Trying to determine breed of new calf

[Anonymous]

A few months ago I bought 8 Holstein Springer heifers at a stockyard located several miles from my home. The first of the heifers calved the day after Christmas and abandoned the calf. We brought her into the barn after she had laid in the mud and water overnight. She was nearly dead and we put the heat lamp on her and fed her every four hours. Her legs were frozen so we kept working them until she was able to stand. She is able to stand and lay down on her own now and is doing great. She also had pneumonia, but the antibiotics have taken care of that. My question is she has woolly/kinky/nappy hair and is a blue color. I have never seen a cow with this type of hair or color of hair. Does anyone out there know what breed of cow has this type of hair? Also, is it true that once a calf has pneumonia that it will always have problems with its lungs? Thanks for any info you can pass on to me!

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[Anonymous]

Sounds like Charolais to me. It depends on how bad the pnemonia is/was. If it is caught very early they may be slightly more prone to it in later years but I wouldn't ship her just for that. I'ld ship her because she's half Charolais

dun

> A few months ago I bought 8
> Holstein Springer heifers at a
> stockyard located several miles
> from my home. The first of the
> heifers calved the day after
> Christmas and abandoned the calf.
> We brought her into the barn after
> she had laid in the mud and water
> overnight. She was nearly dead and
> we put the heat lamp on her and
> fed her every four hours. Her legs
> were frozen so we kept working
> them until she was able to stand.
> She is able to stand and lay down
> on her own now and is doing great.
> She also had pneumonia, but the
> antibiotics have taken care of
> that. My question is she has
> woolly/kinky/nappy hair and is a
> blue color. I have never seen a
> cow with this type of hair or
> color of hair. Does anyone out
> there know what breed of cow has
> this type of hair? Also, is it
> true that once a calf has
> pneumonia that it will always have
> problems with its lungs? Thanks
> for any info you can pass on to
> me!

 

[Anonymous]

a lot of farmers are A.I. Holsteins with Belgian Blue to increase hip area this seems to be a case.

> A few months ago I bought 8
> Holstein Springer heifers at a
> stockyard located several miles
> from my home. The first of the
> heifers calved the day after
> Christmas and abandoned the calf.
> We brought her into the barn after
> she had laid in the mud and water
> overnight. She was nearly dead and
> we put the heat lamp on her and
> fed her every four hours. Her legs
> were frozen so we kept working
> them until she was able to stand.
> She is able to stand and lay down
> on her own now and is doing great.
> She also had pneumonia, but the
> antibiotics have taken care of
> that. My question is she has
> woolly/kinky/nappy hair and is a
> blue color. I have never seen a
> cow with this type of hair or
> color of hair. Does anyone out
> there know what breed of cow has
> this type of hair? Also, is it
> true that once a calf has
> pneumonia that it will always have
> problems with its lungs? Thanks
> for any info you can pass on to
> me!

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[Anonymous]

Blue hair on cattle is caused by early exposure to cold. Remember Babe the Blue Ox? That's how he got his. Sounds like your baby is another one.... sorry, couldn't resist.

I have no idea on the breed, but the pnuemonia shouldn't be a big deal. Many calves survive pnuemonia and the only indication is some coughing later in life.

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[Anonymous]

how can charolais, white cattle, possibly pass on a blue colour? when we breed white cattle like sharolais to Holstein the outcome is always spotted black. when crossed with Belgian Blue sometimes blue, sometimes black.

But it's definetely not charolais

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[Anonymous]

The local dairy breeds a lot of his of Holsteins and HosteinXJerseys to a Charolais, they are almost always a silvery grey/blue color. Occasionaly they will have some very indistinct almost white markings. Most of his cows are almost solid patterned black r white, not very many spotted. Last year he got a solid yellow, the cow obviously was a red carrier that never showed up. Actually, he doesn't breed them to the Charolais, the neighbors bull knocks down the fence and comes a visiten his milk string a couple of times a year.

dun

> how can charolais, white cattle,
> possibly pass on a blue colour?
> when we breed white cattle like
> sharolais to Holstein the outcome
> is always spotted black. when
> crossed with Belgian Blue
> sometimes blue, sometimes black.

> But it's definetely not charolais

 

[Anonymous]

there's the clue: you say holstein-jersey. From that cross you might get a silvery blue colour, but that's because of the intermediate character of the fawn brown gene that jerseys bear. But if this bull is a truebred charolais, not even 15/16 or whatever, but absolutely truebred, he wont pass on that colour, and the holstein truebreds won't either, if they are 100% truebred again that is. but of course i don't know how the extent of the bloodlines. I can only speek from my own experience. The silvery grey/blueish might also come from blonde d'aquitaine though, they tend to give that coulour when bred to holstein.

It's all in a name you know. it's just what you call holstein, or jersey, or any breed really. it's like black limo's, never, ever have i seen a black limo, it's physically impossible, yet in the us, you have them. i believe this comes from calling cattling with more limousin blood then, lets say angus, a limousin. but he isn't totally limousin, so in europe, he would never be allowed to be called limousin, because somewhere down the line, he's a cross, must be. But the genes from that cross are still present, latently or clearly.

That's why, i think, that you can get those colour differences, because you have a different way of determining what breed cattle is.

I've asked a friend of mine, dairy farmer down the road, about this, and he's never heard of a holstein (he only has Holstein Cattle) to give any other coulour then spotted black in a F1 with a white bull, but always more white then the mother though, and only if the bull is 100% truebred white, otherwise you never know what might come out, even blue in some cases, yes.

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[Anonymous]

Hey Mike, There it is , in the U.S.A. many breeds have been alowed to apex. reg. until 7/8% and the call purebreed. Angus(Blacks) have been used to poll and give them black color, at least when selected for.. I can show you plenty of Reg. Limo's that are as black as my Angus...

I have seen BWF(F-1,s) crossed with Char. that were blue,or blue white face that is..

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[Anonymous]

> I just want to thank everyone who responded to my original request for information. The blue calf didn't survive her pneumonia she died late yesterday afternoon - it broke my heart because she fought so hard. Anyway, thanks for the info. This message board is a great help to those of us who are new to the calf raising business. I still have a tendency to get too attached to the calves - I don't think I will be able to stop getting attached. Sorry for going on so long - Thanks!

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[Anonymous]

After many years it's still hard for me to not get really attached to calves that you spend a lot of time working with. If they are fighters it makes it even tougher.

dun

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your holstein may have been bred to a club calf bull like Moody Blues. He is a Blue Raon Shorthorn cross, and he would probably sire calves of that color with the type of hair you reffered to.

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