The Rump As Seen By The Judge

The Rump As Seen By The Judge by Peter Massmann, South Africa

This article, first published in Fleckvieh-World 2011-2012, is also an extract from Peter's book Visual Evaluation of Simmental Fleckvieh Cattle.

Figure 1:

A = Rump width (also hip or hookbone width)

The horizontal distance between the hipbones at the widest point. B = Rump length: The distance from the front (cranial) end of the hipbone and the back (caudal) end of the pinbone. C = Pinbone width: The distance between the pinbones at the widest point. D = Length between hipbone and thigh joint.

Refer to Figure 1 for rump measurements used here.

By “large rump” I refer to wide between the hipbones, wide between the pinbones and long from the hip to pinbone.

Frequently you hear a judge comment: “I prefer females with a large rump because this gives you a wider pelvis with more room for calving and therefore calving ease.”

Think again Mr. Judge, research indicates that with regard to calving ease wider and longer is not necessarily better.

Let’s put the speculation aside and look at proven facts: Internal pelvic area has been shown to be the most important cow variable influencing calving difficulty (refer below to birth weight being the most overall cause of calving problems).

Many judges visualize a positive relationship between external and internal pelvic size and therefore favour cows with ‘large rumps’.

However, studies confirm that what you see from the outside rarely gives a true indication of what the pelvic opening will look like inside and more specifically that the external rump measurements are not at all good indicators of pelvic area measured by pelvic meters.

Large framed cows tend to have large pelvic areas, but also have proportionately heavier calves at birth which compensate any advantage of less calving difficulty.

Every Simmental/Fleckvieh judge should be aware of the high relationship between animal size and birth weight and that it has been well documented over and again that birth weight is the most important factor causing calving difficulty. Especially under extensive suckler systems judges should steer clear of anything associated with heavy birth weight.

In USA Simmental they found a high genetic correlation between pelvic area and birth weight and that a potential benefit from larger pelvic size in reducing calving difficulty may be negated by a correlated increase in birth weight.

In an investigation with 40,000 first calving German Fleckvieh they compared the measured hipbone width with calving difficulty scores and found the same pattern: namely all the hip width size categories had more or less the same calving difficulty.

However, one would visualize that rump width measured at the pinbones is a much better gauge of calving ease than the width between the hipbones. That’s why the Germans went and measured the pinbone width of nearly 20,000 first calving Fleckvieh cows and also scored them for calving difficulty. The percentage calving difficulty (in brackets) for the evenly distributed ‘five pin-bone-width-groups’ is: • very narrow pins (6.2 %) • narrow (7.3 %) • average (5.8 %) • wide (6.2 %) and • very wide (7.5 %).

They observe that in general larger cows are wider at the pins but also have larger/heavier calves which, as mentioned above

Large rumps are better?

already, compensate any advantage of less calving difficulty.

Large rumps and beef cuts

In suckler and dual purpose Simmental/Fleckvieh the rump or hindquarter should be large to provide space for a lot of beef.

After all, ‘the greater rump area’ (photo) forms an important part of the valuable beef cuts. In Germany hundreds of Fleckvieh bulls were dissected at 450 days old weighing over 600kg and they found that according to their system 40 % of the total carcass consists of the “high value cuts” and threequarters of these cuts are in the rump area.

But beware Mr Judge and consider nature’s relationship among traits which we cannot change. Skeletons grow proportionately and animals with large rumps will also be large which we try to avoid because of the proven positive relation between large cattle and heavy birth weight which causes calving problems which, as I mentioned already, cannot be tolerated under extensive suckler production conditions.

The key word in judging is ‘optimum’ and not maximum. Always follow the balanced approach and give preference to medium sized cattle which will give you medium sized rumps.

The great Sir John Hammond (1889 - 1964; physiologist, research scientist, veterinarian and pioneer of artificial insemination) said “nature never tolerates extremes”. Judges must always remember this.

Figure 2: Milk type dual purpose Simmental/Fleckvieh.

Body parts are always in proportion to each other

Judges must recognize that nature determines the proportion of the different body parts within the same size and the breeder cannot change that. I find it disturbing when judges refer to an animal being better because it has a longer or wider part in a certain segment or area of its body than another similar sized animal.

For example: “My first and second placing are of the same size and length but number one has a much longer and wider rump and that’s why I placed her first.”

In general this is not possible and is caused by optical illusion due to for example a more sloping rump. You don’t get a long tall animal with a short rump and vice versa.

Let measurements confirm this point within the same as well as across Simmental/Fleckvieh types. I asked BAYERN GENETIK to measure all the dual purpose Fleckvieh cows (Refer to Figure 2 for example of type) with two and more calvings at an important show and they found that both rump width and rump length was 40% of the cow size which is expressed as a average rump height of 146 cm. This relation was just about the same for the different sizes and classes.

Now let’s look at a completely different type of Simmental/

Fleckvieh. I always thought the beefier and compacter suckler type used in Africa (example Figure 3) will proportionately have longer/wider rumps because we bred them beefier.

I asked a South African breeder to measure typical mature cows in exactly the same way than the Germans. To my surprise these beefy suckler production cows, which were 10cm smaller, had virtually the same relation of rump width and rump length to size (39%) than their German dual type counterpart.

Are there breed differences? In Hungary they measured suckler cows of nine breeds of the same age and kept under the same conditions. The largest breed (they took height at withers) was the heaviest and had the longest and widest rumps and the smallest breed was the lightest and had the shortest and narrowest rump.

The size to rump measurements relationship was more or less the same for all the breeds.

Length-width relationship

I was flabbergasted to read this comment by a judge and scientist: “The rump width between the hooks should be at least six centimetres wider than the rump length from hook to pin. This is the highest indicator of fertility and femininity.”

To me this statement is nonsensical and unsubstantiated. However, it made me think: “Can the rump be wider than longer?”

Let’s look at actual rump width and rump length relationships (A and B in Figure 1): (i) BAYERN GENETIK data on above mentioned dual purpose

Simmental/Fleckvieh = No difference, (ii) Beef Simmental/Fleckvieh suckler cows = immaterial 2%

Figure 3: Beef type ’suckler’ Simmental/Fleckvieh.

wider than long, (iii) 42,000 first calving dual purpose Simmental/Fleckvieh measured in 2009 in Bavaria = irrelevant 2% wider and over 2000 mature Simmental/ Fleckvieh cows in Bavaria = insignificant 1.5% wider.

How long, how wide? Based on the measurement method described in Figure 1, BAYERN GENETIK found that dual type top German Fleckvieh show cows with two and more calvings have a rump width and length in the order of 58-60cm and are 146cm tall. For a selected group of mature South African beef type Simmental/Fleckvieh cows the measurement was around 53cm but bear in mind they were 10cm smaller. Finally, the average for the over 40,000 German Fleckvieh first-calving cows measured annually is around 54cm long and wide.

End result: In the different suckler and dual purpose Simmental/Fleckvieh types (figures 2 and 3) there is no noticeable variation in the relationship (i) between rumpsize to cow-size and (ii) rump-width to rump-length.

Figure 4: Rump angles slope from hook or hipbone (A) to pinbone (B) and angle of line A-B and B-C (thurls).

Rump angle - how much slope

The different rump angles are presented in Figure 4: Slope from hook or hipbone (A) to pinbone (B) and angle of line A-B and B-C (thurls). Fry claims that the suckler cow thurl bone should be on a ± 45 degree angle down from both the hip and pinbone. I will only focus on the slope from A to B which is best expressed by the difference in centimetres between the height from ground to A and to B (see arrows).

Figure 5 shows a typical sloped and square rumped Simmental/ Fleckvieh cow. Rump angle is somewhat controversial amongst cattle judges. It is well documented that the main cow factor involved with calving difficulty is pelvic area. In the little research that has been conducted, the measured pelvic angle

Figure 5: Typical examples of a sloped and square rump.

Figure 6: All known for calving ease and all have a sloped rump shape – coincidence or natures way to select for calving ease? (from L-R) Zebu, Sanga and Springbok. or slope of rump had an insignificant or low correlation with calving difficulty as well as internal pelvic measurements.

These studies will surprise African, Australian and some South American Simmental/Fleckvieh judges.

The favoured degree of slope differs in Simmental/Fleckvieh countries. Simmental/Fleckvieh judges I contacted in the USA and UK state that they prefer square rumped animals and in Canada they desire only a little slope but will not discriminate against a square rump.

The Germans measure 40,000 Fleckvieh cows per year and score them from 1 (pinbone 3cm higher than hipbone) to 9 (pinbone 18cm lower). Their ideal is 5 which represents a slope of 4-5cm (arrow B in figure 4 is 4-5cm lower/shorter than arrow A). The same applies to Austria. Breeders in Africa differ and prefer a definite slope from hip to pinbones. In fact, Simmental/ Fleckvieh judges in Africa will not place an animal with a square rump and that’s why you hardly see them any longer. I am not aware of any scientific research that’s proves our point but we base our policy on observations by pioneer breeders under extensive calving conditions and the fact that the buffalo’s, antelope, Zebu and Sanga cattle (figure 6), who are known for their calving ease, all have sloped rumps.

Data from many sources clearly demonstrate that as the

percentage of Zebu breeding increases in the cow, calving problems decline and we in Africa believe that this is to a large extent mainly due to their sloped rump. A local scientist states that “it is evident that, as you raise the pinbones (flat rump), you automatically narrow the opening the cow has for calving – you lessen the distance between the pelvic floor and the base of the tale.”

The ideal rump angle in Africa is a drop of 6-10cm from hip to pins (like figure 3) or a slope of around 20 degrees.

Rump faults

As mentioned above, avoid any extremes in rump length and width. Hip to pin angle preferences differ between countries.

The tailhead or tailroot is the beginning of the tail, where the tail joins the rump, and it consists of the first three tail vertebrae.

Because Simmental/Fleckvieh in general has a higher tailroot setting than British beef breeds, Simmental/Fleckvieh judges are more tolerant in this regard.

Actually I know many Simmental/Fleckvieh judges who associate a somewhat higher tail setting with easier calving. Many maintain that a high tail setting is more cosmetic than anything else.

Figure 7: When observing from behind the judge will opt for the left cow and reject the right one with her roofy (from roof) or droopy rump shape. Note that this is not because of the tailroot because they both have the same top-level.

When observing from behind the Simmental/Fleckvieh judge should pay attention to the following: • We don’t want a roofy (fromroof) or droopy rump setting (see figure 7). Be careful with an animal with a prominent trailhead setting which could cause a roofy look. • One issue where all dual and beef breed judges agree is a good width between the pinbones.

Although there is a positive correlation between pinboneand hipbone width, we get cases where the slant from hip to pin is larger as shown in figure 8. When show animals are narrow in the pinbones you often find blobs of fat on the pinbone. • As shown if figure 9 we want a rounded and not a flat rump shape. • The wry tail, where the tailroot is not in line to the spine or off centre, is a discrimination and unwanted spinal misalignment. Further down the tail, many discriminate against a skew or kinky tail.

Figure 9: We want a rounded rump and not flat looking from behind.

The Fleckvieh Society of Australia has available copies of Peter Massman’s book, Visual Evaluation of Simmental Fleckvieh Cattle.

This is a must for any breeder and reflects on Peter Massman’s over

50 years involvement and development of the breed.

The book explains in plain terms how to evaluate cattle and provides photos showing the correct and incorrect forms of the part of the animal being evaluated.

So, whether you are a junior just starting out in the industry and participating in junior judging competitions or an older person having to evaluate your own cattle and purchase bulls or females, this book is an invaluable resource. A great gift idea!

There are a few copies left, so contact George Cassar on 02 6550 7661 if you would like one.

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