Skunk Back Cows

[mooboy]

Back in 2005 I bought a 3 year old bred cow at the sale barn. My wife was with me that day and when the cow was brought into the ring she said "it looks like a skunk". Skunk has been a good cow bringing a calf every year. Skunk has a nice heifer calf by her side now and she is about 13 years old. Never had to call a vet to doctor Skunk in all those years. We thought enough of Skunk to safe several of her heifers through the years. Below is a picture of Skunk with two of her daughters behind her. I have always thought the skunk marking come from Longhorn influence. I don't think it is a Hereford thing although one of the daughters in the picture has some Hereford influence. So what makes a skunk back cow?

 

[ANAZAZI]

Charolais might give skunkstripe, pinzgauer certainly, and Longhorn sometimes, and there are several minority breeds that might give you a skunkstripe too.

 

[Son of Butch]

I've seen solid sided calves with skunk striped backs from British White x Holstein crosses and White Park x Dexter.
Randall Linebackers [rare] but they will make skunk backs when crossed on solid colored cattle too.
http://www.randallcattleregistry.org

 

[Andyva]

It's an incomplete dominant trait. If they are homozygous for "skunk tail" they come out looking like a Randall Lineback, and they would throw a skunk tail every time they were bred. If they are heterozygous then they just throw a little stripe on the tail head, and in theory they would throw %50 skunk tail calves when bred to other cattle.

 

[kenny thomas]

Cant help you with the cause but I buy most every one that comes through our stock yard. Bred to a charolais it is never an issue. I loose a lot of money if the calf comes out black with a skunk tail when using a black bull. But have never bought one that was not a good cow.

 

[Muddy]

Milking shorthorns do throws a skunktail occasionally. There was an uncommon line of Hereford that throws lineback calves.

White Park, British White and White Galloway crosses will throws skunktails too.

 

[mooboy]

Cant help you with the cause but I buy most every one that comes through our stock yard. Bred to a charolais it is never an issue. I loose a lot of money if the calf comes out black with a skunk tail when using a black bull. But have never bought one that was not a good cow.

Kenny,

The Skunk we have is an easy keeper cow with a good disposition. She always comes through the winter with a better body condition than some of the other cows we have. For the money I don't know of any type of cow that is better. The Skunk Back cows don't get premium price at the sale barns around here. They are a good deal.

 

[Caustic Burno]

BW X with something will throw the pattern, large BW operation about 15 or 20 miles from me
see them in the pasture from time to time.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Charolais might give skunkstripe, pinzgauer certainly, and Longhorn sometimes, and there are several minority breeds that might give you a skunkstripe too.

Skunk back is a big big discount.
The good skunk back cows are usually pinzgauer crosses here, and they raise very nice calves. I have two. One throws baldy calves. Not sure yet on the other.

 

[bigbruh]

My neighbor has a angus/pinzgauer bull that throws skunk tails just about everything. Out of the 15 calves out of that bull, the only solid black calf that he has ever sired was mine. And he is red and the cow was black /white belted. Heck of a calf nonetheless.

 

[Big Cheese]

I always heard it was a Charolais marking meant the cow had some Charolais in her. We have a solid white cow that was bred to a Black Angus bull and she had a solid black heifer calf that had a white tail like that. She had another calf this year out of the same bull and it was solid yellow with a star on its head. Only happens from time to time I guess. We do have a couple of Longhorn Black Balancer cross calves this year that have it as well but it goes all the way down their backs.

 

[Supa Dexta]

My last char bull would throw a few a year, but this year (and his last year) 3/4s or more were skunk tails. :?

 

[Lucky_P]

Used to see quite a few of those skunk cows in my part of southern middle TN, back in the '80s...there were several Pinzgauer breeders in the area.
Had one PZ-cross cow in my herd... she'd often throw a white tail, but none up on the backline. Pinzgauer-cross cattle I worked on were GOOD. I'd breed some more, if I didn't think they'd get stolen as Longhorn crosses when they went through the salebarn.

Had one little yellow white-faced lineback cow that I bought in about '86, that had some Charolais in her background, and I'm presuming that's where the 'skunk' came from... would throw a solid white calf whenever bred to an Angus bull. Still have one of her great-granddaughters in the herd...keeping that color inhibitor gene going.

 

[inyati13]

I have a Skunk Tail that most think is a Pinzgauer Cross. She had her first skunk tail calf in March. I like this cow, she does her job without any issues.

 

[Big Cheese]

This is one of our Skunk back heifer calves out of a Black Balancer bull and a Longhorn cow. Dont pay attention to the poor cow in the background she has already been caught wormed and fed and is going strong.

 

[Son of Butch]

Skunk back is a big big discount.
The good skunk back cows are usually pinzgauer crosses here, and they raise very nice calves. I have two. One throws baldy calves. Not sure yet on the other.

Yes, skunk backed calves and cows get docked.
But I've raised a few skunk tail and backed steers. Sold them as fats and they sold the same as the blacks with no dock at all.