3waycross":3tckwzpz said:
Speaking of the diluter gene. Here's one for your consideration.
I have 2 cows, a 3yr old and her 4yr old full sister. They are both white. They are out of a blk baldie cowX a Char/? bull. Last year the older one was bred to a blk crossbred bull and produced a white heifer. The younger one was bred to a reg Angus bull and produced a white heifer. Today the younger one gave birth to a BLACK bull calf and she was supposedly bred to our RA bull. Any ideas what's up?
She WAS probably bred to your RA bull. We have a very light grey cow in the herd, that has had red and a black calves too, so far no grey or white, but, I'm sure that will come.
You have to understand the genetics of both the black baldy cow and the Char bull the cows were out of.
First off, the Char is Homo for the diluter gene, that means you will get a grey/tan calf. The exact shade of grey/tan will vary a LOT. Char's also have a RED base coat (well most of them do)
Now the black baldy cow, is most likely Ee - hetero black (carrying red gene)But could also be EE (homo black)
So here is what happened with your younger cow
She is Hetero for the dilute gene, and is carrying both the black and the red gene (hetero black)
So she is DdEe
Last year you bred her to a Reg Angus bull (presumably homo black)
He was ddEE
Your calf would have been
Dd - hetero dilute
EE/Ee - homo or hetero black (doesn't really matter in this case the end result is the same)
So it was grey (very light) with a black base coat.
This year you took her again
DdEe
And bred her to a RA bull
ddee
She passed on the BLACK gene, but not the DILUTER gene. The bull passed on a red gene which was overridden by the black, and he had no dilute gene to pass on. Thus you got a black calf.
Essentially your younger cow could throw grey, tan, black OR red calves depending on what she is bred to. Most likely the older cow could as well.