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Hello from Deep East Texas
- Thread starter gman4691
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Looks like rain most of next week but that 62 sho feels good…Friday & Saturday night temps will get down around 20…then up in the 40's & 50's at night
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Don't know if the photo captures it but he's a stocky little dude…I hope that persists until sale time…first calf from the "new" bull…2024 is off to a good start
EasTex
Well-known member
Nice calf, congrats! Char bull?
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Brangus bull…momma is white but no charolais in the blood lines to my knowledge…I have several white cows but they aren't charolais…dad has had several different bulls over several decades and would keep some heifers from time to time…most of the cows are brangus but there's no way of knowing what all may be in the genetics of these lighter colored cows…but there has never been any charolais in the mix…bulls or otherwise
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Travlr
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White Angus... obviously.
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Yeah…he'll make white meat…lol
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He is registered…a guy about 5 miles from here raises and sells registered brangus bulls and that's where this one came from…the last brangus bull came from the same place…don't know about the HZ part of the equation but the calves generally take on a color closer to their mothers…
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Don't really get much of the genetics but from what I can tell, he must be homozygous black…the lighter color cows produce lighter colored calves (white, smoke, etc.). I have one oddball gray cow and she looks like she will calve this year. It will be interesting the see what she produces. The white cows have calves ranging from white to smoke pretty much every time. The black cows have black calves and the black baldy I sold last year had black baldy calves. Trying to research how these genetics work gives me a headache - biology has never been my thing.
This little calf looks like some pics I've seen of British Whites…don't know how that could have gotten into the gene pool.
If he is registered, them he is homozygous black. If you are getting white, smoky etc calves out of the white cows, then they have the Charolais dilute gene in them. Great looking set of cows, no matter what they are.
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Kind of figured something like that…although how they wound up with charolais in their genetics is a mystery. Maybe dad bought some at some point in the past I don't know about…but never had any full blood charolais out here.
In the photo above, the oddball gray is in the center and looks like she will calve this spring. The lighter colored cow on the far right was born last spring - as a calf, she had an almost jersey looking face and color…has pretty much grown out of that now though.
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That one in the middle looks like Black Baldy x CVhar, or BWF Simm x Char.
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She's an oddball for sure. Not just in color - her build is a little different - it's obvious when seeing them all up close…pics don't really capture the difference. Body not as long and frame is different. Head is a little wider, slimmer build…like I say, when seeing them up close and personal, she sticks out like a sore thumb…almost culled her last year but decided to give her another shot. Here's hoping she throws a good calf this spring.
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Reading up on some of the genetics stuff, I think you are correct. There almost has to be some charolais in the mix somewhere with those white cows. Maybe it came in with some cows dad might have bought quite a number of years ago. Mom told me he had bought cows from time to time (one year, 2 or 3 were struck by lightening so he bought replacements - she doesn't remember what they looked like). And he did keep heifers for replacements from time to time so I suppose it's possible that some of those unknowns introduced some unfamiliar (to me) genetics ( like charolais) into the herd that have persisted to now. Pretty much all of these have been good cows (good calves, mothering instincts, etc.) and I have culled out some that were either too old, barren, or downright psychopathic...all in all, I'd say the herd is coming along nicely. Still have a couple that are questionable...we'll just have to see as time goes by. As for the gray cow with the spotted face...she looks very similar to what we had when I was a kid - polled hereford-brahma cross...don't know if that is her background but she looks very similar to those from many years ago when we had polled herefords with a brahma bull. (There was also one or two white cows in the bunch even as far back as that - many years ago).
From the looks of things, the oddball gray should have a calf this year - will be interesting to see what it looks like. If I'm wrong and she doesn't, she'll probably take the ride this year...but I'm very confident she will...quality of the calf will determine whether she stays or goes. Almost culled her last year but something told me to give her another calving season...so I did...no special reason - just a feeling, really.
Wall Murray Greys
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The two on the left appear to be Murray Greys. There are several commercial herds of murray greys in east and south east Texas. Could be what they are and it would Also explains the calf.
Wall Murray Greys
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I would add that Murray Greys have a dilution gene as well. It doesn't have to be a charalois.
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looking at pics online, that, too, could be a possibility
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Main reason charolais came to mind is that years ago some folks around here used to raise charolais cattle (a lot fewer now) so that's the first thing that comes to mind when I see a white cow...there are still a few raising them but nothing like when I was a kid. The Murray Greys are an equally viable candidate...from what I can tell from online pics, there are some striking similarities.
