Shorthorn Cross ?

[Stocker Steve]

I have been buying some commerical shorthorns and they really raise nice calves. A couple questions:

The calves are sometimes motley/crazy faced but the cows are not. What controls this trait?
The calves are also sometimes horned. I think there is some herf in the woodpile... What percent of shorthorns are polled?

 

[randiliana]

I have been buying some commerical shorthorns and they really raise nice calves. A couple questions:

The calves are sometimes motley/crazy faced but the cows are not. What controls this trait?
The calves are also sometimes horned. I think there is some herf in the woodpile... What percent of shorthorns are polled?

There is a Brockling Gene. It is Found in many of the solid colored breeds of cattle (Angus, Red Angus, Shorthorn...) It causes there to be areas of color within white patches, whether it be white faces, white markings on the legs, and/or white patches on the body. I think that it is a VERY common trait within the Shorthorn breed, as I have rarely seen a Shorthorn/Hereford x calf that wasn't Brockle faced. The wildness of the markings would be controlled by another set of genes, similar to how some spotted cattle would have lots of white and some have very little.

It is a dominant trait, which means that only 1 copy of the gene needs to be passed on for the trait to express itself.


As far as horns go, the Shorthorn breed was originally horned, so it isn't surprising that you would get some horned calves out of cows that are polled. Horns are a recessive trait, which means that there needs to be 2 copies for the trait to express itself. It works similar to the Black/Red thing.

 

[3waycross]

I have been buying some commerical shorthorns and they really raise nice calves. A couple questions:

The calves are sometimes motley/crazy faced but the cows are not. What controls this trait?
The calves are also sometimes horned. I think there is some herf in the woodpile... What percent of shorthorns are polled?

Shorthorn and like I said the other day. Good luck breeding the chrome off em. They are good cattle tho and mostly easy to work with. I have seen my buddies White shorthorn cow bred to a Blk Gelbvieh bull throw a calf that would pass for a straight Hereford in a heartbeat.

 

[Suzie Q]

I have a lot of droughtmasters, which is an Australian breed and originally go back to Shorthorn x Brahman.

Breeding to a Droughtmaster bull the calves were mainly solid coloured.

Breeding to a Charbray, the calves are mainly solid and a lot lighter colour.

Breeding to a Bazadais bull and I have chrome all over the place. One brown and white called Mosaic and one Black and White called Magpie, although Magpie's mother is a Greyman not a droughtmaster.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

On a gert we still get white on the 5 points sometimes. It is allowed on the belly but not on the forehead, pasterns, etc.