Rosielou
Well-known member
*Picture Heavy*
I have been asked to post some newer pictures of my rat-tail, so I thought I would just make a thread showing my experience with my rat-tail bull calf and pictures as he has grown. This is the first rat-tail I have had experience with, so I thought I would share it and ask for other people's experiences on this and if mine is similar.
Here is rat-tail for those who aren't familiar: It is a form of congenital hypotrichosis, commonly know as the "rat-tail syndrome," occurs in a small percentage of calves produced by crossing some Continental cattle breeds with cattle that are black in color. These calves are characterized by short, curly, malformed, sometimes sparse hair and a lack of normal tail switch development.
Here some links for those who are interested:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10340580
http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/c ... /1144.long
http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_right_alley_2
Background- Bought the momma as a pretty young heifer from the sale a few years ago, so I don't know the breed, but I would assume Brangus x Char or Beefmaster x Char. She was bred and we did not know it, calf was at least 100+ lbs, so we had to pull it, and was dead by the time we got it out. So, first calf lost. Last year she was bred to our black angus, which resulted in this rat-tail bull calf. Calf is about 7 months now. The reason we have not sold him is we are fixing the corral.
Here is his momma way before calving- last year I think. Sorry I don't have any recent pictures, though she looks the same, just has an udder now.
Here is the calf from a couple days old until today.
1-2 months.
4 months.
5-6 months.
And now today at 7 months.
Here are some half brothers for comparison(same sire) so you will notice the difference in muscle definition.
calf is 6-7 months.
calf is 7 months.
6-7 months. (no this calf is not roach backed, just hunching his back.)
younger picture to show straighter back.
He has always had sparse, curly, wiry hair and no tail switch. If you have read about rat-tails, it's common that they don't weigh as much as the others at weaning for some reason. I have not noticed much difference in growth, but I have noticed lack of muscle definition, rather it be because he has weird hair which changes the appearance or just because of his genetics, I can't be sure. This is the first calf I have seen his mother have. He has grown at the pace of the others, though ugly and having sinewy muscling, I haven't noticed much of a difference in him and the other calves. At birth, I did think he was blind in one of his eyes because it appeared to be milky/blue, but it was normal a couple days later, so I did think that was odd. But, he has always appeared fully alert and appears to see well on both sides, though he does squint in that eye in sunlight often. I'm not sure if this is a defect or caused by sparse hair growth. Either way, it does not seem to bother him now other than the squinting.
So far, I have really only noticed he's just plain ugly, but I have not had high hopes for him to look the same as his siblings, so I am not disappointed. I expect he will be docked at the sale, which can't be helped, though irritating, and might weigh just a few pounds less than his brothers because he lacks the muscling that they do. I will try to post a follow up after he is sold, but it might be sparse because I am so busy.
I have been asked to post some newer pictures of my rat-tail, so I thought I would just make a thread showing my experience with my rat-tail bull calf and pictures as he has grown. This is the first rat-tail I have had experience with, so I thought I would share it and ask for other people's experiences on this and if mine is similar.
Here is rat-tail for those who aren't familiar: It is a form of congenital hypotrichosis, commonly know as the "rat-tail syndrome," occurs in a small percentage of calves produced by crossing some Continental cattle breeds with cattle that are black in color. These calves are characterized by short, curly, malformed, sometimes sparse hair and a lack of normal tail switch development.
Here some links for those who are interested:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10340580
http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/c ... /1144.long
http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_right_alley_2
Background- Bought the momma as a pretty young heifer from the sale a few years ago, so I don't know the breed, but I would assume Brangus x Char or Beefmaster x Char. She was bred and we did not know it, calf was at least 100+ lbs, so we had to pull it, and was dead by the time we got it out. So, first calf lost. Last year she was bred to our black angus, which resulted in this rat-tail bull calf. Calf is about 7 months now. The reason we have not sold him is we are fixing the corral.
Here is his momma way before calving- last year I think. Sorry I don't have any recent pictures, though she looks the same, just has an udder now.
Here is the calf from a couple days old until today.
1-2 months.
4 months.
5-6 months.
And now today at 7 months.
Here are some half brothers for comparison(same sire) so you will notice the difference in muscle definition.
calf is 6-7 months.
calf is 7 months.
6-7 months. (no this calf is not roach backed, just hunching his back.)
younger picture to show straighter back.
He has always had sparse, curly, wiry hair and no tail switch. If you have read about rat-tails, it's common that they don't weigh as much as the others at weaning for some reason. I have not noticed much difference in growth, but I have noticed lack of muscle definition, rather it be because he has weird hair which changes the appearance or just because of his genetics, I can't be sure. This is the first calf I have seen his mother have. He has grown at the pace of the others, though ugly and having sinewy muscling, I haven't noticed much of a difference in him and the other calves. At birth, I did think he was blind in one of his eyes because it appeared to be milky/blue, but it was normal a couple days later, so I did think that was odd. But, he has always appeared fully alert and appears to see well on both sides, though he does squint in that eye in sunlight often. I'm not sure if this is a defect or caused by sparse hair growth. Either way, it does not seem to bother him now other than the squinting.
So far, I have really only noticed he's just plain ugly, but I have not had high hopes for him to look the same as his siblings, so I am not disappointed. I expect he will be docked at the sale, which can't be helped, though irritating, and might weigh just a few pounds less than his brothers because he lacks the muscling that they do. I will try to post a follow up after he is sold, but it might be sparse because I am so busy.