By Kendra Van Order
During dairy showmanship, exhibitors are always told to make sure that their cattle’s feet are set and to try and set those feet as quickly as possible. But how do exhibitors accomplish getting the feet set correctly and in a timely manner? Let’s take a look at bovine stride and gait patterns, as well as locomotive behaviors to help us set feet in the most effective and efficient way possible in the show ring.
Not all mammalian species have the same stride and gait patterns. For example, a cat’s stride pattern is identified as a pacing gait. A pacing gate is where both legs on one side of the body move forward simultaneously, followed by the legs on the opposite side. For a healthy and comfortable cat, their gait sequence is where the front leg moves together with a simultaneous push-off from the hind leg. See Figure 1 for a reference video on this gait pattern.
When we take a look at a dairy animal’s stride and gait pattern, it can be characterized as a four-beat gait. This allows each leg to bear equal weight and hit the surface independently of one another. For a sound and comfortable dairy animal, their stride sequence is a non-simultaneous pattern of first the left hind, then the left front, followed by the right hind, and then the right front landing on the surface last.
Source : msu.edu