This particular cow of mine makes the list for multiple reasons.
What a great decision that turned out to be! She grew up to be a gangly, long, lighter weight cow than our average. She isn't a show stopper on looks by any means. But, this lightweight cow weaned the second heaviest calf in our herd last year (I did a happy dance when I this happened).
She also produces heifer calves that are more of the type, looks wise, that I prefer. All in all she has been a great asset to my cowherd.
Now, this shouldn't surprise me, as her mother was also a small cow, weighing in at about 950 pounds. To give you a comparison, our average cow probably weighed about 1,100 pounds during the time Sassy was young.
Before EPD's, and some of the other newer selection tools, one thing that ranchers weighed a cow's production on was the weight of the calf she weaned. If she wasn't weaning half her body weight each year, she wasn't doing a good enough job. Some people still go by this measurement of production.
Well, little 950 pound Sassy would consistently wean 550 pound calves, and they would continue to grow and gain to mature sizes far exceeding her small stature. This cow represents the last of my herd directly derived from Sassy, and she also posts impressive production records.
So, she is a cow of note because of her pedigree, and the outstanding calves she produces!
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