The cattle age is determined primarily by dental examination, and is less than perfect by the horn ring or the length of the tail brush; However due to Bang-tailing, which is the act of cutting long hair at the short end of the tail to identify animals after management practices, the latter is least reliable.
Video Cattle age determination
Metode gigi
Cattle are placed on cattle farms to hold them before examining the mouth and the number of teeth each animal has.
Teeth while partially erupting at birth, and all of those teeth erupted in twenty days; first, second and third spouses of temporary molar erupted within thirty days; teeth have grown big enough to touch each other on the sixth month. Teeth temporary series or "milk" teeth smaller than permanent incisors.
Livestock has thirty-two teeth, including six incisors or teeth biting and two canine teeth in front on the lower jaw. Canine teeth are not pointy but look like a tooth series. The incisors meet with thick, hard teeth from the upper jaw. The cow has six premolar teeth and six molar teeth in the upper and lower jaws for a total of twenty-four molars. Cow teeth are designed primarily for grinding, and they use a rough tongue to grasp the grass and then cut it between the incisors and the tooth pads.
There is controversy over the reliability of trying to tell the age of cattle with their teeth, because the wear rate can be affected by the grazing forages. Drought or grazing in the sandy country will also affect the wear rate.
Here is a guide:
- 12 months - All calf teeth are in place.
- 15 months - Permanent dentition center appears.
- 18 months - The permanent incisor center shows some wear and tear.
- 24 months - The first exchange goes up.
- 30 months - Six incisors up.
- 36 months - Six wide incisors show wear and tear.
- 39 months - Drag gears up
- 42 months - Eight wide incisors show wear and tear.
The development is quite complete from five to six years. By that time the tooth border had worn a bit below the grinder level. At six years, the first grinder began to wear, and parallel to the incisors. At eight years, the first grinding wear is very clear. At ten or eleven years, the surface of the tooth used begins to have a square mark surrounded by a white line, and it is spoken on all teeth in the twelfth year; between the twelve and fourteen years this mark takes the form of a round.
It is a requirement in some locations that the main livestock has a tooth indicator mark on them before the auction. This is usually done by vendors, or stock agents. The fat cow auction in New South Wales, Australia identifies the number of teeth that the main animal has in the form of a sprayed mark along the back. Thus two teeth are marked on the wither, four teeth in the middle of the back and six teeth in the high bone (near the tail). Milk and eight cow teeth are not marked.
Maps Cattle age determination
Horn method
The ring in the horn is less useful as a guide. In ten or twelve months, the first ring appears; in the twenty-second to two-year-olds; At thirty to thirty-two months, the third ring, at forty to forty-six months, the fourth ring, on the fifty-four to sixty months of the fifth ring, and so on. However, in the fifth year, the first three rings are indistinguishable, and in the eighth year all rings.
Tailpiece method
Sweep tail is only useful as a guide when assessing small, dwarf or young cattle. A brush that is about fetlock or longer is an indication that the animal is twelve months or older. This method can not be used on cows that have been tailed. Bang tailing is the act of cutting long hair at the end of a short tail to act as a simple identifier of the animal and is usually used after the procedure is performed on individual animals owned by large mobs for example. The masses are run through the race and each animal is vaccinated - as soon as the animal vaccinated is tailed so they are identified as vaccinated and will not be given a second dose of vaccine. This is useful when large numbers of animals are being processed by a group of individuals.
Other methods
The age of cattle in the carcass is determined to examine the physiological skeletal maturity (ossification) (red) of the tip or "button" of the thoracic vertebra. The size and shape of the ribs is an important consideration as well as the color and texture of the meat.
Use of branding numbers, tattoos or ear tags with different numbers or colors is a good method of identifying the age of the livestock, if they are used according to the standards.
References
External links
- Age Determination on Beef Cattle
- Determining the Age of Cattle with Their Teeth
- Using Dentition to the Cattle Age
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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