A few Simmentals

[WKYIronMike]

Here are a few Simmentals.
- The youngest black calf is a MR MT and Dream On Grand daughter. Thought she was a bull after she was born because of her birth weight. She was larger than her full brother was last year, which will hopefully make her a good size nice cow.
- The other heifer is from a first calf heifer. The calf is sired from our new herd bull from Indian Creek Simmental out of Ohio, he is an Invasion son. Dam is one I raised out of our Dream On son.
- The Bull is a 7 month old born in October. Sired out of our Dream On son. Dam is one I raised, she is a Power Stroke grand daughter sired out of a TN State Fair Grand Champion Power Stroke son. He is still on the cow right now, gonna wean him soon. His full brother tested Homozygous Black but this one is lighter in color so I have my doubts on him, but he is really growing well.
- Hopefully we'll have more AI stock within the next few years. Got a few stuck now, and a Bettis calf in the pasture. 

 

[leanbeef]

Calves look good. It's my experience there's no way to tell whether one is homozygous black or not based on how black or "brown" the hair is. Even the non-diluted red cattle will vary a lot in shades of red, and the darker red ones aren't always the non-dilutors. Obviously, the dilution gene is completely different from the gene that makes one red or heterozygous black...I'm just saying.

We have an embryo calf now that was born a funny blue color. Dad and I were just talking about her this morning...he thinks he color is "not right" so I guess we'll see how that goes. She's supposed to be homozygous black and out of Power Drive.

 

[WKYIronMike]

Yeah, Leanbeef I've seen some light colored bulls turn out to be dominant black and some real dark ones be heterozygous. If I did my P square right, I guess it's a 50% chance he's Homo and a 50% chance he is Hetero. Dam is Homo and Sire is Hetero. Since last year's full brother was a bit darker and tested Homo, I figured the other 50% would appear this year and he is a bit lighter in color. Guess I'll test him probably and she which 50% he land's on. Doesn't really bother me if they are dominant or not or even red. But it does help a lot of times to sell them if they are homozygous black. That's the only reason I don't have several more red's grazing in the pasture. Anyway, thanks for the comment and good luck with yours.

 

[Lucky_P]

Yep.  Just sold a little 2-yr old home-raised bull that we'd kept as a cleanup bull for use on heifers.  Sired by a homo black SM bull, but out of my best old BWF SimAngus cow, a known red-carrier - so I knew there was a 50/50 chance he'd be a red-carrier.  Only got one calf by him from his inaugural breeding season as a yearling - and it's red.
The red-carrier thing wouldn't be a deal-breaker, but the disposition(inherited from his dam & maternal grandsire) was...  She's the last high-headed thing in the herd, but her daughters are docile and productive.