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Soapweed
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 11627
Location: northern Nebraska Sandhills
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 Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:27 am Post subject: |
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One thing about red cattle is that if you breed a red cow to a red bull, you will always get a red calf.
We had a good red herd, and at one time I thought that I could breed them black and eventually convert them to look like the rest of our herd, which was black. This would maybe have worked had they been pure Red Angus. My cows had too much Gelbvieh in them, and there was a "diluter gene" somewhere. Too many of the calves turned out grey. There is nothing "wrong" with grey calves, but since "they don't go with the bunch"  there is a definite hit on them at the sale barns. Through the years, I have retained ownership on these calves and entered them in the Sandhills Cattle Association carcass contest. They have done fairly well in this category, and have even won a belt buckle or two. Anyway, I went back to breeding the red cows to red bulls, and just no longer kept replacement heifers out of the red herd. They got quite a bit of age on them, and we sold all of the red cows last fall.
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Juan
Member
Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 738
Location: N.W.SD
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:19 pm Post subject: Re: Question for you guys that understand genetics |
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| DOC HARRIS wrote: |
| katrina wrote: |
| Shelly wrote: |
If you breed a RWF cow to a black bull, are you always going to get a black calf? Reason I'm asking is one of our cows that we sold to the best friend came up with a rwf calf. Actually, not even red, more a red to tan color. The cow's mother is 1/4 Red Angus and her grandmother is 1/2 Red Angus. This particular cow was not exposed to any other bull than the black bull we bought last spring.
Also, what could be the reason these cows are calving so early? From our herd there's already been three calved and they were not supposed to start till next Sunday. And there's a few more that will calve before week's end. |
I don't know if I qualify to answer, but I'm gonna...
Breeding a rwf cow with a black bull will give you a red calf pretty regularly... Reason is because the angus genetics have a red gene. Some angus are more prominenant than others.
Cows can calf ten days to two weeks early.... Sometimes just goes with calving.... |
If the Angus Bull is Homozygous Black, and the cow he is bred to is Homozygous Black, and neither bull nor cow carries a red gene, all of the calves will be black. If a calf shows up and is red, there is a red gene SOMEWHERE. Black mated to black yields 25% Homozygous Black, 50% Heterozygous black, and 25% Recessive Red. Those percentages MAY show up in four matings, - or - 10 matings or perhaps it will take a thousand or more matings for the genetics to show those percentages. This is why NO ONE can predict what EVERY mating WILL produce - only what the genetic merits or predictions will dictate on a PERCENTAGE basis - NOT on a per progeny basis. The mating 'gods' don't look at particular matings and say, "OH - OH, we have three blacks from that cow and bull! Next calf has to be Red!" Doesn't work that way.
DOC HARRIS
ps- I just read what randiliana and High Plains wrote, and they are correct. Many people think that "PUREBRED" means that the calves MUST ALL be black. WRONG! Go back and read those posts again.
Juan - Go back and read the posts again - especially High Plains's. Understand the difference between "PUREBRED" and "HOMOZYGOUS". It is easy to become confused about genetics!
DOC HARRIS |
I KNOW DOC> I KNOW. 
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TSR
Rancher
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 1598
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