Red and White Red Poll ?

Help Support CattleToday:

Sugar Creek

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
91
Reaction score
0
Location
central Kentucky
Have about a dozen registered Red Poll cows, I have raised myself, running with the crossbred cows. Last year bought a yearling Registered Red Poll from neighbor a county over. There is no chance the cows were exposed to another bull. The first calf of the year came last week out of a Red Poll cow that has never had any calves but the classic Red Poll red with white switch. Her calf was a large bull but marked like a red and white Maine Anjou or Maine influenced Shorthorn. My bull supplier also raises club calves for 4H projects by A.I.
Could the bull, which looked like a Red Poll, been accidently the result of a semen mixup or do sometimes Red Polls have this much white? I am not a beginner and have never seen this before, both parents were registered Red Polls and looked the part.
 
I always thoght they were solid red. There is a guy on here with the screen name Jovid that has Red Polls. You might PM him and see what he says.
 
Sugar Creek":1trqjb3q said:
do sometimes Red Polls have this much white?

Ours don't. We've only had a small herd of 25 or so since 1999. I know these cattle from well before '99 and have no knowledge of a similar case.

PM me if you find out. Red polls are good cattle.
 
How old were the bull calves from the crossbred cows when you weaned them or pulled them from the pasture??

I have 13 red polls and the only white they have is on the tail switch (however I've not really examined them on the bag or between navel and bag but to my knowledge they don't have any white there).

I would suspect that one of your commercial bull calves bred this cow, not the red poll.
 
Sugar Creek":2x0zbhlq said:
Have about a dozen registered Red Poll cows, I have raised myself, running with the crossbred cows. Last year bought a yearling Registered Red Poll from neighbor a county over. There is no chance the cows were exposed to another bull. The first calf of the year came last week out of a Red Poll cow that has never had any calves but the classic Red Poll red with white switch. Her calf was a large bull but marked like a red and white Maine Anjou or Maine influenced Shorthorn. My bull supplier also raises club calves for 4H projects by A.I.
Could the bull, which looked like a Red Poll, been accidently the result of a semen mixup or do sometimes Red Polls have this much white? I am not a beginner and have never seen this before, both parents were registered Red Polls and looked the part.

Where is the white on the bull calf?
 
Head & neck of calf are solid red but the entire body is as much white as red. As much white as a Holstein but in a pattern more like an old-style Maine-Anjou or Maine influenced Shorthorn. It is a nice calf, very beefy and over 80 lbs. I had intended to keep the nicer heifers out of this cross to expand my herd of registered Red Polls. Several more cows are bagging up. It will be interesting to see how their calves look.
 
the solution is simple DNA the calf and match to the sire if it is a match, then try to match the sire to his sire and dam On papers. A neighbor of mine used to run red polls and said that the color is the reason for the name they aren't called red and white polls.
 
Sugar Creek":25p4gavu said:
Head & neck of calf are solid red but the entire body is as much white as red. As much white as a Holstein but in a pattern more like an old-style Maine-Anjou or Maine influenced Shorthorn. It is a nice calf, very beefy and over 80 lbs. I had intended to keep the nicer heifers out of this cross to expand my herd of registered Red Polls. Several more cows are bagging up. It will be interesting to see how their calves look.

Let us know how the other calves turn out. I have talked to several Red Poll breeders and they have never heard of anything like that. Some Red Polls will have white in the udder area and that is alright.
 
Sounds like it is the spot gene. It is recessive and is carried in many breeds including angus. Another gene pair controls how much white and dark colors you get and the pattern is random. There is no gene test for it as far as I know.
 

Latest posts

Top