Posted on June 19, 2010 - by Russell

Anatomy Of A Texas Longhorn And Breed Guidelines

I have attached two PDF files. They contain a photo of a Longhorn cow and bull with their basic body parts identified. anatomy-of-a-texas-longhorn-bull, anatomy-of-a-texas-longhorn-cow . Below is a list of the Breed Guidelines with brief description of each trait.   

1)      General Type: Good length with moderate depth and thickness. Top of hips slightly higher than top of shoulders. Angular shaped body. Strong legs with free movement. Bulls thicker and more muscled than cows, exhibiting masculine crest development on neck at maturity.

2)      Ears: Small to medium, short round ears, fitted horizontally under horns, or sloping slightly upward.

3)      Head: Showing masculinity or femininity according to sex; moderate width with pronounced length. Straight profile from poll to muzzle. Pigmented around eyes. Symmetrical eyes and nose alignment.

4)      Muzzle: Mealy-mouthed, wide and symmetrical. Pigmented to prevent sunburn.

5)      Neck: Trim on cows, muscular on bulls. Long with minimal dewlap skin.

6)      Shoulders: Free moving, smooth. Well muscled on bulls. Should blend smoothly into neck and ribs.

7)      Brisket: Trim and free from excessive fleshiness or fat.

8 )      Tail: Long with full switch.

9)      Back: Strong topline but with a slight dip in it when the animal is on the move. Maximum length between the shoulders and hooks. The animal’s topline should not hump up when the animal is walking.

10)  Loin: Broad with full rib eye area.

11)  Ribs: Well sprung, elliptical.

12)  Hooks & Pins: Reasonably prominent with good length between. The distance between them should not be level but with a slight slop from hooks to pins. This helps with calving ease.

13)  Hindquarters: Long, moderately sloping from hooks to pins. Full and well-developed.

14)  Heart Girth: Full on bulls, angular on cows.

15)  Legs and Feet: Squarely set, sound feet, legs, hocks and joints with adequate bone. Hard hooves.

16)  Size & Flesh: Easy fleshing. Adequate size for age and environment to show good gain and health.

17)  Hide: Pliable and healthy.

18)  Hair (will vary depending on environment): Cows short, straight, slick coat. Bulls coarse wire-type hair on head and neck.

19)  Sheath: Retractable prepuce, small orifice, flat small-sized navel flap.

20)  Udder & Teats: Well attached udder, equally balanced quarters, pigmented, small teats, abundant milk production.  

21)  Disposition: Mild, tractable.

22)  Reproduction: Early maturity, longevity. Cows regular calving, breeding back at about 3 months after calving and early puberty. Bulls masculine, virile, high libido, high quality semen in volume.

23)  Color: Colors and mixes are so various that no two appear exactly alike. Wild, flamboyant, loud colors, paints, spotted, solids and many variations.

24)  Horn Growth: Smooth, waxy appearance. Cows — wide, twisted outward, measuring 40 inches or more, tip-to-tip at maturity. Bulls — horns with lateral length and a slight forward upward sweep of 46 inches or more, tip-to-tip on mature bulls and a base circumference of 12 inches or more.

These are the basic Breed Guidelines established back in the late 1970’s to early ‘80’s.

Today I would say a good, acceptable horn measurement on a mature cow or bull would be in the 50 inch range tip-to-tip. 

Some believe that a weanling calf should have straight out horn that has grown to the end of its ears by 6 months of age.  Because of this belief a lot of calves are being culled that probably would have matured into a nice twisty horned animal any breeder would have been proud to own.  Because of a misconception and a lack of patience on the breeder’s part these “twist horn” genetics are being lost. 

I believe this is one of the main reasons we are losing the breed’s twisty horn genetics. Twisty horns do not seem to grow fast and they generally do not come straight out of the animal’s head.  If you are only looking for tip-to-tip horn genetics this theory is still flawed.  

In my thirty plus years in this business I have found that certain bloodlines will produce early and quick horn growth and the growth tends to slow dramatically as they mature.  Other bloodlines tend to start out slow and have growth spurts at a later age, but continue to grow steadily throughout their lives with some of these animals eventually reaching tip-to-tip measurements of over 70 inches. 

This is just something to think about as you review the Breed Guidelines and evaluate your Longhorn herd.