i want your critisim

[young showman]

i boughthim april of 07 he is an angus cross. please give me your honest opinion on him you wont hurt my fellings. thanxx sean

 

[red]

he is an OK steer. Don't stretch him out so much on the side view. a little narrow in the rea for me but he might grow into that w/ some fill.
I'd like to see him later cleaned up & blown dry.

Also Jason has a good topic at the top on resizing pictures. It might help on future ones.

Red

 

[TJ]

Overall, he's not a bad county fair type of steer, IMHO. 

Things that I like...

His topline...  It's wide & it's straight. 
His entire front end from the shoulders forward. 


Things that I see as "nit picky" faults...

His rear flank is a little high to suit me. (Get him on some beet pulp.)
His rear legs could be a little better, but I've seen a lot worse. 


Things that I don't like...

His upper quarter is not too bad, but his lower quarter is lacking. (Keep that hair as long as possible in that area & you should probably consider feeding him a little barely.)
His twist is not deep enough to suit me. 


Is this calf related to Kadabra?       

 

[dori36]

i boughthim april of 07 he is an angus cross. please give me your honest opinion on him you wont hurt my fellings. thanxx sean

Overall, he shows some  nice thickness and length.  It's always hard to comment from a picture, but strictly from what I can see here, I'd say he's a little too straight fronted (shoulder) which makes his neck look short and a bit thick for me.  I think he's reacting to your stick (?) so is pulling up and roaching a bit.  I think he's probably a little better in the flank than he looks here pulled up as well more level topped.  To me, I'd need his front cleaned/fancied up.

 

[TJ]

i boughthim april of 07 he is an angus cross. please give me your honest opinion on him you wont hurt my fellings. thanxx sean

Overall, he shows some  nice thickness and length.  It's always hard to comment from a picture, but strictly from what I can see here, I'd say he's a little too straight fronted (shoulder) which makes his neck look short and a bit thick for me.  I think he's reacting to your stick (?) so is pulling up and roaching a bit.  I think he's probably a little better in the flank than he looks here pulled up as well more level topped.  To me, I'd need his front cleaned/fancied up.

I agree with you Dori...  He could be a little fancier made & he would need to be just that in order to have a chance to seriously compete above the county level (at least around here), but he also would need a lot more lower butt to compete past the county level too, IMHO.  Also, like you, I assume that the roaching up is likely due to the stick, but I don't know if the rear flank will look any deeper if his top line was in the natural position... it would be interesting to see if it would make a difference.  However, I can say with certainty that this calf would definately look better in a "more natural" position. 

 

[young showman]

thanks for all ur advice on him i really apreciate it. thanxx sean

 

[kane1598]

I like him for the most part, looks like some Who in there to me.  I think he hocks in and is a little straight off both ends.  Overall, nice muscle shape, just needs to be softened up in the middle which might come with more time on feed.  Good luck and keep him moving around.

 

[showgoer]

I agree, a little straight off both ends but there's not much you can do about that now.  Push the feed to him hard, that will soften him up in the middle, hopefully giving him some depth and dropping that rear flank down.  If he roaches his top like that all the time, make sure you loin him when setting him up and like others said you got him too stretched out in the picture which makes his legs look worse.  He does have some muscle and upper quarter but work that hair, especially on his lower quarter and legs.  Hair is your opportunity to hide/change those things that need changing!

 

[renegade]

Does barley help fill in that butt a little? I have one that is really nice in every way but needs more fill in the butt and he also seems sunken in sometimes

 

[showgoer]

Barley is high energy foodstuff that can definately compliment your feed ration and is cheaper than equivalent alternatives (corn).  We use it in our showstring ration and have got along well with it.  It helps lay down the fat, especially in the rear flank ~ giving that deep look.  As far as filling in the butt, we haven't seen any real effect in that area.  If we have one that needs more lower quarter, they are in the cooler sun up to sun down, rinsed twice, blown completely dry both times, roto brushed, and have a rice root brush almost wore out on them everyday.  GROW THAT HAIR!  This is the best legal and ethical thing (no syringes, air pumps, or heifer implants here) we have found that works and it keeps the kids out of trouble.

 

[TJ]

Maybe it was something else doing it or maybe it was just my imagination, but when we used to feed barely (25-33% of the ration), it seemed like it made the rear  quarter muscles look thicker.  It also seemed to lay down a harder fat layer that that was more uniform... maybe that was my imagination too.  However, I can say with certainty that fat makes anything look thicker (that's why you see so many obese show cattle), so the more fat you put on this calf, the thicker he will look.  I'm not saying it's the miracle cure, but this calf, IMHO, could stand to be a bit overdone & the barely will help in that regard.   

 

 

[showgoer]

I agree, the fatter you get one ~ the thicker they are going to look.  Not to knock the breeds but that's how a lot of Angus and Shorthorn showman get theirs to look like they have something to them from behind.  Pour the feed to this steer and he is only going to look better!