Growing up in the Simmental business, I've always been really interested in color pattern. I picked my first heifer based solely on color pattern--she was spotted! I was eight, and I had never seen a prettier calf out of our Hereford & Angus based commercial cows. As spots fell out of fashion & it became so important NOT to have any white, it became important to me to understand the genetics and the spot gene as best I could. Obviously, we still don't know all there is to know, but I have my theories about the spot gene, particularly in regards to Simmental cattle. Color patterns associated with different breeds are different, and the genetics that determine those colors and patterns are different. I'm not convinced a Hereford x Angus black baldy is likely to throw a spotted calf, but you might easily get the white chrome markings you see on Hereford marked cattle. I've never seen a great deal of chrome out of a purebred Angus parent. Since the spot gene is recessive, there has to be one on both sides of the pedigree, and since Angus don't carry a spot gene, even Angus cattle with a white udder or white navel won't throw the kind of white that solid colored, spot carrier, Simmental crosses can make when they're mated to each other. My theory is that you have to have a spot gene in order for the blaze gene to be expressed...so if that's true, then all baldy or blaze-faced Simmental cattle would carry the spot gene. Unless it's really complicated, which it may be, there could be as much as 25% chance of a spotted calf out of two baldy parents, and it would also mean you might expect a very high percentage of baldies and blazes out of a spotted parent and a non-spotter like an Angus. If we could prove that theory and people came to understand it, there could be a good market for black & white spotted bulls to go on Angus cows! Which is where a black & white spotted bull belongs!...