" either by humans or the calf can play an important role in preventing mastitis. Even a mild case of mastitis is unwanted and may cause a reduction in the calf weaning weight of 12.5%.

  Bad udders that include oversized teats that did not get milked out have been known to cause as many as 17.5% of the cows to acquire some form of mastitis. In addition to mastitis the bad looking udders and teats are always a possibility for contributing to an increase in the calf getting sick if the teats get contaminated with mud or other cowlot debris.

  Good udder inheritance is considered to be in the moderate level, not low or high, so it is probably about average with other traits for improvement through inheritance. It is pretty easy to overlook or fail proper udder selection in a quick buying decision and when this happens it may warrant a change in direction back at the ranch. It would then become a process of selection against this trait in animals retained in the herd, much easier to do because we are around them much more.

  When selecting a new herd bull the udder quality can be improved by selecting a bull that has a history of siring calves that develop into cows with good udders if that information is available. Some seedstock producers may have an udder scoring system in place and if so you may want to ask how it applies to the bull you are considering. Improvement can also be made by not selecting replacements from cows that have a history of bad or marginal udders. Even though it may not be readily available it never hurts when selecting a new bull to ask if there are any udder scores available on his offspring or sibs.

  Udder and Teat scoring is a whole other topic and you will do yourself proud by making time to do adequate research on the topic.

Beef Cow Udder Attachment and Udder Scoring

     I like to look for an udder that is attached high in the back, attached well forward in the front, with a level underline and small teats that point to the ground.

     A weak hung udder results in a lowering of the floor or underline of the udder, it may even be below the hock on some cows and this makes it hard for the calf to nurse. In extreme cases the teats may drag in the muck as the cow walks, now that sounds appetizing for the calf to nurse. This will also cause the teats to point inward or outward instead of towards the ground when they are filled with milk. Officially I think they refer to these symptoms as a result of a weak suspensory ligament.

In the above image the rear attachment gets progressively worse from left to right.

     A correctly attached udder will add to a cow's longevity and give her the ability to carry the udder above the hocks for many years and the teats will be pointing straight to the ground when filled with milk. Over time as the ligament becomes weaker you may notice a sagging of the udder until it is finally carried below the hocks. This also causes the teats to hang closer to the ground and point outward when filled with milk.

     When viewed from the side the ideal udder will appear tight to the body, the floor or underline will be level and the four quarters will be level from front to rear and side to side. It is an undesirable trait if the udder slopes downward from front to rear, it should be level and attached well forward as well as the strong high attachment in the rear. Another sign of weakened ligament is an udder floor that becomes rounded.

In the above images the front attachment gets progressively worse from 1 through 10. 

     The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) has developed an udder scoring system for use in all breeds of beef cattle. It is basically a 1 to 10 score with 10 being the best and rarely if ever actually used. A score of 9 is ideal and represents an extremely good udder while 1 is not at all desirable and usually represents a large pendulous or floppy udder with undesirable teats. Best time to score is 24 to 48 hours after the calf is born.

     The udder scoring system does not provide for pigmentation to be a factor. However it is always good to remember that dark pigmentation will guard against sunburn from direct sunlight or reflected sunlight coming off of snow. Dark pigmentation is highly desirable.

     Under the BIF scoring system the tighter the udder is to the body the higher it scores. An udder that is tight to the body will help a newborn calf locate the teats and get started to nursing quicker. It will also be less likely for the teats to ever drag in the mud.

     The above image gives you some idea as to what the typical udder scoring range you might expect. Image 1 would be about a 9 score, image 2 is a 7, image 3 is a 5. image 4 is a 3 and image 5 is a 1.