When Judging by Appearances is Acceptable

Each type of animal has different ideal characteristics and traits when it comes to judging them. It also varies between breeds and the model features for the specific livestock.

Parts of Cattle

Breeding Heifers

When judging a class of breeding heifers you want to place the heifer at the top with the best combination of these traits:

The Correct Angles of a Heifer

1. Structural Correctness – This is very important and was discussed in my last blog post, “The Gist of Livestock Judging”. The correctness should be evaluated from the ground up including: foot, pastern, knee, hock, shoulder, hip, back, loin and rump. Often when and animal is incorrect it will have an awkward short, chopping stride when moving or a longer stride.
2. Femininity – Generally this is used to describe the front one-third of a female. If the heifer is regarded as feminine she will have a fairly long, refined head, a long neck, and a flat, smoothly blended shoulder. The bone structure should be somewhat flat. We don’t want her looking like a bull or steer. Some conditioning (fat) is desirable and considered as a degree of “fleshing ability” or “ease of keeping”.
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   Body Capacity

   Body Capacity – This should be used to describe the three dimensional advantage of the rib cage – depth of rib, spring of rib, and length of rib cage.
4. Muscling –The best indication of muscling should be evaluated through the hind quarter from a rear view. A heifer should have a thick, square rump with wide bone to pin placement. The best indication of muscling can be seen down the animal’s wide top line. Sometimes when heifers are heavy muscled they will appear coarse and unfeminine.
5. Balance and Eye appeal – This is related to how proportional the animal is and her length of neck, levelness of top line, and general attractiveness. You must emphasise on the heifers attractiveness and refinement through the head, neck, and shoulders.

Market Cattle

Finishing fat indicators 

The most important criteria to consider in market cattle class is muscling, followed by correctness of finish (fat), balance, sructural correctness, and body capacity. Muscle expression should be evaluated down the steers topline and through its hind quarter. Its external fat should be distributed over all areas of the rib cage. Balance is best determinded by drawing an imaginary line through the center of the steer - the front half of the steer should be of equal weight to the back half.

There are triats in structure, feminity, muscle, body capacity, and general apperance that should apply to idea market cattle.

• Structure - More desiraible slope of shoulder, straighter about its top line, squarer rump, free moving, and squarer from behind.



Muscle Indicators



• Femininity - More feminine headed, longer neck, clean fronted, and more angular fronted.

• Muscle - More natural thickness, meatier don the top, thicke over the back and loin, more muscular on top line, muscle shape, and a thicker squarer rump.



Correct structure



• Body Capacity - More internal volume, deeper sided (deep ribbed or bodied), more spring of rib, and wider chested.

• General Apperance - More powerfully constructed, rugged, broodier, greater weight gained per day, balanced, eye appealing, and cleaner made. 

Market Lambs



muscle indicators



Finish Indicators

When judging a class of market lambs four general traits should be kept in mind: muscle, leanness, balance, and length. When handling a lamb to determine muscling you need to make sure your doing it correctly and similarly to make a proper comparison to the rest of the class. You should first feel for finish over the top of the lamb and over the rib cage. It is important to make sure your fingers together and utilize the tips of your fingers. If the lamb is to lean (under finished) will have a define rib cage and backbone.  

Handling for muscle starts just behind the shoulder along the top line. A muscular lamb will have muscle along the back that is easily felt on each side of the backbone. The rump should be long and thick.

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  Muscle - Powerfully constructed, more muscle in the hindsaddle, more muscular top, dimension to the loin, squarer dock, and a fuller leg.

• Condition (fat) - firmest hangling, harder topped lamb, clean forerib, trimmer middled, and tighter hinded.



I hope you enjoyed the little tidbits on Judging some livestock! Check in tomorrow :)

~Carling