coloring on polled herfords

[coolwater]

:?: i was raised up raising beefmasters.im familliar with their traits.ive just bought my first 3 herfords.2 bred heifers and a 7 1/2 month old bull.the heifers are deeply dark red but the bull is half their darkness on the red.he has all the makings of a good bull.his height is high and his lenght is good.hes very well built not hatchet butted.the only thing is his color.ive had him for almost 2 months now.it seems as if he may be darkening some.does anyone know how the color difference is judged on this breed?also will his color darken with age?i like the little fellow i just think the darker red looks better.

 

[msscamp]

Welcome to the boards, coolwater. I can't help you with your questions, though, as I don't know a thing about Herefords - never raised them. Sorry.

 

[Beefy]

i like the red ones. brown ones are just plain ugly to me.

 

[Caustic Burno]

:?: i was raised up raising beefmasters.im familliar with their traits.ive just bought my first 3 herfords.2 bred heifers and a 7 1/2 month old bull.the heifers are deeply dark red but the bull is half their darkness on the red.he has all the makings of a good bull.his height is high and his lenght is good.hes very well built not hatchet butted.the only thing is his color.ive had him for almost 2 months now.it seems as if he may be darkening some.does anyone know how the color difference is judged on this breed?also will his color darken with age?i like the little fellow i just think the darker red looks better.

Herefords come in colors from dark scarlet red to yellow, you don't see many yellow's anymore as ranchers have selected more for the red. txag could probally explain this a lot better than me as far as how the gene pool goes here. I have seen dark red bulls and cows throw light colored calfs and the light colored ones throw dark. If you look at any large Hereford herd you will see various shades of red.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... print.html

This was taken from the OSU site.
Within herd selection was a long process when considering the rule of thumb of cow generation being some seven years. Many breeders began looking for short cuts. They searched the country for sires with more frame and size, requesting and analyzing weaning and yearling weights. Leaders in beef cattle education and research stressed growth as a major criteria of performance, often ignoring or de-emphasizing the most important economical trait of beef cattle production, fertility.

Breeders often selected for frame score and mature weight, and paid little heed to fertility, structural soundness, feet and legs. The "yellow and mellow" coloring, a tic of white in the back or extra white on the legs and underline became less of a selection criteria. "If big enough, markings and color became less important."

 

[Susie David]

I personally like a little mane on our herfs and some dark around the eyes. The white mane gives them more hereford look IMO. The color isn't real important to me, red or brown just not spotted, striped, dapple or black. Sorry, got carried away. DMc

 

[coolwater]

I personally like a little mane on our herfs and some dark around the eyes. The white mane gives them more hereford look IMO. The color isn't real important to me, red or brown just not spotted, striped, dapple or black. Sorry, got carried away. DMc

thanks for the reply,i really dont care about the coloring as long as the bull is healthy and has great frame.my original question is this.does the lighter coloring effect the judging of the animal on show.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I personally like a little mane on our herfs and some dark around the eyes. The white mane gives them more hereford look IMO. The color isn't real important to me, red or brown just not spotted, striped, dapple or black. Sorry, got carried away. DMc

thanks for the reply,i really dont care about the coloring as long as the bull is healthy and has great frame.my original question is this.does the lighter coloring effect the judging of the animal on show.

Are you showing the bull? If not what are you getting confused about, as I said your scarlet red heifer might throw a yellow to a dark red all of those color genes are in the bucket. I just looked at your location get on FM 1746 and Drive by Clarks Cirlce C Ranch been raising Herefords since 1918 you will see every shade of red in one pasture running a dark red bull, and every shade in another pasture running a light colored red bull.
All the shades of red are Hereford coloring, actually they are a lot more red today than they were in the fifties as the ranchers seem to perfer yellow.

 

[jaydill]

thanks for the reply,i really dont care about the coloring as long as the bull is healthy and has great frame.my original question is this.does the lighter coloring effect the judging of the animal on show.

According to a person I was talking to at our county show about this, the polled herefords have a tendency to be darker than the horned. There's no problem with either color, though recently I was told about a hereford steer that was too dark red and got sifted at one of the majors. A picture might help?

 

[-bherefords]

I'll jump in here on this one..i have herefords. we have the darkest red to the lightest red here at the ranch. I have a light red aka yellow calf, Bevis, Bevis is about the lighest yellow i have ever seen, but the good thing is that when i'm showin her majority of the time she sticks out, why cause everyone else is dark and i'm light it has its advantages, its an eye catcher. other than that, thats about the only effect it could have.

 

[coolwater]

I'll jump in here on this one..i have herefords. we have the darkest red to the lightest red here at the ranch. I have a light red aka yellow calf, Bevis, Bevis is about the lighest yellow i have ever seen, but the good thing is that when i'm showin her majority of the time she sticks out, why cause everyone else is dark and i'm light it has its advantages, its an eye catcher. other than that, thats about the only effect it could have.

thanks for the reply.got this one for my son to show.he will score well all around.i was just thinking that most of the ones ive seen were of the darker red.ive not really payed much attention.ive raised beefmasters and red polled and some cross breeds.just havent had the experience with herefords.

 

[Beefy]

i like beefmasters. they are swell.

 

[Alan]

I also have Polled Herefords, I don't know that the pigmentation matters too much. Although at the few Hereford sales I've been to the auctioneer makes mention of the dark pigmentation on a certain sale heifer or bull. What I feel is more important is pigmentation around the eye. I have also heard too much white on the body is not desired (?).

Alan

 

[Aero]

here is a funny hereford pigmentation subject

http://5barx.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=308

 

[coolwater]

I also have Polled Herefords, I don't know that the pigmentation matters too much. Although at the few Hereford sales I've been to the auctioneer makes mention of the dark pigmentation on a certain sale heifer or bull. What I feel is more important is pigmentation around the eye. I have also heard too much white on the body is not desired (?).

Alan

thanks for the reply.im just curious why the pigmentation around the eye is important?all of mine have red/brown around their eyes.kinda looks like they are wearing eye make up.got one keifer that has black spots on her nose looks like mold.anyway these are my first herefords and im starting to like them.should have 2 calving very soon and im interested to see how well they do.do your herefords calve well on their own or do they need much assistance from you?of course these will be their first calves so i keep a close eye on them.they sure are fat i hope their weight dont give em much problems.

 

[coolwater]

I also have Polled Herefords, I don't know that the pigmentation matters too much. Although at the few Hereford sales I've been to the auctioneer makes mention of the dark pigmentation on a certain sale heifer or bull. What I feel is more important is pigmentation around the eye. I have also heard too much white on the body is not desired (?).

Alan

thanks for the reply.im just curious why the pigmentation around the eye is important?all of mine have red/brown around their eyes.kinda looks like they are wearing eye make up.got one keifer that has black spots on her nose looks like mold.anyway these are my first herefords and im starting to like them.should have 2 calving very soon and im interested to see how well they do.do your herefords calve well on their own or do they need much assistance from you?of course these will be their first calves so i keep a close eye on them.they sure are fat i hope their weight dont give em much problems.

 

[Alan]

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm under the impression that pigmentation around the eye reduces the chances of pink eye.

Alan

 

[Aero]

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm under the impression that pigmentation around the eye reduces the chances of pink eye.

Alan

i have been told that it prevents "cancer eye", never heard anything aout pink eye prevention.

 

[coolwater]

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm under the impression that pigmentation around the eye reduces the chances of pink eye.

Alan

well thats something to remember.hadnt heard it before thanks

 

[la4angus]

Again, I'm no expert, but I'm under the impression that pigmentation around the eye reduces the chances of pink eye.

Alan

well thats something to remember.hadnt heard it before thanks

You'd best be remembering Aero's post first.
He's the one that's right on this matter.

 

[dun]

It helps with both. Flys have a tendency to access the part of the eye that isn;t pigmented more then that which is. Fewer flys crawling right at the eyeball is less of a chance of them spreading pinkeye organizism. But if you don;t have any pinkeye around, unpigmented or pigmented doesn;t matter.

dun