scurred, polled, horned

[Anonymous]

I have a heifer that is scurred. Her father is polled and her mother had horns. If I bred her to a bull with horns what will the calf have? If I bred her to a bull that is polled what will that calf have? How do these genes work? Why does my heifer have scurs?

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[Anonymous]

I assume the heifer is polled. The scur gene is totally seperate from the horn gene, I haven't found any research on if the scur gene is dominant or recessive. We always just left scurs alone, sometimes they break them off, if they do and it takes a significant amount of tissue around them the will usually heal over with out scurs. The gene is still there but the manifestation of the gene is missing. We had an old cow with a scur on only one side, go figure. Now to the horned/polled deal. If you breed her to a homozygous polled bull, two polled genes, the calf will be polled. If she is heterozygous polled herself, one horned one polled gene, she will be polled and there is a 50:50 chance of which gene she will pass to her calf. If you breed her to a heterozygous polled bull, the calf may receive either a horned gene from the sire or a polled gene, and a horned gene or polled gene from the mother. So, if I do the math right, there is a 75% chance the calf will be polled and a 25% chance it will be horned.

> I have a heifer that is scurred.
> Her father is polled and her
> mother had horns. If I bred her to
> a bull with horns what will the
> calf have? If I bred her to a bull
> that is polled what will that calf
> have? How do these genes work? Why
> does my heifer have scurs? If she is homozygous polled, no matter what she is bred to she will have a polled calf. Ain't genetics fun?

dunmovin farms

 

[Anonymous]

> I assume the heifer is polled. The
> scur gene is totally seperate from
> the horn gene, I haven't found any
> research on if the scur gene is
> dominant or recessive. We always
> just left scurs alone, sometimes
> they break them off, if they do
> and it takes a significant amount
> of tissue around them the will
> usually heal over with out scurs.
> The gene is still there but the
> manifestation of the gene is
> missing. We had an old cow with a
> scur on only one side, go figure.
> Now to the horned/polled deal. If
> you breed her to a homozygous
> polled bull, two polled genes, the
> calf will be polled. If she is
> heterozygous polled herself, one
> horned one polled gene, she will
> be polled and there is a 50:50
> chance of which gene she will pass
> to her calf. If you breed her to a
> heterozygous polled bull, the calf
> may receive either a horned gene
> from the sire or a polled gene,
> and a horned gene or polled gene
> from the mother. So, if I do the
> math right, there is a 75% chance
> the calf will be polled and a 25%
> chance it will be horned.

> dunmovin farms My heifer must be heterozygous polled and carry the scur gene because, she has horny tissue under the skin (has not come through yet)it is not atached to her skull. Her older half brother (same father) has the same thing going on but his scurs have come through the skin they are only a half inch long. Do you think they are polled and scurred?

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[Anonymous]

What is her age? It seems that scurs don't "usually" show till later then horns. By the time she is a couple of months old you can tell if she is horned or polled. You can also sometimes tell by the shape of the head. It's hard to tell what the status of her horned or scurred genes are. There are DNA analysis that can be done or you can breed her to a horned bull 4 or 5 years in a row, if she ever has a horned calf you know she is heterozygous. Not much help am I?

dunmovin farms

 

[Anonymous]

You have been a big help on this subject, Dun. The study of genes and their potential is vital, but the info somehow just doesn't settle into my brain and stay. A good review, as you give from time to time, really helps me.

We have a 10 month old bull that has developed scurs. He is out of a Milking Shorthorn cow, sired by a polled Murray Grey. A friend wants to use the bull on her cows. With the info you have given, I can at least give her some idea of what to expect and of the odds. Those stats were NOT sitting in my brain waiting to be retrieved. LOL I'll print out your comments for my friend.

Thanks.

> What is her age? It seems that
> scurs don't "usually"
> show till later then horns. By the
> time she is a couple of months old
> you can tell if she is horned or
> polled. You can also sometimes
> tell by the shape of the head.
> It's hard to tell what the status
> of her horned or scurred genes
> are. There are DNA analysis that
> can be done or you can breed her
> to a horned bull 4 or 5 years in a
> row, if she ever has a horned calf
> you know she is heterozygous. Not
> much help am I?

> dunmovin farms

 

[Anonymous]

OK, here goes. The scur thing is a toss up, I'm not sure about the dominance of that pair of genes. Lets assume the bull is heterozygous polled, one polled, one horned gene. If the cow he is bred to is horned there is a 50:50 chance the calf will be horned, or 50;50 chance it will be polled, depends on how you want to look at it. If the cows are polled, if I remember correctly there is 25% chance they will be horned, or 75% chance they will be polled. Now, if either the cow or the bull happens to be homozygouse polled, all the offspring will be polled no matter what the other half of the equation is. This link has a very good run down of scurs and horns. "http://www.gelbvieh.org/fsinheri.html"

dunmovin farms

> You have been a big help on this
> subject, Dun. The study of genes
> and their potential is vital, but
> the info somehow just doesn't
> settle into my brain and stay. A
> good review, as you give from time
> to time, really helps me.

> We have a 10 month old bull that
> has developed scurs. He is out of
> a Milking Shorthorn cow, sired by
> a polled Murray Grey. A friend
> wants to use the bull on her cows.
> With the info you have given, I
> can at least give her some idea of
> what to expect and of the odds.
> Those stats were NOT sitting in my
> brain waiting to be retrieved. LOL
> I'll print out your comments for
> my friend.

> Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

> What is her age? It seems that
> scurs don't "usually"
> show till later then horns. By the
> time she is a couple of months old
> you can tell if she is horned or
> polled. You can also sometimes
> tell by the shape of the head.
> It's hard to tell what the status
> of her horned or scurred genes
> are. There are DNA analysis that
> can be done or you can breed her
> to a horned bull 4 or 5 years in a
> row, if she ever has a horned calf
> you know she is heterozygous. Not
> much help am I?

> dunmovin farms

It's Ok. She is ten months old.

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[Anonymous]

To add to Dun's comments. First, what I say does not hold true for "eared" cattle. Their horn/scur genes are different. If an animal is horned/scurred, you will never see any sign of scurs. The horns are dominate. Scurs are a sex-linked gene. In males, the scur is a dominant gene. In females, it is recessive. Meaning, a bull only has to inherit 1 scur gene to express (show) the scurs. The heifer has to inherit a scur gene from both the dam & the sire. So a female can be polled/scurred and you would never know it if she only inherited 1 scur gene. She would have a clean polled head. If either the bull or heifer calf is horned, you will never know if they are carrying the scur gene. At a young age, it is VERY difficult to tell if it is a scur or horn. Jeanne
> I have a heifer that is scurred.
> Her father is polled and her
> mother had horns. If I bred her to
> a bull with horns what will the
> calf have? If I bred her to a bull
> that is polled what will that calf
> have? How do these genes work? Why
> does my heifer have scurs?

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[Anonymous]

So that's how the scur gene is dominant or recessive, very interesting. Jeanne is right the African horned gene is a whole other kettle of fish. The work the same way but you can have two African genes and I think get horns on a homozygous polled animal. That gene combination isn't fully understood yet, anyway in the literature I've read.

dunmovin farms

> To add to Dun's comments. First,
> what I say does not hold true for
> "eared" cattle. Their
> horn/scur genes are different. If
> an animal is horned/scurred, you
> will never see any sign of scurs.
> The horns are dominate. Scurs are
> a sex-linked gene. In males, the
> scur is a dominant gene. In
> females, it is recessive. Meaning,
> a bull only has to inherit 1 scur
> gene to express (show) the scurs.
> The heifer has to inherit a scur
> gene from both the dam & the
> sire. So a female can be
> polled/scurred and you would never
> know it if she only inherited 1
> scur gene. She would have a clean
> polled head. If either the bull or
> heifer calf is horned, you will
> never know if they are carrying
> the scur gene. At a young age, it
> is VERY difficult to tell if it is
> a scur or horn. Jeanne

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link - will check it out.

I don't know if the Shorthorn was horned or polled - never checked. Actually, this bull belonged to friends and we wound up with him in a trade. He's turning out to be a very nice bull, other than the scurs. For a commercial herd, I think he'll do well. His BW was 72# and he's got the nice sloping, easy calving Murray Grey shoulders. The Murray Grey sire was polled and the cows this crossbred bull will be bred to are polled.

> OK, here goes. The scur thing is a
> toss up, I'm not sure about the
> dominance of that pair of genes.
> Lets assume the bull is
> heterozygous polled, one polled,
> one horned gene. If the cow he is
> bred to is horned there is a 50:50
> chance the calf will be horned, or
> 50;50 chance it will be polled,
> depends on how you want to look at
> it. If the cows are polled, if I
> remember correctly there is 25%
> chance they will be horned, or 75%
> chance they will be polled. Now,
> if either the cow or the bull
> happens to be homozygouse polled,
> all the offspring will be polled
> no matter what the other half of
> the equation is. This link has a
> very good run down of scurs and
> horns.
> "http://www.gelbvieh.org/fsinheri.html"

> dunmovin farms