I've been line breeding to a certain bull in part of my program for quite a while. When I wind a pedigree up really tight to him the eye set on the calves tends to move toward something that resembles the position you generally find in Jersey cattle. For whatever reason, the trait tends to show up in the best bull calves the most. I really want to use one of those wound up bull calves, but the eyes just get more exposed than I'd like. On the horned bull you can kind of see his head is shaped more toward the eyes being on the side of his head and he has a very pronounced brow over the eye. If you was to throw some sand or grass seed at his face while he was grazing it'll land on the ridge and fall off. If you do it to one of the Jersey type eyes it's gong right into their eye. The pronounced ridge also helps keep the fescue stems from irritating the eyes while grazing through them.

The roan bull has a more exposed eye, but a different eye lid that I've never really noticed in any of my cattle. When opened it's so thick it almost has a fold in it. I asked some Australian breeders about it and they said it's normal on a lot of their "brush bulls". They claimed it keeps the brush out of their eyes and the bull will probably be much more fly and tick resistant. I have no clue how much of that was an old breeders tale, but if it will help counter the terrible strains of pinkeye that seem to be popping up every few years I won't complain. He's really a calving ease specialist, so I don't know that I'll keep many calves out of him but I hope a few land in the herd to see if it is true.

Seems crazy to put so much effort into eyes, but the new pinkeye outbreaks of the last few years are getting serious.