Roan Calves

[logan12]

Looking to breed a few roan calves, anyone know the best way to go about this.

 

[Old Tip]

Whitebred Shorthorn will give you a roan calf out of most breeds, what cows do you have

 

[logan12]

So if I used a white short horn bull on a limousine cow I would end up with a roan calf?

 

[upnortheast]

Just wondering why you are keen to have roan cattle ?

 

[JSmith]

So if I used a white short horn bull on a limousine cow I would end up with a roan calf?

Maybe!! I’ve got a lot of shorthorn cows an they can come anyhow, probably solid red out of a limy, just your luck!! Red shorthorn bull will throw white calves an vice-versa, it’s a lottery

 

[Logan2002]

Just wondering why you are keen to have roan cattle ?
[/QUOTE

Just wondering why you are keen to have roan cattle ?

A notion my daughter is having and she claims there is demand for them but we will see

 

[upnortheast]

Breeding roan is not an exact science, as mentioned above a lottery . Common in Shorthorn types, any combintion of red , white & roan is possible.
An old friend in Cumbria was a master at breeding roan cattle.
While there are folk out there who will bid up for a "bonny roan " IMO the conformation of the animal is far more important than colour

 

[NZDan]

The genetics behind breeding roans is quite simple. One copy of the white gene is roan, two copies is white, no copies is the base color. Easiest way is to use a white bull either Shorthorn or Belgium blue, both will leave 100% roan calves, the shorthorn red roans and the BB Black roans, a roan Bull will leave 50% roan calves. The expression of roan is variable and some roan animals will look red, with very little roaning, I worked on a farm who had a "red" bull but he was out of a white cow and through white calves from roan cows so must have been roan, on closer inspection he had a small amount of roaning under his tail and low down on his flank.

 

[Old Tip]

So if I used a white short horn bull on a limousine cow I would end up with a roan calf?

Almost certainly

 

[Old Tip]

Maybe!! I’ve got a lot of shorthorn cows an they can come anyhow, probably solid red out of a limy, just your luck!! Red shorthorn bull will throw white calves an vice-versa, it’s a lottery

I’m talking abou a Whitebred Shorthorn not a white coloured Beef Shorthorn

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

Only know about dairy Shorthorn but wouldn't guarantee using a white bull would work.
Someone asked what colour bull he should be using on Holsteins to produce blue roans. He was using a white bull and getting black , red and white calves but no roans

 

[tr250]

I’m guessing op is trying to win fat stock shows where the roan blues catch judges eye.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

The genetics behind breeding roans is quite simple. One copy of the white gene is roan, two copies is white, no copies is the base color. Easiest way is to use a white bull either Shorthorn or Belgium blue, both will leave 100% roan calves, the shorthorn red roans and the BB Black roans, a roan Bull will leave 50% roan calves. The expression of roan is variable and some roan animals will look red, with very little roaning, I worked on a farm who had a "red" bull but he was out of a white cow and through white calves from roan cows so must have been roan, on closer inspection he had a small amount of roaning under his tail and low down on his flank.

 

[NZDan]

 

[west coast angus]

Roan Simmental heifer calfs out of whitbred x cows make extremely good money round here!! 7 month old heifer calfs making nearly 1K or £4.00 a kg.

The whitebred shorthorn is definitely the bull for the roan calfs

 

[choochter]

Roan Simmental heifer calfs out of whitbred x cows make extremely good money round here!! 7 month old heifer calfs making nearly 1K or £4.00 a kg.

The whitebred shorthorn is definitely the bull for the roan calfs

In my experience, a WS bull used on continental cows will produce calves with a high degree of variability in the quality of their conformation.
For example...

 

[Haydn Lloyd]

Red roan heifers are very sought after. There is a blue bull thats is throwing red roan calves. Ai bull.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Try a Guernsey cross Lim and you might get a Brindle.
My old Father always said you never get a bad Brindle!!!

 

[NZDan]

Try a Guernsey cross Lim and you might get a Brindle.
My old Father always said you never get a bad Brindle!!!

My Grandfather said the same. His were all Shorthorn x Jersey and he'd mate them to an Angus bull.

 

[JSmith]

Try a Guernsey cross Lim and you might get a Brindle.
My old Father always said you never get a bad Brindle!!!

Had some longhorn cows with lim heifer calved on, kept heifers an put shorthorn bull on, they through big dark brindle calves with white stripe down their back, turned out good big cows