We had a new bull calf this week. The momma is supposedly pure black angus. I bought her in May along with her first calf an 8 month old BWF heifer. When I was loading them up the guy says the angus might be breed to a pure black angus bull. I get them home and had the vet out to do bangs on the heifer so i had him preg the cow sure enough he said she's pregnant. So Tuesday the calf is born red with a white face. I know black is dominate and I assume she was bred to a herford bull is the herford coloring possible just not as common as BWF or what could this cross be? The calf basically looks like a herford with straighter angus hair. The momma looks angus but a lot of black cows look angus.
New calf
- Thread starter gbrett
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Nesikep
Well-known member
I don't really know what to say about the coloring of the calf, but will say "Welcome to CattleToday" 
branguscowgirl
Well-known member
:welcome:
I think that your seller may be mistaken about the bull. As for the cow, she maybe has something in her background that caused this. I am sure our genetic Gurus will weigh in soon!
I think that your seller may be mistaken about the bull. As for the cow, she maybe has something in her background that caused this. I am sure our genetic Gurus will weigh in soon!
Son of Butch
Well-known member
Usually both parents need to carry a red gene to produce a red calf.
Here is a link to an interesting mutant gene discovered in 1980 where the black & white bull Puget Sound Sheik who was
known NOT to carry a red gene produced a red heifer calf named Rosabel a number of genetic tests proved the parentage.
The Rosabel Effect
Rosabel was flushed a number of times and sons were put in A.I. service.
A surprising effect was noted in many of the Red Rosabel descendants, both male and female,
when mated to Black & White cattle [BB] they could produce Red & White offspring and when mated to Red & Whites [rr]
they could produce Black & Whites.
In the 1990's a Red and White A.I. sire unrelated to Rosabel named 'Champions Mutant' was discovered with the same gene.
50% of his calves from B&W cows [BB] were born Red and White and 25% from R&W cows [rr] were born black and white.
http://www.redandwhite.com/genetics.html darn the link doesn't work...
but the article can be found by going to the Red & White Dairy Cattle Association home page
and then click on Genetics tab which is on the 2nd line of the upper right side of the page.
Here is a link to an interesting mutant gene discovered in 1980 where the black & white bull Puget Sound Sheik who was
known NOT to carry a red gene produced a red heifer calf named Rosabel a number of genetic tests proved the parentage.
The Rosabel Effect
Rosabel was flushed a number of times and sons were put in A.I. service.
A surprising effect was noted in many of the Red Rosabel descendants, both male and female,
when mated to Black & White cattle [BB] they could produce Red & White offspring and when mated to Red & Whites [rr]
they could produce Black & Whites.
In the 1990's a Red and White A.I. sire unrelated to Rosabel named 'Champions Mutant' was discovered with the same gene.
50% of his calves from B&W cows [BB] were born Red and White and 25% from R&W cows [rr] were born black and white.
http://www.redandwhite.com/genetics.html darn the link doesn't work...
but the article can be found by going to the Red & White Dairy Cattle Association home page
and then click on Genetics tab which is on the 2nd line of the upper right side of the page.
WalnutCrest
Well-known member
Son of Butch":1n4wlqy4 said:
Very interesting. Thanks for posting that.
skeeter swatter
Well-known member
Could easily be a red gene cow and a Hereford bull.
The white face did not come from Angus.
The white face did not come from Angus.
Thanks everyone. The white face is what really made it curious to me. The seller claimed she was AI'ed with mail order semen. As I said I have her first calf who is a black baldy and the seller told me he AI'ed her from a herford bull. So the seller either plain lied, or he was lied to about what semen he bought, or the neighbors have a herford bull. The momma cow must carry a red gene and the bull has got to be a herford as best as I can tell. This genetics thing gets very confusing for me, would her first calf the BWF heifer have the red gene as well? The heifer will be breed to a black bull so I assume I should get an all black or BWF but if that black bull had a red gene could I get red?
I agree that the bull was not a black angus. Had to be something with some white on it.
For 3 years I mated by black gelbvieh bull to my black angus and black baldy cows. This year, I got 3 red calves. Absolutely zero chance of having a visitor, we are an isolated herd of cattle. The previous 2 years calves were black except for one heifer calf that was more brown (and not just baby fur, he ended up being brown) So, that red part would be terribly surprising I do not think but the bald face didn't come from two animals that themselves express no white markings.
For 3 years I mated by black gelbvieh bull to my black angus and black baldy cows. This year, I got 3 red calves. Absolutely zero chance of having a visitor, we are an isolated herd of cattle. The previous 2 years calves were black except for one heifer calf that was more brown (and not just baby fur, he ended up being brown) So, that red part would be terribly surprising I do not think but the bald face didn't come from two animals that themselves express no white markings.
