At our Open Day in August, Brad Hine from Angus Australia joined Annie in the yards for a practical look at bull structure.
Using our 2026 sale bulls, they talked through what they look for in a structurally sound bull - how he walks, where his feet land, his topline, rump and shoulder, and the overall balance of the animal.
One thing Brad commented on was the consistency across the 75 Karoo bulls in this year's draft. Here's some of what was covered, to give you a few more things to look for next time you walk the yards.
Start with how he moves.
You want him moving freely and comfortably, with his hind feet following through well.
Look at him from the side, then get behind him. Is he tracking straight? Is he overstepping or understepping? Does he move easily, or does something look restricted?
A bull has work to do. How he gets around matters.
Then look from the ground up.
Feet and legs.
Feet are carrying a lot of bull, particularly as he matures.
Look at claw shape, foot angle and heel depth. Then look at the angle through the hind leg from both the side and behind. No single view tells you everything.
Topline, rump and shoulder.
This is where you start looking at the bull as a whole.
Brad and Annie talked through the angle of the shoulders, the strength of the topline, the capacity of the animal and the importance of a thick rump. All of these tie the animal together.
At Karoo, weight is king. It's what we're paid for at the end of the day. We want to pack as much performance as we sensibly can into our cattle while keeping them functional, balanced and able to do the job they're bred for.
Structural assessment is one piece.
Structural assessment is one piece of a bigger habit. Across the stud herd we record:
- Birth weight, then 200, 400 and 600 day weights
- Scanning for eye muscle area, fat and intramuscular fat
- Docility
- Scrotal measurement
- Genomics across every stud animal
- Structural assessment
The more raw data that goes in, the more reliable the EBVs that come back out of TACE.
We're trying to guarantee our product to the best that we can before it leaves the gate. That leaves us less open to problems down the track.
Annie Scott, Seeds for Success podcast (LLS)
Want to go deeper? The full structural scoring guide is free from the Angus Education Centre at angusaustralia.com.au. Worth having in the ute.