pigmentation around eyes

[WisRose]

I've read some comments about the pigmentation around a herefords eyes. I thought they always had pink around the eyes. Here is a close up of our new bull calfs face

He looks like he has brown eye liner on. Is this a desirable trait or just a fad?

 

[greenwillowherefords]

It is a very desirable trait, and considered to be more resistant to pinkeye and cancer eye. It is a very long fad if it is one!

 

[1848]

It is a very desirable trait, and considered to be more resistant to pinkeye and cancer eye. It is a very long fad if it is one!

Ditto. It used to not be a "typical" Hereford trait. Many Herefords have no eye pigment, but remember, eye "set" alone can be helpful too.

 

[Texan]

You can mate with a bull......Been there done that....

:shock: For some reason, this doesn't surprise me.......

 

[1848]

You can mate with a bull......Been there done that....

:shock: For some reason, this doesn't surprise me.......

Hahahah! :lol: Sorry, but that was funny!

 

[CKC1586]

Sweet face on that little guy and if the "ol' wives tale" of the position of the swirl on his face is true he should have a great disposition.

 

[Abby]

This is what pigmentation is, and very desirable, when the hair is colored around the eye it is a brockel faced and that is crossbreeding.

 

[WisRose]

Speaking of "ol wives tales", I did the washer on a string thing and this little guy was supposed to be a heifer, he was also 3 days early! He comes to the gate to be pet and tries to eat hay (he's only 4 days old) . I hope he stays gentle, I would like to keep him to be our "herd" bull.

 

[sidney411]

Very Cute! Look at that milk mustache :lol:

 

[Copenhagen & Shiner B]

I checked my red baldie heifer today and she has pigment around the eyes.

 

[jcarkie]

the calf in my avatar's mom has a red head and the bull has rings around his eyes. i don't know what happened to her. all the other calves have alot of colr on their faces

[/img]

 

[jt]

nice looking calf... looking at that little dude reminds me why this business is so much fun.

jt

 

[tapeworm]

the calf in my avatar's mom has a red head and the bull has rings around his eyes. i don't know what happened to her. all the other calves have alot of colr on their faces

[/img]

Nice looking calf but I sure wouldnt want any more ear than that!!! And the color pattern on that one and the one in your aviator will cost you plenty of money at sale time...not fair I know. If you can sell them some other place than at auction a handful at a time you will have better luck with them though. Is a pretty calf for sure

 

[dun]

This is what pigmentation is, and very desirable, when the hair is colored around the eye it is a brockel faced and that is crossbreeding.

I'm sure that the registered breeders that have goggle eyes on their Herefords will be glad to know that they're crossbreds.
Freckles, Brockle faces that are no more then large freckles are also all found on pure lines of Herefords, as are pigmented and non-pigmented eyes. Large swatches of non white, real brockle face, are generally from corssbreds. But I wouldn;t be surprised to see it show up in a line bred family that has a heivy freckling. Haven't, but wouldn;t be surprised.

From the University of Saskatchewan Cattle Coat Color Genetics and was last updated on Feb. 17, 2004 by Sheila Schmutz, Ph.D.

The inheritance of goggles is not understood unfortunately.

dun

 

[WisRose]

The little guys picture I posted is a registerable (don't know if we will)hereford. In one of the hereford threads there was mention of pigmentation around their eyes and this calf was a good example of this trait( he also has the white on top of his neck). His dam's pigmentation isn't as dark, and the sire, CS Boomer 29F I'm not sure of his pigmentation. I have seen goggle marks on some hereford sires, I think ABS's Jedi is one of them.

 

[dun]

I have seen goggle marks on some hereford sires, I think ABS's Jedi is one of them.

He's at least one of them.

dun

 

[Abby]

This is what pigmentation is, and very desirable, when the hair is colored around the eye it is a brockel faced and that is crossbreeding.

I'm sure that the registered breeders that have goggle eyes on their Herefords will be glad to know that they're crossbreds.
Freckles, Brockle faces that are no more then large freckles are also all found on pure lines of Herefords, as are pigmented and non-pigmented eyes. Large swatches of non white, real brockle face, are generally from corssbreds. But I wouldn;t be surprised to see it show up in a line bred family that has a heivy freckling. Haven't, but wouldn;t be surprised.

From the University of Saskatchewan Cattle Coat Color Genetics and was last updated on Feb. 17, 2004 by Sheila Schmutz, Ph.D.

The inheritance of goggles is not understood unfortunately.

dun

I am concerned about the excess of red hair around the eye to me this is not typical of the Hereford breed that I grew up with and have been breeding for the last 35 years. As I said when you get red skin around the eye this is disariable and have been told that it reduces pinkeye and cancer eye, but I have also seen pinkeye in these types of cattle as well as the pink skinned ones, the best preventive for pinkeye isn't breeding (although it helps) is a top mineral and vitiman program. There are several top Hereford breeders pushing these "coon eyed " cattle Bill Bennett, Holdens, and Strang, to name a few, and maybe they did it with good intentions, but to get this trait to this degree somebody had to play games with their breeding program. I just have one question for those breeders who try to villify this trait and that is "why does the American Hereford Association offer blood typing kits to its breeders". To me this is just a tool for those in a hurry to play catchup to try to cut corners.

 

[mtnman]

Abby:

Your observations are a product of your experience, and your experience, only. Like all of us, I suppose.

We had Coon-eyed Herefords in the 50's, 60's, long before any Simmental or anything else could have snuck into the mix. There were a number of breeders that had them, they just were not popular so never saw much use. However, they were there, along with the linebacks, the freckle-faces, the black noses, the spotted ones, the frame 7's, the frame 2's, the ones that were red-to-the-ground with no white manes, etc.

Some of the Tarringtons imported from the UK where actually no maned or very small maned, red to the ground, brockle faced, freckle faces, and even had some black hair on them and in the twitch of the tail, and they were as pure as any Hereford gets.


mtnman

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Good post Mtnman. I get sick and tired of Herefords getting beat up over issues like this all the time. Still, some of Strang's bulls have such huge patches on their eyes that I wonder.

 

[dun]

This goes back to a bunch of earlier posts about where the height came from in Angus and other traits that have been in the breeds all along but have been selected for or against by different breeders.

dun