Not sure I want to name him, R_H... BIG NAME Angus breeder behind him, and it's not a detrimental or potentially lethal 'defect' like AM/NH/CA/DD are...
Homo polled(whether it's Angus or another breed) will mask the scur gene... so it may be sliding along in more Angus cattle than folks realize... but when you start breeding them to horned cattle &/or cattle carrying the scur gene (I know some of my cows have one or both of these in the mix)... scurs will show up from time to time.
I've got black, polled cows in the herd with several generations of Angus breeding behind them - but I also know that there are Holstein, Simmental, Pinzgauer farther back, and the horn and scur genes are potentially in play - and some cows have given the hint,as they've produced horned or scurred calves when bred to hetero polled bulls.
But.. at this point in time, as to your original question... if it has true horns, it's NOT an Angus.
The polled gene mutations can arise spontaneously... I'm aware of several Shorthorn animals, born to horned parents that have been 'polled sport' mutants from two horned parents. Makes you wonder if it could go the other way, and a horned mutant could arise from two homo polled parents...? I dunno...
B&G
