Udders influenced by bulls?

[pdubdo]

Have a 6 year old red Angus dam with an ever-ballooning udder and worsening bottle teats. But otherwise she's a great cow for me in every other way, from her calves to disposition to feed efficiency. So this will probably be her last calving year. She produced a decent (so far) looking bull-calf that I'd consider holding on to, depending on how he matures. Since I would probably retain some of his heifers down the road, is this udder issue with his dam enough of an issue to just band him and move on? How much influence does the bull have on udder structure?

 

[Springfieldsimm]

I don't have much experience but I was once told that if you want to know what kind of daughters a bull throws look at his dam.
Just my ten cents.( and probably not worth that)

 

[Lazy M]

The literature that I have seen regards +/-teat and udder structure as "moderately heritable".. that would be enough for me not to retain the bull if I would potentially save replacements sired by him

 

[Travlr]

There are a few reasons I look at the sire's dam when I'm considering using semen, and her udder is one of those things. And it follows that with a bull prospect I would be looking at his sire and that sire's dam for udder quality.

But six years old and having problems is problematic. If you are willing to cull those that don't make the cut you might get 25/50% with bad udders unless there are bad udders on both sides, and then it could be more. A lot depends on your calf's sire and what his genetics are.

It's easier to just move on...

 

[Travlr]

delete

 

[Ouachita]

At what point should I start getting critical of udders?
This momma dominoed today. She's 12yo and consistently raised a good calf. Self propelled/low to no maintenance. Others just like her. Should I be concerned? Coke bottles?

 

[Ouachita]

And who can resist that sassy look?

 

[Travlr]

At what point should I start getting critical of udders?
This momma dominoed today. She's 12yo and consistently raised a good calf. Self propelled/low to no maintenance. Others just like her. Should I be concerned? Coke bottles?
View attachment 44444

Milk her out when the calf is born and the teats will reduce in size, the calf then keeping them small as it nurses. But she's on the short list at weaning.

 

[gcreekrch]

At what point should I start getting critical of udders?
This momma dominoed today. She's 12yo and consistently raised a good calf. Self propelled/low to no maintenance. Others just like her. Should I be concerned? Coke bottles?
View attachment 44444

Our cold springs don't need more problems. A calf needs to get up and suck as early as possible and udders like this one don't make it easy.

 

[gcreekrch]

Top two are 9 this spring and bottom one is 6

 

[Brute 23]

Sell them both.

 

[GoWyo]

At what point should I start getting critical of udders?
This momma dominoed today. She's 12yo and consistently raised a good calf. Self propelled/low to no maintenance. Others just like her. Should I be concerned? Coke bottles?
View attachment 44444

If you have a commercial herd, it boils down to how much bad you can stand versus the good she does. A seed stock producer shouldn't have any cows that even sort of have these kind of teats. The rest of the cow looks pretty solid.

 

[Brute 23]

Our cold springs don't need more problems. A calf needs to get up and suck as early as possible and udders like this one don't make it easy.

I learned that the hard way early on. Kept one like that until I lost a calf. It was a costly waste of time.

Right now I have a cow that just started looking the same way when she had her second calf. Her and her calf will both go in a month or so.

 

[farmerjan]

At what point should I start getting critical of udders?
This momma dominoed today. She's 12yo and consistently raised a good calf. Self propelled/low to no maintenance. Others just like her. Should I be concerned? Coke bottles?
View attachment 44444

If the calf can suck without much help... and will probably favor the back teats the first few days in my experience... at 12, I would not be so critical...
If she was 6 like @pdubdo 's cow, I probably would not keep a bull calf for a possible herd sire. I would however, not , just can her heifers. It is a heritable trait to a degree.. but her heifers might not have bad udders all according to the bull they were out of... and if you have a little time or patience, getting her milked out the first time or 2 so the teats would be a bit smaller and softer, then with all the other pluses, I would keep her and be very careful of the bull I use on her so that her heifers had a better chance of a smaller teat size. And if you used a bull with his dam having an exceptional udder, then he might not be so bad a herd sire... but I don't think I would use her as a sire producer.