Cattle age determination

The age of cattle is determined chiefly by examination of the teeth, and less perfectly by the horn rings or the length of the tail brush; due to bang-tailing, which is the act of cutting the long hairs at the tip of the tail short to identify the animal after management practices, the last method is the least reliable.

The teeth of cattle are suited primarily for grinding, and they use their rough tongues to grasp grass and then nip it off between their incisors and the dental pad.

[1] There is controversy on the reliability of attempting to tell the age of cattle by their teeth, as rate of wear can be affected by the forage that is grazed.

Fat cattle auctions in New South Wales, Australia identify the amount of teeth that prime animals have in the form of sprayed marks along the back.

Cattle age in a carcass is determined checking the physiological skeletal maturity (ossification) (red) of the tips or "buttons" of the thoracic vertebrae.

The size and shape of the rib bones are important considerations as well as the colour and texture of the flesh.