Placing: 4-1-2-3
Cuts: 2-3-5
4-1-2-3 is how I like the Simmental heifers. In a group of quality females that presents lots of challenges, I never questioned tying into the 4 heifer.
The stoutest featured heifer is quick to impress you with her elite look from the profile, where she’s ultra-feminine in the shape to her head, ties her neck high out of the top side of her shoulder and proportions extremely well from her shoulder back. But it’s the fact she tandems this with an incredible structural build that gets me the most excited. She’s got the intangibles of big feet, smooth joints and correct skeletal angles and ultimately, I think that sets her apart as a contender in the ring and a profitable producer as a cow. Don’t get me wrong, I love 1’s look of maternal function. She’s a soft-bodied heifer who’s got loads of cow power and handles it with a flexible hind leg. Unfortunately, with her power comes a coarser look up front. She’s bolder and more open about her shoulder and gets a short and round in her hip design.
But I am still a big fan of functional cattle backed with power and that’s what sorts her over 2 in the middle. Study that pair from behind and the deeper sided 1 female is bolder in the spring to her rib and views with more natural dimension and pin width. She matches her power up high with a bigger foot at the ground and her advantage in function is solidified in motion where she’s more correct in the set to her hock and pastern. Now from the side, the blaze face has got a killer look. She’s the longer necked, cleaner throated heifer who is smoother shouldered and very proportional in terms of her balance. But it was obvious to me before the cattle move that the straighter hocked female just isn’t as flexible and comfortable off her rear 2.
However, quality and eye appeal fall in her favor on bottom. I just think she offers more feminine quality upfront, while opening up to a bolder rib cage and more natural dimension from behind. There’s still things to like in 3 from the side. That’s an extended, long bodied female who’s got some stoutness of bone at the surface. But these attributes don’t outweigh the fact she’s the shallowest bodied, flattest ribbed female who’s the straightest off both ends of her skeleton, so she’s 4th.
