Putting the best foot forward

A deep-bodied, easy-fleshing bull with stellar Expected Progeny Differences is every bull buyer’s dream, but that dream can come stumbling down if the bull’s structural soundness doesn’t meet foundational rubric standards.

When walking through a pen of bulls, Harold Bertz, director of commercial marketing for the Red Angus Association of America, encourages buyers to consider red flags related to structure:

1. A bull that is limping or not filling his stride.

2. A bull with swollen joints especially in his hock and pastern.

3. A bull with hoof swelling and improper claw presentation.

Feet first

Bertz said he uses a “feet first” approach when he inspects an animal. “I look at the front feet first. That’s generally where you’ll see the claws touching each other and crossing over. I also look if it’s a straight line down or if there’s a gap between their two front claws, especially at the top. You don’t want them to be touching but the bigger the gap at the top the more room there is for the front claws to touch at the bottom. In some cases, they’ll already be overlapping and that’s a problem.”

Next, he evaluates the back feet. “On the back foot I’m looking for depth of heel. What I’ve found is structure will influence how hooves wear so a poorly structured bull tends to have worse feet. It’s kind of an experience factor but if the back hoof is shallower than the front, you’re probably approaching a problem. The angle of the hoof’s hairline should be the same as the angle of the base of the hoof.”

Ryan Boldt, RAAA director of breed improvement, described ideal foot structure as having two symmetrical toes with adequate heel depth. Additionally, the hoof walls—the hard, outer covering of the hoof—should be straight.

Although not a hard and fast rule, Bertz has observed that darker colored hooves are harder thus withstanding more, whereas lighter colored hooves are softer and break down easier.

Dr. Bob Weaber, Extension specialist and professor at Kansas State University, emphasized the importance of analyzing a bull’s angles. “The conformation of the animal’s hoof is related to limb and joint angulation. Animals that are very straight shouldered or have irregular angulation of knee or pastern can contribute to lameness due to additional stress on joints caused by lack of flex or cushion for movement.”

Weaber continued, “Likewise on the rear leg, animals with a straight stifle joint and hock are prone to injury and lameness.” The bull’s shoulder should pitch to the top of the leg at a 45-degree angle. He should have a slight slope from hooks to pins and again from pins to the stifle joint making another 45-degree angle. A bull should walk with his head moving naturally and freely, not stuck down or up, and he should have a strong topline.

Passing it on

The genetic impact of structural issues in a herd should be considered, especially in bulls.

“Depending on the trait related to foot structure, most current heritability estimates seem to be low to moderate,” Boldt said. Good feet are quite literally at the base of everything a beef animal does in their lifetime from traveling to feed and water, grazing, exercise and reproduction.

Making a sound initial investment by selecting a structurally correct bull is important as is ensuring that the structural integrity of the herd is monitored. “The main focus should be evaluating the feet on all animals within a herd,” Boldt explained. “Generally, most guidelines recommend first scoring cattle when they are yearlings and then they can also be evaluated once yearly. The main goal should be to identify animals that are not acceptable in terms of foot structure and cull those animals from the herd.”

Bertz echoed his colleague’s sentiments. “The analogy gets over done but bulls are the biggest athlete on your operation in terms of what they’re expected to do in a short period of time. Feet and legs are relatively heritable traits. You can improve them rather quickly, but you can also destroy them rather quickly. Bulls have to perform their job for a season, but their daughters are going to be in your herd for a long time.”

Environment

The other factor that can influence an animal’s phenotype outside of genetics is the environment to which he is exposed. “When traits are low to moderately heritable, the environment has a large effect on an animal’s expression of that trait,” said Boldt.

“Lameness in cattle can be caused by a variety of ailments. These include bacterial infection or ‘footrot,’ digital dermatitis or ‘hairy heel wart,’ injuries to the hoof or limb, or abnormalities in hoof structure or growth,” said Weaber, describing some of the most common causes of lameness.

Weaber’s colleague, Dr. A.J. Tarpoff, DVM, summarized footrot’s causation as an instance when the skin between an animal’s toes is compromised in some way thus breaking down the natural barrier allowing bacteria to enter and cause an infection. “Once the bacteria break through the skin barrier, they release a toxin that causes necrosis and destruction of the cells. This cellular destruction leads to large amounts of inflammation that results in swelling. The foot swells uniformly and obvious lameness occurs,” he explained in his article, “Managing Footrot in Beef Cattle.” He cites commonly visited areas that allow for build-up of mud and moisture to be a culprit for environmental contamination. Tarpoff went on to encourage moving mineral tubs and supplement sites and ensuring tanks aren’t leaking and the ground around them is staying as dry as possible. If caught early enough, footrot can be successfully treated. Treatment typically consists of an injectable antimicrobial including oxytetracycline, tulathromycin, ceftiofur, florfenicol and sulfa products. He encourages all producers to discuss diagnosing and treating lameness issues with their veterinarian.

“Physical injuries to the foot and limb can be avoided in some cases by making sure pen and pastures are free of metal, wire or other objects that cattle may step on or become entangled,” said Weaber, encouraging producers to keep obvious litter cleaned up. “Picking up wire, cans, tin roofing material or other debris in pastures when it is observed can be helpful.”

Economic impact

Although structure is an additional detail to which producers must pay attention, Weaber insists the economic cost of introducing a structurally unsound bull to one’s herd is substantial. “Losing the productivity of a bull before or after a breeding season due to lameness that results in culling may incur a substantial loss in value of the bull as a breeding animal. Depending on the severity of the injury or response to treatment the animal may need to be euthanized.”

He continued, “If you lose a bull to lameness during the breeding season, you may have a higher than normal rate of cows that don’t settle and are open at pregnancy check time. Losses can easily run into the thousands of dollars due to the lameness of a bull. If the bull has poor genetics for hoof or limb attributes and passes these to females you retain in the herd, the losses may continue for a number of years. Both of these situations highlight the importance of vigilance related to selection and monitoring of beef bulls during the breeding season. A bull that goes lame during the breeding season will obviously result in reduced breed up, the cost of purchasing an additional bull to take the lame bull’s place is a cost to the producer.”

Cattlemen must also take into account the fact that a lame bull’s salvage value is drastically less than the cost of the bull in good condition. That combined with veterinarian bills, medicine to treat the lameness and a decreased calving rate results in extreme woes.

At the end of the day, Bertz believes that the best way to find a bull with structural integrity is to buy from a reputable seedstock producer. “A lot of breeders are working hard to make sure they’re getting animals without structural issues.” He said that buyers should do their homework in advance and if they are serious about a bull and would like to see better pictures of his feet, to go ahead and ask the seller to send images of the bull walking on hard ground.

“Things get really busy for seedstock guys right before sale day so if a buyer wants to do this, they should ask for images of bulls they are very serious about and they should allow the producer a lot of time because this isn’t always an easy ask.” Bertz encourages those buyers who aren’t completely confident in their ability to evaluate structure to invite a fellow cattleman they trust to help them and even attend sales together.

The long game

When the search for a good bull is over and the genetic investment steps off of the trailer at his new home, the task of keeping the bull structurally sound is passed on to the new owner of the bull. Bulls have a short period of time when they have a lot of work to do but that’s no reason to founder them after breeding season. They have months to recover and an appropriate nutrition plan should be implemented so that their feet don’t suffer from overfeeding.

The adage, “A horse is only as good as his feet,” is easily concluded to be the same truth for bulls.