Face swirls......

[Limiman12]

A long time ago, dad read an article that talked about the position of the swirl in a cows face hair and disposition.  The theory was that embryonic development the area of the brain for temperament happened at about the same time that fur orientation was being determined and that the lower the swirl, the calmer the cow.  The higher the swirl, the more likely she is a crazy cow to work with.    Over the years we have always paid attention to it, even using it as tie breaker on weather or not to keep a heifer, or even give a cow another chance.....  Walking through the calving pen tonight it struck me that the one heifer that had heads up, had a swirl above the level of her eye......  Anyone else ever notice this or hear of this or even pay attention.

 

[DLD]

I've heard of it for a long time.  Never really paid much attention to it, but the times I have thought to notice, it does seem to hold true. 

 

[leanbeef]

Same here...I've heard about it, and I notice it on occasion, but I've never thought to really pay close attention. If you can't get close enough to see the swirl on the nose, I think that means it doesn't matter whether it's above or below the eyes! Lol

 

[Warrior10]

Hmm...never heard of this! But you betcha I'll be attempting to compare my cows swirls this weekend to see if its true for me!

 

[OH Breeder]

Also called Whorls, some horse folks follow this closely. Temple Grandin I think also published or discussed this in cattle. Interesting science behind this thought process.

 

[GoWyo]

I almost always check hair whorls.  I do believe there is a correlation between the nutters and high placed whorls.

 

[KSanburg]

I have never paid attention to it in cattle but it definitely holds true with horses. Some horses will even have more than 1 whorl and the more whorls they have the crazier they are. I rode a horse one time with 8 whorls and he was a handful. The guy that owned him thought he would have some fun with me because the horse was nutty, but he never got away from me and we disappointed the guy big time. I asked him if I had friends like him why I would ever need enemy's? We had a good laugh.

 

[BDCO]

I had a friend who did his masters in animal behavior study it probably 10+ years ago. He said that it stuck true for a very high percentage of the animals in the study.

There's always some truth in old wives tales

 

[Ms Ray]

I heard about this a few years ago at the time my son had a crazy one and sure enough his swirl was up high, I have payed attention since and seems to hold true