Placing: 1-2-4-3
Cuts: 2-4-3
I like the Simmental heifers 1243. A pair of elite females are quick to sort up, but it’s the look of maternal function that I love in the blaze faced female.
Not only is 1 the most feminine in the shape to her head and neck and laid in smoother about her shoulder, but she draws back with immense sweep to her center body and a squarer hip design. Couple this with the fact that the big footed heifer is looser about her spine and more flexible about her hip and hind leg, and I’m confident she’s the kind that can work both inside and outside the show ring. Now there’s no question, 2 owns the upper hand in power and dimension. The high headed heifer is a bold ribbed, stout hipped female that matches her power up high with big feet and legs. Unfortunately, I just read the solid black female to be a little shallower bodied, rounder in her hip design and I would like to set her down in her tailhead from the profile.
Despite this, there’s a line of quality in the middle pair and it’s the intangibles of femininity, balance, freshness and presence from the side that keep it a 2-4 mark. That being said, from shoulders back, there’s a lot to like about the snip nose 4 heifer. From the ground up, that one has huge, square feet, she’s stout boned and comes with a world of body, power and natural dimension. I just wish she paired it with more eye appeal shoulders forward. The cresty necked female has more throat and chest and reads plainer about her head.
But we have to keep cattle practical, and that’s why I like her over 3 today. She’s the moderate, bolder bodied female who offers more depth of rib and holds true to brood cow basics at the ground where she sets down on a bigger foot and reads with more angle to her shoulder and a softer, squarer hind leg. Sure, down the road, I think this pair becomes a closer call. 3 is unquestionably more feminine and attractive up front, more extended from the side and she reads with a ton of future. But judging what’s in front today, she’s the greenest conditioned female, who’s the hardest bodied, the flattest ribbed and needs to go with more reach off her rear 2, so she’s fourth.
