Question for Hereford Breeders

[Anonymous]

Our black baldie cows are alot more fertile than our straightbred black cows-not very often you see the crayon come out when the vet is arming a baldie. So far we haven't been beat up too bad on the grid with our Hereford X finished cattle. As for polled-there are some good ones out there but when I was buying cattle I had alot of feedlots warn us not to send them any. I think the Hereford breed as a whole has got to get a handle on their birthweights-find out which lines got a little help from Simmental-don't kid yourself there are several-I was beyond P.O.'ed when I a.i'ed to Titan 7777 and all my black cows had smokes. There are actually quite a few of my A'I customers going to breed Hereford this year instead of Angus.

That brings up something I saw yesterday- Watched part of the Courtney Hereford sale on Superior--They announced that 4 or 5 of the bulls had tested positive for carrying the dilutor gene and could throw a grey calf when bred to black cows- does this mean they have Simmi in them somewhere?....I haven't had a Hereford bull for 25 years- do have a few Hereford cows left I picked up as heifers and save some of the baldy heifers out of them for replacements- but I have never had any smokes, greys, or rattails from any Hereford I've had.....

I can say as Hereford breeder that this is a question I would love to know the answer to. Basically there is no one that knows the answer to you dilutor question. There can be a strong case made that the dilutor gene was inherited by another breed but on the other hand there is a case to be made that the dilutor gene occurs naturally within the Hereford breed. Personally, the case for the dilutor gene naturally being present within the Hereford breed doesn't hold water - but we will probably never know the answer for sure.

All I can say is that if you want to use a Hereford bull and you don't want a smokey calf then make sure and ask the breeder this very question. There are a lot of good Hereford Herds out there that do not have any suspect bloodlines as far as the dilutor gene or any other defects and if it is important to you then you need to do the research and find them. This is the biggest problem that I have with the Hereford association and it's answer to the dilutor cattle - as a commercial cattleman, you shouldn't have to ask or do your own research on the cattle to determine the chances of getting a smokey calf. I applaud the Hereford breeders that are honest and up front about it and have the integrity to solve the problem.

If anyone would like to know the dilutor cattle within the Horned or Polled Hereford breed, I would gladly inform you and even put you in touch with someone who can prove it scientifically.

Thanks Hereford76- That was the first time I had heard of the problem related to Herefords--I'd never saw it in the old Herefords- in fact I never heard about dilutor genes until the Simmi's came along...Sounds like that might be where the Herefords got it :wink: Back in the 60's and 70's we ran some Hereford/Simmental X bulls for awhile- definitely threw some big nice calves....

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Hereford76 - Welcome to the Forum! It is interesting to hear your input and opinions and I am sure you will be as asset to all of us!

DOC HARRIS

 

[cowsense]

Hereford 76; I'd like to congratulate and firmly concur with you on your posting on Herefords. Our breed by necessity has had to cull hard and change to match the needs of the industry. There are very few breeds that can identifiably and consistently add complimentary value to any crossbreeding program while retaining the basics of economical beef production. Whiteface cattle can and will fit the needs of the industry!

 

[Hereford76]

I was wondering where OXH Monarch obtained the diluter gene. Pedigree says he shouldn't have it.

Monarch - the single reason today we actually have a test for the dilutor gene. You are right, there is nothing in his pedigree that says he should have it. If you know where Monarch's sire came from you can start to understand a possible explanation for him carrying the dilutor gene. There is only one animal in 279's pedigree that is unnaccounted for and probably where the genetics come from.

Another interesting thing about Monarch is that he has breed leading EPD's and is a bull that has been used pretty hard. Can we sort through his progeny with this diluter test and continue to use his non dilutor progeny with integrity?

 

[WB]

Hereford 76: That depends I believe if you can trace where it came from. The story I was told on the Monarch situation was that a cow where his sire was raised got bred by a 11 month old bull calf that was running with the cows. Now if that were true then his pedigree is not accurate. I am not sure if we ever will know.