JUDGING LIVESTOCK

JUDGING LIVESTOCK

The essential qualifications that a good livestock judge must possess and the recommended procedure to follow in the judging assignment, are as follows:

Qualities of a Good Judge

●             “Livestock-mindedness” and a desire to know animals thoroughly.

●             A clear knowledge of the ideal or standard type and ability to recognize desirable and undesirable points of conformation.

●             Quick and accurate power of observation.

●             Ability to form a mental image of many individual animals and to rank them by making comparisons.

●             Reasoning power that takes into account practical considerations.

●             Ability to reach a definite decision based on sound judgment.

●             Extreme honesty and sincerity in order to avoid bias or prejudice.

●             Steady nerves and confidence in one’s ability to make close independent decisions based entirely on the merits of the animals.

●             A good philosophy for all judging is to do the best work possible at the time and have no regrets about the results.

●             Evaluate and rank the individual animal according to its appearance on the day of judging, regardless of its rank at a previous show.

●             Sound knowledge acquired through practice and experience in order to give effective reasons for decisions.

●             A pleasant and even temperament. Good judges, however, do not fraternize with exhibitors or friends along the ringside.

●             Firmness to stand by and defend one’s placings without offending or in any way implying that one’s decisions are infallible.

Students in practice and in contests should always work independently.

LOGICAL PROCEDURE IN EXAMINING

The examination of any class of livestock should be systematic and thorough. This is especially true in close competitive judging such as is encountered in the show-ring.

The animal being examined should first be looked over from a distance, so that views from the front, side and rear may be secured. This general inspection should furnish a good idea as to the size, balance, width and depth of body, compactness, the make up of head, length of neck, straightness of lines, closeness to the ground, straightness of legs, and breed, type and character of the animal. Next, the impression gained through distant inspection should be verified by handling. In case of sheep fleece should also be examined.

As an example, the procedure for examining sheep is given below:

●             Examine covering and strength of top from rump to top of shoulder.

●             Grasp neck for fullness and examine head for evidence of scurs.

●             Place hand over points of shoulders to check both width and covering.

●             Feel brisket’s firmness, also place one hand on top of shoulder, the other on the floor of the chest to determine depth of heartgirth and chest.

●             With thumb on outside of leg, fingers on inside feel the muscling for plumpness and manner in which it carries down to the hock.

●             Check in turn width of rump, covering of loin edge, and spring of rib including covering. Also pinch the dock and measure width of thigh in the same manner.

●             Place one hand on top of rump, the other in the middle of thigh to measure the depth of twist.

●             To examine the fleece part it with the back of each hand, palms held up and open to reflect light onto the fleece on shoulder, side and thigh.

GUIDE LINES FOR JUDGING DAIRY ANIMALS

The following rules can serve as a guide to maintain reasonable degree of uniformity for judging variable type characteristics:

●             The first place individual should be well-balanced, smooth, symmetrical and of proper size with a deep body, possessing outstanding dairy character, strong legs and a good udder and should be free from any major defects.

●             The bottom place individual is the one that appears the most unattractive, is unbalanced and lacking in symmetry and has one or more major defects

●             Place larger animals over smaller ones if both are alike in points of conformation. In other words, size is usually considered an advantage if the animal is not coarse or too large.

●             Small but smooth, well-balanced animals are usually placed over larger animals that have a major defect, or over larger animals that lack smoothness and symmetry. In other words, a small good animal with plenty of quality is preferred over a large one that can be criticized on a number of points.

●             In buffalo/cow classes it is a safe rule for close placings to choose the animal with the best udder.

●             A broken-away or pendulous udder puts the buffalo/cow at the bottom of the class, regardless of other good points of conformation. If two or more animals in the class have such udders, they are then placed on points of body conformation. But this is the only exception to the rule.

●             If the floor of the udder where the teats attach, hangs lower than the point of the hock on the buffalo’s/cow’s leg, the udder is definitely pendulous. This is also a good rule for determining whether an udder hangs too low.

●             There are various degrees of deviation for any point that is under consideration. The advantage one buffalo/cow is given over another depends directly upon the degree or extent of the defect.

●             An animal good or outstanding in all points but one, if this point is not important (this does not include the udder), can usually be placed in second position with strong justification. Examples of such points are a high tail head, heavy withers, easy loins and other similar points. Assigning such animals to second place indicates that the good qualities are appreciated but that the animal cannot be placed at the top,

●             The legs should be observed while the animal is both in motion and at rest. The strength and set of the legs can best be noted while the individual is moving. The strength of the fore udder attachment can be studied at the same time and a swinging udder caused by a loose fore attachment can easily be detected.

●             Each animal should be observed several times to note whether the individual settles when standing in one position. Weaknesses here, that may have been overlooked previously can definitely influence the placings.

●             In general, the same points of judging except breed type, apply to all breeds.

●             Keep the ideal in mind and the ideal conformation for each specific point and then select buffaloes/cows (or bulls) for the top placing that most nearly conform to these ideals. A careful analysis of each individual will expose deviations. Always keep in mind that for buffalo/cow classes, individuals toward the top of the class must have good udders.

●             The points that should always be given careful consideration and that are most important in judging are size, topline, depth of body, udder, legs and general appearance with good breed type, smoothness and general blending of parts throughout the body.

●             Select buffaloes/cows, with outstanding dairy character and general good ‘type’ and which appear to be the useful, hardworking kind that will wear well with age when conformation differences begin to resolve themselves into economic values.

EXERCISES

1.      What should a dairy animal look like, angular or rectangular?

2.      What is the significance of “Wedge Shape” in dairy animals?

3.      Enumerate the qualities of a good livestock judge.

4.      Discuss the qualities of a desirable udder of a dairy buffalo.

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