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Picture of shufitz
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I ran across an odd word: brockle. One-look doesn’t have it (except in wictionary), and OED, which gives a different definition, says the word is obsolete. Yet it has plenty of Google hits: 13,500, including over 250 for the phrase brockle-faced. From the latter cites I get the sense that the term is reasonably common in the cattle industry.

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    I wanted to follow one of their steers through the life cycle … I was also looking for a memorable face in this black Angus sea I could pick out of the crowd at the feedlot. …. [Steer #] 534 moseyed railing and made eye contact. He had a wide stout frame and was brockle-faced – he had three easy-to-spot white blazes. Here was my boy.
    – Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma
 
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Picture of arnie
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I've never heard of it, but then I know nothing about cattle. anyway. It certainly has the 'feel' of a farmers' term. Perhaps the word should have been saved for use in the bluffing game?


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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The word seems vaguely familiar to me. I will ask my father, as he might know if it.
 
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I've never heard of the word. But, as you say, it appears to be common in the trade. It's mentioned in several books. They seem to be mostly western novels.

This is from Beef Newsletter, by the University of Missouri Extension (third to last paragraph):
quote:
BALDIES OR MOTTLED FACED?
I’ve always been fascinated by the markings on calves out of a Hereford-Angus cross. Some turn out with a true baldy or white face, some have goggle eyes while some have a very mottled face. Some refer to this latter appearance as brockle faced.

From The Genetics of the Hereford Pattern:
quote:
When the Hereford Herd Book appeared in 1845 four different color types were in existence, and were eligible for registry. These were described as "mottled face, dark grey, light grey, and white faced." The mottled-faced probably corresponded to what are now called "brockle-faced" and were due to a dominant gene, P1, which causes not only the large pigmented spots on the face, but also extra pigment on the legs.

I'm sure you'll all want to read that one.

It also applies to sheep. An "Agriculture Core Curriculum" says
quote:
C. 2. Sheep - Crosses between white face wool breeds and black face
mutton breeds are common.

a. they can be recognized by their spotted faces (brockle
face).

And from a sheep glossary by the Danke Club Lambs and Livestock of Minford, Ohio:
quote:
BROCKLE-FACE or SMUTT-FACE----Commercial crossbred lambs from white-faced wool breed dams and black-faced sires, i.e. Suffolk, Hampshire or Suffolk-Hampshire cross.

And the last one is from
A Glossary of North Country Words in use; with Their Etymology, and Affinity to Other Languages; and occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions
MDCCCXXIX (p. 49):
quote:
Brock, a badger. Pure Saxon. Dan. broak. V. Thompson.

Brock, a name sometimes given to a cow, or husbandry horse.

Brock, the little insect in the gowk, or cuckcoo-spit. Hence, I am informed, the common vulgar expression, To sweat like a brock."

Brock-Faced, a white longitudinal mark down the face like a badger. Su-Got. brokug of more than one colour [sic].

Brockle, Bruckle, inconstant, uncertain, variable; applied to the weather; It also means brittle and to break; in a general sense. Teut. brokel fragilis. Chaucer writes it brotel.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
 
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Picture of wordmatic
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The word sounds vaguely familiar to me also. My father grew up on a farm in southern Ohio and I'm sure in his lifetime I must've heard him refer to a brockle-faced cow.

The word has the same feel as "brindle," doesn't it--same idea, different species and different colors, but mottled or splotchy.

WM
 
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Yes, it does, WM. With Border Collies that blotchy face is called merle blue.
 
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Brockle is a term typically used in sheep as the above definition points out. It can also be used to discribe any animal with a spotted head. In cattle typically a black body with a spotted head, in sheep a white body with a spotted head. Brockle lambs are very popular in the show arenas.
 
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Welcome, Kim! And, yes, I now remember that word from my days in Wisconsin.
 
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