The Quest for the Blue Roans--further examples

[oakbar]

There has been a lot of discussion on here about the whole blue roan color pattern and how you get it.  Our Pretender cow was bred to Who Made Who the last two years.  I posted pictures of her 2008 calf on the original thread.  She had a heifer calf the other night that is a full sister to the calf pictured in that post.  I don't believe the bull calf had any white hair on him--mayber a few around his sheath--but absolutley no roaning that was visible.  Interesting how different the coloring can be.

 

[oakbar]

Hit the send button instead of the options--here they are!

 

[Dusty]

I thought Who was homo black. 

If he is your calf this year can't be sired by Who.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ROMAX]

They both look black too me!!! Who is homo black thats why both calves are black and the blue colouring is also a derivitive of black cattle.

 

[CAB]

  Little off topic. How close are Studer's Prepender bull and Stumpy's TM Gus bull related? Thanks, Brent

 

[showcattlegal]

I got a red calf out of who on a first time heifer no clean up bull. He ended up changing colors all summer he was red with black nose and feet, then a buckskin color mid summer then he started to turn black when i shipped him to the sale barn for being crippled. I wanted to keep in him to find out what color he staied.

 

[Davis Shorthorns]

  Little off topic. How close are Studer's Prepender bull and Stumpy's TM Gus bull related? Thanks, Brent

They have the same sire.  Eionmor Mr. Gus 80c

 

[andy]

I have had the best luck getting blue roans by using Black Simmental bulls on roan Shorthorn cow.  Using one particular bull that I own, I would say that I get 50% blues.

 

[oakbar]

CAB--both Studers Pretender and TM Gus are sired by Eionmor Mr Gus 80C.

Dusty--I'm not sure WMW is homozygous black, but even if he is all that really tells you is that he will provide a black gene--the white or roan gene comes from the cow.  I was actually more surprised by her black calf last year than this year's wild colored calf.   If I'd looked really close he probably had a few white hairs roaned in around his sheath, eyes, etc.  Many black animals when mated with Shorthorns will give you an animal that is almost all black but there will be  few white hairs roaned in along the belly, the tail, or on the head.  Usually, its much more obvious than our calf last year.  We also bred WMW to a cow last year that was totally black with a white udder.  I'll attach a picture of her and you should be able to see that she has a few small white spots on her and a white ring around her tail.

 

[Dusty]

I thought the colored up calf looked red and white the first time I looked.  He does look brownish black now that I study him closer.

 

[oakbar]

Yes, the new heifer has that brownish tinged hair but she's black around the eyes and muzzle so she'll be black once she sheds out her calf hair and gets a new coat late this year. 

 

[Jive Turkey]

Only way to pretty much "guarantee" a blue roan is to breed an all-white shorthorn to an Angus bull.

Too many people out their with no idea about genetics breeding all kinds of crossbreds trying to get a blue.

 

[CAB]

  Thanks, I thought that they were 3/4 brothers without being too big of a SH guy & too lazy to look it up. Brent

 

[oakbar]

That's OK CAB us Shorty guys will always have an answer for you--now you need to determine if its correct or not!!

 

[Show Heifer]

I bred an Okie Dokie pure white cow to Copyright (almost an angus) and got a very cool looking blue roan. Very cool looking!

 

[kfacres]

Maybe I should get a white cow, always strayed away due to hating the white heifer syndrome....  But from what I'm hearing it's easier to make blue roans with white cows, than visa versa... 

 

[shortyjock89]

Maybe I should get a white cow, always strayed away due to hating the white heifer syndrome....  But from what I'm hearing it's easier to make blue roans with white cows, than visa versa... 

  I think a good amount of the white ones I've ever seen have red hairs on them somewhere, and that means they're really a roan.

 

[shortdawg]

I had a cool little heifer out of Rocky Balboa and a White Shorty cow. Sin City on an Angus also gave me a cool blue roan.

 

[ridge runner]

Several years ago we used a neighbors Angus bull to breed our reg. shorthorn heifers.  One of the roan ones had a heifer that appeared all black.  We kept her back as she was a decent replacement.  For her first calf we bred her to our roan Shorthorn herd bull, hoping for a blue roan or a black calf.  Imagine my surprise when she calved a pure white bull, with black pigment and some black ear tufts.  Brought the cow up and put her in the chute, and sure enough, she had some white hairs comingled with the black.  I figured this proved she was genetically a roan.  I won't go into a genetics lesson, but will tell you that roaning is a codominant trait.  Red roans have the white and red color gene manifested at the same time.  Same goes for blue roans with black and white hairs comingling.  As someone posted in an earlier thread the trick is the type or pattern of the roaning.  Some genetically roan cattle are hard to detect visually.  I do know a white Shorthorn will always throw the white gene for color.  When mated to a homozygous black animal the resulting calf will always be roan, just might not be the pretty even blue you are looking for.

 

[ridge runner]

Just read a great explanation for color and pattern and the codominance of the roan cattle in the earlier thread about blue roans.

http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/index.php?topic=8979.30  It's at the bottom of the third page.