Section 1: Parts of a Cow Dairy Cattle Judging Made Easy

Authors: Dr. Dave Dickson is an Emeritus Professor and Ted Halbach is an Extension dairy Youth Specialist andInstructor in the Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Adapted from 4-H #142. © 2001, 2003 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Division ofCooperative Extension of the University of Wisconsin-Extension

YOU can learn how to judge dairy cattleOf course you can judge! You make judgments and decisions every single day of your life.As soon as you look out the window you judge what kind of day it appears to be. You say to yourself,

"Sure looks like another nice day!" or "Golly, it looks like rain again!" And, then you look in your closetand decide what clothes to wear based on your judgment about the weather.

When you sit down at the breakfast table, you may judge what kind of cereal you want to eat. Or, youmay decide whether you'll have honey, jam or peanut butter on your toast.

When you get to school you'll keep making judgments all day long - "This teacher is neat." "I like thisclass!" "I will do my math homework first and then do science." And, you continue making judgmentsthroughout the day.

Judging dairy cattle is really no different than all these things you judge every day. In fact, it'sactually a lot easier. But, it's only easier if you know what you're talking about. Isn't that true with everyjudgment you make?

If your parents asked you to help them buy a computer, you'd need to know the difference between ahard drive and a hard disk. You'd have to be able to tell bits from bytes. You might even need to helpthem learn that the word "windows" has nothing to do with panes and the "mouse" doesn't have a tail.

To judge dairy cattle, you need to begin by learning the names of all the parts of the dairy cow. Youalso must understand how the different parts relate to each other, and how they help the cow function.Study the diagram of the parts of the cow carefully. Circle all the words you've never seen before.Practice until you feel comfortable that you know every part.

Make learning the parts of the cow easier by studying one section at a time. Since a diagram won't tellyou all you need to know, read the following descriptions carefully.

When you finish reading each section, review all the terms in italics. Find them in the diagram foundon your CD in chapter I.

Head and NeckWe call the part of the cow's head located between the horns the poll.

Since almost all cows are dehorned when they are calves, don't expect tosee many cows with horns. The area between the eyes is the forehead.

The part of the head that begins just below the eyes and continues allthe way to the muzzle is the bridge of nose. The part of the head thatlooks like it ought to be the cow's nose is the muzzle. Notice the nostrilsjust behind the muzzle and the mouth just below the muzzle.

You can identify the cow's jaw, throat and neck because theycompare almost exactly to the same parts of your head and neck. Let'sinclude the dewlapand brisket in this section. The loose skin along thelower part of the neck is the dewlap. Be careful you don't confuse the dewlap with the dewclaw. We'lltalk about the dewclaw later in the legs and feet section.

The brisket is really part of the cow's chest, not the neck. The brisket is the area between, and slightlyin front of, the front legs. If you eat beef stew, the stew meat comes from the brisket.

Section 1: Parts of a Cow Dairy Cattle Judging Made Easy

2 Dave Dickson and Ted Halbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison

ToplineEvery part of the cow that you

might want to call the back combinesto form the topline. It begins at thepoint of withers and includeseverything all the way back to the pin

bones. The three major parts of the topline are the chine, the loin and the rump. The cow's backbone orspine supports the topline.

Just as it is in humans, the back bone contains many small bones called vertebrae. Each of the threeparts of the topline represents a different kind of vertebra.

If you have a chance to look at a thin cow closely, you will see almost every vertebra along the cow'sback. Can you see the point where the chine ends and the loin begins? Sometimes the vertebrae betweenthe chine and loin are very prominent. Notice that the chine and the loin together are called the back.

Many parts of the cow combine to form the third part of the topline called the rump. The rump beginsat the cow's hips and ends at the pin bones.

The hips are the large, bony structures that stick out on each side of the cow. Sometimes they arecalled the hooks or the hip bones.

At the rear of the rump you'll find the pin bones, sometimes simply called the pins. Look for the thurljoint about half way between the hips and the pins. Similar to your hip socket, the thurl joint attaches therear leg to the rump.

Because the rump serves as the starting point for the leg and the enclosure for the cow's reproductivesystem, it is a very important part of every cow. The rump also forms the framework for the cow'sudder. A long, wide, level rump is necessary to support a long, wide, level udder.

The final part of the topline is the tailhead. It also acts as the starting point for the cow's tail. Thelong, bushy hair at the end of the tail forms the switch.

Feet and LegsAt the base of each of the cow's legs you'll

find a hoof with two toes. Ruminant animals(all ruminants have a four-compartmentstomach called a rumen and chew their cud)have split toes. Non-ruminants like horseshave a single, un- split toe on each foot. Likeyour shoes, each hoof has a heel, a toe and asole. And, like your shoe, the heel is at theback, the toe in front and the sole along thebottom.

Directly above the hoof you'll find an areacalled the pastern. Located between thedewclaws and the top of the hoof, the pasternworks like a shock absorber with every stepthe cow takes. Dewclaws (don't confusedewclaws with the dewlap) are the two small,

Section 1: Parts of a Cow Dairy Cattle Judging Made Easy

Dave Dickson and Ted Halbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison 3

hoof-like points on the back side of each leg just above each pastern.The rear leg structure extends from the hoof and pastern upward to the thurl joint of the rump. Just

like your leg has several joints (hip, knee, ankle, toes), so does the dairy cow's leg. The hock joint in thelower leg corresponds to your ankle and only bends forward. Half way between the hock and the thurlyou'l1 find the stifle. The stifle is the cow's knee joint and only bends backward. The area along theupper part of the back side of the rear legs is the thigh.

Above the hoof and pastern of the front leg you'll find the joint we call the cow's knee. This isn'treally like your knee joint at all; the cow's knee is most similar to your wrist. The front leg joint locatedabove the cow's knee is the point of elbow and corresponds exactly to your elbow.

Moving up the front leg you'll see the point of shoulder. Just like your shoulder, the cow's point ofshoulder attaches to the shoulder blade. This long, flat, triangular shaped bone called the shoulder bladeforms the shoulder structure of the cow. The shoulder blade extends upward on an angle from the pointof shoulder to the withers. The crops is the area directly behind the top of the shoulder blade. If youconnect the three dots that represent the withers, crops and point of shoulder, you will draw a triangleexactly the shape of the shoulder blade.

Body and ChestThe entire area below the cow's back (from

withers to hips) forms the barrel. If you thinkof a barrel turned on its side, you can see howthe cow's ribs create the barrel shape to themiddle part of the cow. A cow's barrel needsto be large enough for the hay, silage andforages needed to fill the rumen.

At the front of the barrel is the heart girth.Think of the heart girth as the diameter (thedistance around) of the front end of the barrel.We also call this area the chest, so the areabetween and directly behind the front legsbecomes the chest floor. A dairy cow needs alarge heart girth and chest because this area holds the heart and lungs.

UdderSince the cow's udder produces 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 - or more - pounds of milk each year, you

need to learn as much about it as possible. The four teats located at the base of the udder allow the milkto be removed from each quarter. The two front quarters make up thefore udder and the two rear quarters are the rear udder.

The two quarters on the left side of the udder are separated from thetwo on the right side by a deep crease called the udder cleft. The depthof the udder cleft indicates the strength of the center attachment of theudder. Another name for this attachment through the center of the udderis the median suspensory ligament.

Another indication of how well the median suspensory ligamentsupports the udder is the depth of the udder. We evaluate udder depth by

Section 1: Parts of a Cow Dairy Cattle Judging Made Easy

4 Dave Dickson and Ted Halbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison

comparing the floor, or base of the udder to the hock. Cows with udders high above the hock will havefewer injuries to the udder and teats, and can be expected to live longer. Deep udders that hang belowthe hock are more susceptible to injuries.

The fore udder attachment is the line along the top of the fore udder where the fore udder attaches tothe cow's body wall. Strong cord-like tissue and skin create this attachment which prevents the foreudder from "breaking away" from the body wall. The point between the rear legs and the thighs wherethe rear udder is secured is the rear udder attachment.

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1The authors wish to thank the World Dairy Expo for permission to use pictures of Van Dyk K Integrity Paradise.