Rat tail cow

[denoginnizer]

Do rat tail cows have rat tail calves?

 

[Beefy]

sometimes yes and sometimes no.

 

[mdmdogs3]

what the heck is a rat tail cow?

 

[jscunn]

Have heard one of the symptoms of fescue intolerance is the loss of the switch of the tail..

 

[dun]

Have heard one of the symptoms of fescue intolerance is the loss of the switch of the tail..

Rat tail is the effect of the diluter gene for color, the hair is different then normal also. Feedlots discount them. I was alwasy told it's because rat tails don;t do well in feed lots. But it may just be that they can discount them so they do.

dun

 

[Stocker Steve]

Have heard one of the symptoms of fescue intolerance is the loss of the switch of the tail..

Rat tail is the effect of the diluter gene for color, the hair is different then normal also. Feedlots discount them. I was alwasy told it's because rat tails don;t do well in feed lots. But it may just be that they can discount them so they do.

dun

It seems like there is a big discount on rattail calves, but if you are selling heavy feeders it is not much of a problem.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

The term is from the fact that they have very little hair on the tail & switch. It has been proven that the "rattails" do just as well on feed as any other. Just a way for the feedlots to pay less as Dun indicated.

 

[Frankie]

The term is from the fact that they have very little hair on the tail & switch. It has been proven that the "rattails" do just as well on feed as any other. Just a way for the feedlots to pay less as Dun indicated.

I'm sorry, Jeanne, I must have missed that proof. Will you PM it to me or post it again? Thanks....

 

[jnowack]

The rat tails don't do well in the cold. It is caused by interaction of different gene pairs. This article says that they must carry at least one black gene and be heterozygous at the other locus (I assume this is the locus where the rat tailed gene is located). This article does not talk about the diluter gene, but I was told that they had to carry a diluter gene also which would be a third locus. I have never heard of a rat tail that was not grey.

http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/5/1144

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

The rat tails don't do well in the cold. It is caused by interaction of different gene pairs. This article says that they must carry at least one black gene and be heterozygous at the other locus (I assume this is the locus where the rat tailed gene is located). This article does not talk about the diluter gene, but I was told that they had to carry a diluter gene also which would be a third locus. I have never heard of a rat tail that was not grey.

http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/5/1144

Good article, but basically, all it proves, is that cattle with very little hair don't gain as well as haired cattle in cold weather. BW & WW were normal. I'm sorry to admit, but I don't know KG to LBs. Can someone give the difference in pounds? Not that it makes any difference - they gained less during the winter months - that's a given. And, I have never heard of an animal referred to as a rat tail other than greys, also.
Frankie, I don't have the article and my old brain would NEVER remember where I read it. Shouldn't have said PROVED. I read a university article saying it was not true. I have had some awesome rat tail's in years past.

 

[hillsdown]

Yesterday when walking through the calves I noticed one had no switch at the end of the tail.I pointed it out to my husband and he said she must have lost it or froze it.But now you have got me thinking that it might be a rat tail.I never noticed it before but perhaps that's what it is.After checking out the links on this post makes me think it possibly is.She is at Gelbstein (our vet calls her the new kosher Jewish breed).The dam is a holstein that we flushed and couldn't get her rebred to AI holstein semen so I put her in with my GV bull.Maybe the combination of the two breeds is what caused that.She is a beutiful heifer solid chocolate brown and huge a good 75lbs heavier than the other calves in her group but then she does get alot of milk.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Yesterday when walking through the calves I noticed one had no switch at the end of the tail.I pointed it out to my husband and he said she must have lost it or froze it.But now you have got me thinking that it might be a rat tail.I never noticed it before but perhaps that's what it is.After checking out the links on this post makes me think it possibly is.She is at Gelbstein (our vet calls her the new kosher Jewish breed).The dam is a holstein that we flushed and couldn't get her rebred to AI holstein semen so I put her in with my GV bull.Maybe the combination of the two breeds is what caused that.She is a beutiful heifer solid chocolate brown and huge a good 75lbs heavier than the other calves in her group but then she does get alot of milk.

a rat tail will have a small amount of striat hair's were the switch would be. and kinda taper out to a pointed end . one that lost it too damage like that would have a blunt look too it

 

[adolan]

I have had a few each year that are rat tailed. They are all gray calves. My calves were an angus charlois cross. I'd say 10% of my calves come that way. I think I'll try to track it a little better to see if certain cows have these type calves. I can't see any difference in the growth rates. It is interesting though.

 

[Putangitangi]

I have one rat-tail cow, charcoal, tight/wiry hair, very distinctive when she was a calf, out of a cross-bred cow, BA sire. She's had two bull calves with the same condition and two straight-haired black heifers. In our climate the hair problem doesn't have too much effect, since winters are pretty mild. The affected calves went bald across their shoulders and faces in the first few weeks, then the hair grew back. I keep her because she's a nice quiet cow with good production. Might keep the latest normal heifer too.

 

[hillsdown]

Looking more closely at my Gelbstein I see short hairs coming down where the switch should be and as far as the coat it is very smooth like a Holstein and Gelbvieh also she has the same pigmentation that a GV has so I still don't know if she is rat tail.I guess it does't matter at this point since I am keeping her anyways.I have another flush cow(holstein) that I let get bred by a GV so I am curious to see if that one will come out a solid color and the same kind of tail.

 

[randiliana]

The rat tails don't do well in the cold. It is caused by interaction of different gene pairs. This article says that they must carry at least one black gene and be heterozygous at the other locus (I assume this is the locus where the rat tailed gene is located). This article does not talk about the diluter gene, but I was told that they had to carry a diluter gene also which would be a third locus. I have never heard of a rat tail that was not grey.

http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/5/1144

Good article, but basically, all it proves, is that cattle with very little hair don't gain as well as haired cattle in cold weather. BW & WW were normal. I'm sorry to admit, but I don't know KG to LBs. Can someone give the difference in pounds? Not that it makes any difference - they gained less during the winter months - that's a given. And, I have never heard of an animal referred to as a rat tail other than greys, also.
Frankie, I don't have the article and my old brain would NEVER remember where I read it. Shouldn't have said PROVED. I read a university article saying it was not true. I have had some awesome rat tail's in years past.

There is 2.2 lbs in 1 kg.