> A lot of judges and pedigree farmers share the opinion that fat cows
> are useless and therefore have been breeding against fat cows. �This
> thought track originates from times when the only way to guess
> production in the show ring was to look at their condition - if they
> are fat, the are converting their feed to fat rather than milk etc
> etc.
No....No
You are mistaken in your belief that world class judges think about cows in
these terms.
The likelyhood that a cow will be a top producer is very closely related to
the Dairy Character that she exhibits.
Top flight cow judges do not now, and never did evaluate cows in this way.
Lack of body condition (very thin) is not the way to evaluate dairy
character.
A fat cow can easily exhibit more dairy character than a thin cow. Because
dairy character is much, much more than a skinny appearance.
For one thing, a cow can't possess a high degree of dairy character without
also possessing a high level of "dairy strength". It's part and
parcel of
"dairy character". It's the foundation of dairy character.
Dairy strength includes but is not limited to a broad muzzle, flaring
nostrils, a wide deep chest and a deep body with great "spring" of
rib. If a
thin or very thin cow does not also have these characteristics, she can have
only a medium or low level of dairy character.
The rest of dairy character character is easier to understand but is still not
skinniness. It is best described as strength with refinement. Generally we
want to see a clean cut, spare, open conformation with freedom from
coarseness and excess flesh throughout.
The picture that we have just seen 123.jpg from Michelle is a wonderful
example of a cow with a world of dairy character.
These are subtle differences but they are real differences. Most people can't
see these differences, so for them they do not exist. But they DO exist and
are very real.
I've known a lot of cows well, I have bought hundreds based on conformation
alone. I have developed over 3700 home bred registered cows of my own.
Hands ON. All of those were always on official test. Through all those
cows, I have been fooled very few times.
Sometimes, in the case of those that should have milked and at first didn't, I
had to find the "key" to "unlock" them.
I believe that I could walk into your herd and pick out what will soon be your
best, most productive cows in a few seconds.
I know that I can do that. It's not bragging if you can do it, and I can do
it.
--
Kindest regards,
========================
F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
cell 330.635.2287
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