Do Murray Grey produces rattails

[Muddy]

I had a guy telling me that Murray greys will produce more rattails than Charolais. But I never heard of anyone gotten a rattail out of a murray grey considering they have different genes from Charolais and Simmentals.

 

[Lucky_P]

Never heard or read of MGs throwing rattails.

Gotta question whether your guy knows what he's talking about, or if he even really knows what a Murray Gray is...
I had a former coworker who talked about his Murray Gray cow(s) tha, in reality, were just bred down from some old dilution-gene carrier Simmental cows he'd had 20-30 years ago.
Just because it's gray or brown... it's not necessarily a MG... I had quite a few cows in my herd that 'looked' like typical MGs... but were high % AN or SH cows... again, bred down from some old yellow, dilution-gene carrier Simmental bulls I used back in the late 1980s.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

"Breeds that are known to possess the dilution gene are: Simmental, Charolais, Longhorn, Gelbvieh, Blonde'd Aquitaine, Murray Grey and Scottish Highland. Charolais are homozygous for the dilution gene as evidenced by their white color."

So, yes, they carry the diluter gene.

 

[Lucky_P]

Thanks, Jeanne - I'd not seen that... and never really knew how the original MGs got their silver/brown color from a cross of Angus cows and a white Shorthorn bull - which should have just made blue roans. Kinda makes you wonder if there was, maybe, something else 'in the woodpile', as they say.

 

[Muddy]

Thanks, Jeanne - I'd not seen that... and never really knew how the original MGs got their silver/brown color from a cross of Angus cows and a white Shorthorn bull - which should have just made blue roans. Kinda makes you wonder if there was, maybe, something else 'in the woodpile', as they say.

If these breeds carrying a dilutor gene, then how come there isn't a single rattail calf out of galloways, highlands, longhorns, Dexters and Murray greys? I read few articles that there are different dilutor genes.

As for the Murray grey origin, honestly I don't think it was a white shorthorn. A silver dun galloway cow is most likely culprit.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

"Origin. The Murray Grey breed was developed in the upper Murray River region of Australia in the early part of this century. The first grey cattle resulted from the mating of an Angus bull and a roan Shorthorn cow, 13 such calves of the same colour being kept originally as curiosities."

 

[Backbone Ranch]

I am not aware of Murray Greys producing rattails. We have not had any in the last 10 years.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

LOL - I have bred Simmental since 1972 and I "may" have had 1 or 2 before they were a "thing". And I dealt with a LOT of diluter genes. But, I guess in all fairness, I had more reds than black factored cattle. I have had black Simmentals since that time though, just not as many as now. Until I had Macho As U (avatar - embryo calf I raised), I never AI bred to a black bull.

 

[TwoByrdsMG]

I have never seen one but it does not mean that they do not exist somewhere here. Most Murrays in the USA were bred up from other breeds since we couldn't import live cattle until much later. Back East many of them were bred up from dairy cattle. When embryo collection became a thing pure/fullbred Murray embryos and live cattle were imported from AU. We have 10 or more generations of purebred Murray Greys on our herd (other than one that we purchased with a WLE Uno Mas heifer at side).

When in doubt- if they don't make the cut for breeding quality they sure make the cut on my plate!