Sisters

[Nesikep]

Linebred full sisters.. Does it show?.. They even were born on the same day a year apart, and have the same tag number..

Hera

Hestia

Older sister, younger sister, and Momma recently

 

[Ebenezer]

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't look alike. Like yours, nice when they do. I have several sets of full brothers and some half brothers to boot. There is one set I have used and working towards more next year. The two I have used look different but breed seemingly the same. What I had hoped.

 

[Air gator]

Who needs clones? Very nice calves.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Our full sisters, born two years apart.

Have several other pairs of full sisters, or even three full sisters. Some look almost identical, but some completely different.

Nice looking calves!

 

[Nesikep]

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't look alike. Like yours, nice when they do. I have several sets of full brothers and some half brothers to boot. There is one set I have used and working towards more next year. The two I have used look different but breed seemingly the same. What I had hoped.

Momma didn't look to much different as a calf either

Indeed though, some sisters are very different from each other though.

Daughter here looks like her momma, but momma doesn't look like her sister at all (Maternal sisters to the one above).. This cow's son is the sire of the calves in the original post

 

[Nesikep]

So the two unalike sisters above are maternal sisters to these 3 full sisters
Gelbvieh sired

And another maternal sister
Saler sired

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Yeah, sometimes they truly can be different.
Here's another example of full sisters. Have to admit I like the white one much more.

And a young pair, which I like alot. One year difference too.

Have many other examples. Not talking about maternal sisters. Those are completely different. There are some very fancy looking and some just so so.

 

[Nesikep]

Yeah, sometimes they truly can be different.
Here's another example of full sisters. Have to admit I like the white one much more.

I like the tan one, though she looks older in the pic and the angle is a little different.. Meaty, not too big, and a nice udder

 

[Putangitangi]

I've had occasional fun with the calves of my identical twins, in the first couple of years using the same sire, so the calves were genetically full siblings.

Just as different from each other as any other fraternal siblings but interesting to watch them growing up together, in the same season. Both were scatty as all, so went off to grow out somewhere else.

Right now I'm wrestling with the decision on whether or not to send one of the twins away to slaughter. She's too hot-tempered for my herd but it's been so very interesting having the two and seeing how they relate within the herd. Easy to mix her back in with the main mob, since all the other cows will take no notice, because for them, she's already there in the body of her twin.

 

[Nesikep]

I've had occasional fun with the calves of my identical twins, in the first couple of years using the same sire, so the calves were genetically full siblings.

Just as different from each other as any other fraternal siblings but interesting to watch them growing up together, in the same season. Both were scatty as all, so went off to grow out somewhere else.

Right now I'm wrestling with the decision on whether or not to send one of the twins away to slaughter. She's too hot-tempered for my herd but it's been so very interesting having the two and seeing how they relate within the herd. Easy to mix her back in with the main mob, since all the other cows will take no notice, because for them, she's already there in the body of her twin.

technically speaking, a full sibling mating results in another full sibling, right? Perhaps a better term would be a double cousin?

Oh, and the Hereford looking calf? Yeah, that would essentially be a full sibling to the two sisters I first posted.. Same sire, mothers are full sisters... He was built like them, but went through a different paint shop!

 

[Putangitangi]

No, the twins are not full siblings, they're two halves of the same embryo, so essentially the same genetic animal. Thus their calves are closer than double cousins, actually genetically full sibs, as if their mothers were the same cow. The calves have the same gentic lottery as if they were born to the same parents in different years.

When I write of my identical twins, I'm not just saying they look the same, I've had them genetically tested and shown that they actually are. They're mirror twins, which is even more mind-bendingly interesting. Late split of the embryo, I understand. I tested them because they looked so similar and wanted to know for sure.

 

[Nesikep]

I might have had a set of identical twins.. had a set of roan bull calves that were darned near identical.. Mother died and we gave them to a neighbor though so I'm not sure how they turned out in the end

Identical twins are pretty much the same animal, they're much closer than siblings, same year or otherwise

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

I think this is a fun pic of momma and two maternal sisters from earlier this year. Birds of a feather . . .

 

[Nesikep]

I think this is a fun pic of momma and two maternal sisters from earlier this year. Birds of a feather . . .

yep, they sure are

Here's the momma/grandma to most of the ones pictured above.. calf is Kama, the one with the Herf looking calf previously

And here's a pair of maternal sisters

 

[lithuanian farmer]

I like the tan one, though she looks older in the pic and the angle is a little different.. Meaty, not too big, and a nice udder

Yes, she's one year older, probably 1400-1500lbs. I prefer the white one more, because she has longer body and better personality. Will have her first calf in November, so will see what kind of udder she'll have.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Interesting fact I was told by a geneticist at Cornell. Identical twins (split embryos) can have white hair on them - in different shape or locations - but they have identical number of square inches of white. They inherit the same gene for white hair, but it doesn't "settle" on a location right away.
We had two embryo pregnancies out of the same flush, that both split and gave me heifers. One set in the spring, 2nd set in the fall last year.

 

[Nesikep]

Interesting.. I do know there might be some differences in patterns.. Brocklefaces are probably going to look similar, but you can probably tell them apart.

Went to school with twin girls (identical) but you could tell them apart without that much difficulty.

 

[Putangitangi]

My twins have a supernumerary teat on a back quarter, with a slight difference in placement in almost-mirrored positions. I figured that might well be similar to how white patches can settle differently.

From the front they're the same animal, except for the hair whorl direction, which isn't a really obvious feature.

My sister commented, "all cows look the same, don't they?"

 

[Nesikep]

THey sure do look the same!
I get people telling me they all look the same too.. Nah, I can tell them apart from nearly any part of their body.. butt, head, udder, feet.. Just a matter of training your eyes

 

[lithuanian farmer]

THey sure do look the same!
I get people telling me they all look the same too.. Nah, I can tell them apart from nearly any part of their body.. butt, head, udder, feet.. Just a matter of training your eyes

I quite understand how other people (from city, or who never had cattle) can say that cattle look the same, but I've heard similar phrase from two owners of 50+ herds. Once our and two other bulls herds got out from their pastures and joined into a group. Other two farmers had dairy bulls. We could tell apart ours in no matter of time, so separated them first. Two neighbours brought their papers with tag number, because they couldn't decide which bull belongs who: "It's probably mine... This one is probably yours... I don't remember having such bull..." and etc. They said that it's easy for us to know our bulls. Yeah, like now almost all calves are red, but I still know which one belongs to which dam. While dairy bulls are red and white, black and white, has different coat patern and etc.