Th in Shorthorns

[AtoZ]

I read a article that said that some TH carries have longer,shaggier, curly hair. What have you all seen and do you believe this? The reason I ask is because we are looking at a heifer that is not and will not be tested before the sale and her sire is TH positive. She has long hair and very curly hair on her neck. I love this heifer but she has a 50% chance of being positive so what do you all suggest?

 

[Moocow11]

breeding or market?? if breeding and trying to start a good herd i woul dget a heifer that is clean. if market go for it. i have noticed that the calves that are THC and PHAC they do have better hair

 

[Colorado2008]

I have also noticed the same thing. I however wouldn't be scared away from this heifer. If it is just hair on the neck I wouldn't worry about it to much. But like stated above, I would buy a clean heifer if you are trying to start a herd or have a breeding heifer.

 

[SKF Show Cattle]

You can NOT tell if a calf is a TH carrier by their hair. The only way to know for sure is by a blood test. We just bought two heifers both sired by the same bull one is a carrier the other is not a carrier. The one who is not a carrier has the better hair. So please do not go by the hair. There are plenty of heifers for sale that have been tested.

 

[texas27steerjock]

if she is good then buy her. if she is positive you can always breed her to a th free bull and have no problems.

 

[AtoZ]

Thanks for all the responces! If we would buy her and she is positive and bred to a negative bull 25% chance of dead calf, 25% chance calf would look fine but be a carrier, 50% chance th free ... Is that about right or do i have it all messed up? Like i said she looks really good ( as a show heifer ) but possibliy being positive scares me. :help: :?

 

[osu shorty]

If she is bred to a negative bull, there is no chance that she will have a dead calf from TH. You have to have 2 recessive genes (one from the dam and one from the sire) for the calf to be dead. You will have a 50% chance carrier and 50% chance clean if bred to a negative bull (I think those percents are correct)

 

[Moocow11]

You can NOT tell if a calf is a TH carrier by their hair. The only way to know for sure is by a blood test. We just bought two heifers both sired by the same bull one is a carrier the other is not a carrier. The one who is not a carrier has the better hair. So please do not go by the hair. There are plenty of heifers for sale that have been tested.

no one said go just by the hair. we said they sometimes have better hair. and yes is she is positve and you breed her to a non carrier thne you will have a 50-50 chance of the calf being a carrier. but if you breed her to a carrier and she is a carrier then there is a 50-50 chance of having a dead calf and a guarentee the calf will be a carrier i think but i am not super positve about the print in bold

 

[SKF Show Cattle]

You can breed two carriers and have a THF calf because the TH gene is a recessive gene. When you breed two carriers you have a 25% chance of a TH calf, 25% chance of a THF calf and a 50% chance of a THC calf. That means out of 4 calves one will be born dead with TH, 1 will be TH free and 2 will be carriers.