Hereford Scurs

[kentuckyguy]

I have read through several threads here on scurs and horn genes in Herefords.

My question is if I breed a scurred bull to my polled Hereford cows will I see scurs on the calves?

 

[M.Magis]

Here's a detailed article. The answer would be "maybe".

https://hereford.org/static/files/1115_PerformanceMatters.pdf

 

[kentuckyguy]

I read that article last night but still couldn't come to a definitive answer about my situation.

All I could come of with was the same as you "maybe"

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Maybe is the only answer. NONE of your heifers will be scurred - IF - NONE of your cows carry the scur gene. The scur gene is sex linked. In bulls, it is dominant - only have to inherit ONE gene. In heifers, it is recessive - she must inherit from both parents. But, they all have a 50-50 chance of CARRYING the scur gene, since the bull may only be carrying 1 gene. This increases the probability of your future calves to be scurred. If a heifer calf inherits one scur gene and is not phenotypically scurred, she could have a bull calf, pass on her 1 inherited gene to her bull calf and he WILL be scurred.
I have dealt with the scur gene for 50 years. It is insidious, because it is difficult to track. You have to "assume" that all offspring out of a scurred bull is carrying for future breedings.

 

[kentuckyguy]

Thanks for the answer. I still believe I'm going to use him. Worst case scenario is I will have some scurs to remove.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

For lots of generations. Just saying.

 

[kentuckyguy]

I just have 2 Hereford cows to keep my wife and daughter happy. The rest are simmys so I don't have many to deal with.

Here's my 2 two day old heifer born last week.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Understood! Nice pair!!!

 

[SPH]

The one thing I can say being around Hereford cattle all these years is I have never understood how you can make breeding decisions that never result in scurs. I've seen scurs when you use a homozygous polled bull on a polled female. There is probably a horned animal somewhere in nearly any polled hereford pedigree but the nice thing about scurs is that they are less predictable than horns if you use a heterozyous polled bull on a polled female.