Technical aspects of determining over-age in beef cattle

Abstract

In most textbooks in regards to determining the age of a bovine animal, there is a wide variation in the tooth eruption schedule in relation to age. After many years of experience in examining the teeth of young beef cattle by the author in collaboration with other veterinarians* who have spent considerable time and effort in determining age, it is their consensus of opinion that stress from nutrition, environment, or disease cause 97% of the variation of eruption and growth of young beef cattle teeth. If conditions of (1) no stress from nutritional deficiencies, (2 ) optimum weather conditions, and (3) freedom from all disease and illness are available, the maximum normal development of teeth is very uniform and can be utilized as a standard for determining “over-age” of beef cattle in the show ring with a high degree of accuracy under thirty-eight months of age.