Breeding for color.. Selecting a bull help.

[teek987]

Update-She had it, a beautiful black and white calf, with the blue/gray roaning on the outside of the black spots. ITS A DARN BOY?! . Posted in a reply also..
She always throws great babys, confo wise, and are all pretty easy to handle..
Well, i was thinking about what i would breed her back to, i have always done live cover with my own bulls. Shes always thrown nice heifer calves, good size.
But the whole point of this thread? Shes "blue" and i would love to have another one running around. How many have sucess with A.I.? What kind of bull, color wise, should i pic? Any help would be great.

 

[dun]

A roan shorthorn bull should give you the blue. With AI if you aren;t hitting a minimum of 75% first service conceptions you're behind the national average. But many popel run well over 80 and approaching 90%.

 

[teek987]

A roan shorthorn bull should give you the blue. With AI if you aren;t hitting a minimum of 75% first service conceptions you're behind the national average. But many popel run well over 80 and approaching 90%.

Thanks!! Where would i go about looking for one? As i said, i have always done live cover with my own bulls, so im not really sure about how to go about the whole thing..

 

[dun]

Thumb through the bulls at these link:
http://bullbarn.com/shortprice.asp
http://cattlevisions.com/Shorthorn/shor ... ectory.php

 

[teek987]

Thumb through the bulls at these link:
http://bullbarn.com/shortprice.asp
http://cattlevisions.com/Shorthorn/shor ... ectory.php

Thanks so much!!
Any color would do as long as its roaned or what?

 

[dun]

Any color would do as long as its roaned or what?

The roan will give you the trait for the mix of colors. If it's a red roan there is a 50:50 chance of a red or blue roan calf. If the bull is heterozygous black (blue) the calf will have a 75 % chance of being blue, if if he is homozygous the calf will be black. Same applies to the cows part of the color.
Don;t think I explained that very well

 

[dun]

Check out this link on color
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/CowPatterns.html

 

[randiliana]

Here you go,

The roan gene is incompletely dominant, no copies is a solid animal, one copy is a roan, and two copies is a white animal (with a little roaning around the ears). How much roan is another set of genes (which isn't really understood).

So if you breed your roan cow to a solid bull, she has a 50% chance of having a roan calf, and a 50% chance of not having a roan.

If you breed her to a Roan bull, you have a 50% chance of getting a roan calf, 25% chance of a solid calf, and 25% chance of a white calf.

Whether the calf is black (blue roan) or red (red roan) is up to another set of genes. If you are using a Shorthorn bull, his base color will be RED(homozygous). Your cow's base color is BLACK, meaning she has at least one copy (heterozygous) of the black gene, or possibly 2 copies (homozygous).

If your cow is heterozygous for the black gene and you breed her red, you have a 50% chance of a black calf and a 50% chance of a red calf.

If she is homozygous for the black gene she will always have a black calf, no matter what you breed her. It may be modified (roan or dilute) but the base will always be black.

If you want a true roan calf, you only have a 50% chance of getting one regardless of whether you breed her to a solid colored bull or a roan bull. If you want to ensure that the calf is going to be a blue roan and you aren't sure if your cow is hetero or homo for black, breed her to a black bull. You will either get a black or a blue roan calf.

 

[3waycross]

That Roan gene is a funny bugger. My partner had a calf born yesterday out of a registered RA bull and a SOLID red cow shorthorn cow. The cow has no visible roan and some solid white on her belly. The calf was born solid red except for her tailhead and tail which is roan.

 

[teek987]

Well, i whent upto the barn because i heard cows mooing and making a fuss. Well, what do i see? A black and white calf, with the blue roaning on the edge of its face. Bad news? ITS A BOY!?!?! :devil2: That is all this darn bull threw for us! Boys, boys boys, when we need girls girls GIRLS. O man...