curious

[Debbie]

I am curious why at county fairs the steers walk like they have a cork up their butts and why do these steers end up at the top of their class. I thought judges lilked cattle to move freely and naturally.Out of 6 steers that i saw 4 of them walked this way.

 

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

When it come to steers the industry wants to see Butts, Bone and Balance. The first two are pretty self explanatory, the balance one deals with the overall package, does the animal move correct, is the front end comparable to the back, is it just as finished in the middle and how does its flank depth compare to the others. With the judging being taught today we are looking for marketability "butts" or cuts of meat in the animal. 2nd is style "bone" and hair and flash, remember these are show animals no hair pretty much means no win these days.  Last i think we look at "balance" structural soundness and overall makeup of the animal. I have see many animals the like you say couldn't walk or cover its tracks or just overall train wrecks that would never make it in a feed lot environment, but end up making pretty good show steers just because the don't have to do much other than lay under the fans and get big. With a lot of today's genetics we are seeing just how far we can push the envelope between style and function. These genetic influences we see today in the steer world which revolves around big tops and square hips of course your gonna see some that might not walk as free or as smooth as something you see in the grass fed pasture or even the feed lot. But when it all boils down walking is not that big of an issue, just as long as they can walk in the ring beat everyone else and do it long enough to get the job done you will continue to see these funny walking steers.

 

[nobody]

We have seen alot of these 3 way crosses that are way too straight in their back legs and/or their hooves are short toed. They walk stiff.
If you breed your own and you end up with a heifer your just passing this trait on down the line. Just my 2 cents