Q: "How 'STRONG' is a 'WIDE'  chest?"

A: The recognition of strength in dairy cattle is mostly independent of width.  That is because different qualitative genes are involved in producing each structural effect.

A 'tall' animal (visually more tall than wide) can be 'strong', because strength is what strength does - - this is, the animal that stays healthy is strong by virtue of avoiding usual evidences of weakness.  The strong animal will not lose the floor of its udder from the stresses of congestion, and will not have the swollen hocks or pasterns for the same reason - - she possesses a healthy heart and lungs for optimal circulation.

A 'wide' animal (visually more wide than tall) can be 'dairy', because the will to milk is independent of the gene influences that lead to shorter bones and wider bodies.  Width in the body allows for a more sturdy stance on widely spaced legs, and can add to the forage digestive capacity of the cow by allowing a full distention of the rumen within the ribcage.

There are times when 'tall' may lack 'strong' and thus an awkward moving and frail appearing animal results.  Likewise, there are times when 'wide' may lack 'dairy' and a thicker, more beefy appearing animal (more healthy than milky) results.   The observant dairyman will grasp that the visual appearance needs to be interpreted for functionality of parts.  Otherwise to assume 'tall' is 'dairy' and 'wide' is 'beefy' would be to miss details that ultimately have great importance in optimizing our chances for mating improvement.

While the conventional evaluation systems continue to debate 'strong' and 'wide', it has been a settled conclusion within aAa methods that strong/healthy and wide/sturdy are two different qualities.  A bit of both is helpful when mating your cows to improve their potential longevity of function - - but your aAa approved analyzer can sort out which cows need them and which ones already have them.

To learn more about the importance of using aAa, or to schedule a visit to your farm contact one of the aAa approved analyzers.