SEC":1gjti6u2 said:
Randi, the spots come from the Simmental. It takes numerous generations of solid color breeding to keep the solid color.
Look in the semen catalogues there are some 3/4 brothers, Lucky Dice, Lucky Break and Lucky Stripes...I mean Lucky Strike. They are all out of Lucky Buck. Bred many generations of solid coloring but nothing is sure. DNA tests will identify if a bull is a spotter or not ( I think). You will see bulls classified as spotter and non spotters. Just be prepared for some chrome. Of course there are some Angus, not so much in the Blk side compared to the red side that will sire white.
In the Red Angus breed, Knight's, SR Image (in Knight's Pedigree), High Line (same lineage as High Mark) are just some of the bulls taht are known to throw white sometimes in excess. In the Blk side of things, Fame, Fortune 2000, Focus (all same lineage), Head of the Class, most Travelers you will find a little white on them.
To have a little white on them doesn't mean they are impure, unless you see socks or stars, those kind of bulls don't get used much anymore.
Depending on the pedigrees you are using in the breed there are some bulls in the past that were known horn carriers. Not always were they made up of another breed, rather it may be a throw back to some early breeding while still in the old country.
Yes, but this spotting gene MUST come from BOTH parents. It is recessive, same as the spotting gene in the Shorthorn. For example, we bred our Shorthorn bull who is homo for the spotting gene to numerous solid colored cows, and ALL of those calves were solid colored, because HE could only pass on 1 copy and obviously the dams did not pass on a copy. When we bred him to a spotted cow(homozygous for spotting) he of course threw a spotted calf.
This Angus/Simmi bull we know has a copy of the spotting gene, and now we also know that there is something hiding in that black cow's side of things. Because she ALSO had to pass on that gene or the calf would have been solid colored. If the gene were dominant on either side, you would have seen spots on either the cow or the bull and they are BOTH solid black. I don't think that either one has any white hair on them at all.
As I said before, it doesn't really affect us much as we raise commercial cattle. It is just something to talk about.
If you are interested in the cow's pedigree her Registration # is 1035256 with the Canadian Angus Association. (this is the Black cow in the picture.) I know nothing about Black Angus bloodlines, and don't really care to. Interestingly enough, we also have one other Registered cow, with somewhat the same bloodlines that ALSO threw a calf (off the same bull) with white markings on its face. Her reg # is 1104203.