Heifer W/ Horns

[Rookie_Bee94]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkRed] Hey guys! This is my first post on here, but I've been reading the posts for quite a while...
Anyways, on to my question. At the farm where I work and board my horses, there are 2 cows, both a little under a year old. One is a black Angus bull (Midnight), and the other is a Holstein heifer (Arrow). Arrow has had horns for about 1/2 a year now, and Midnight has yet to grow any at all. I was wondering if this was odd. Im not exactly a "cow savvy" person, but I just always thought that only male cows had horns....
Thanks to anyone who answers this post.
-Marissa & Rookie
:yeeha:

[milkstoolcowboy]

It'd be better to say there are two cattle. Cow means a female.

Polled (no horns) is a gene in cattle that is simple dominant. In cattle, you can get three genotypes:

pp = cattle that will produce horns
Pp = cattle that are naturally polled but with a recessive gene for horns
PP = homozygous polled. Cattle that are naturally polled and will produce polled offspring no matter what they are crossed with.

Black Angus (Aberdeen Angus) are a naturally polled breed -- no horns. Other naturally polled breeds: Lowlines, Galloways, Gelbviehs, Ostlands, I am sure there are more.

Holsteins generally have horns - both sexes - but there are naturally polled Holsteins as well. There aren't many polled Holsteins, but some breeders breed for this trait, and you should be able to get polled Holstein semen from Genex, ABS, Semex USA, Taurus and a few other studs.

Hope this helps explain things.

[dosthouhavemilk]

Bovine works even better than cattle.

milkstool explained it perfectly.

[Rookie_Bee94]

Originally Posted by milkstoolcowboy

It'd be better to say there are two cattle. Cow means a female.

Polled (no horns) is a gene in cattle that is simple dominant. In cattle, you can get three genotypes:

pp = cattle that will produce horns
Pp = cattle that are naturally polled but with a recessive gene for horns
PP = homozygous polled. Cattle that are naturally polled and will produce polled offspring no matter what they are crossed with.

Black Angus (Aberdeen Angus) are a naturally polled breed -- no horns. Other naturally polled breeds: Lowlines, Galloways, Gelbviehs, Ostlands, I am sure there are more.

Holsteins generally have horns - both sexes - but there are naturally polled Holsteins as well. There aren't many polled Holsteins, but some breeders breed for this trait, and you should be able to get polled Holstein semen from Genex, ABS, Semex USA, Taurus and a few other studs.

Hope this helps explain things.

Thanks so much! I appreciate your help! I'll pass this on to the others at the barn who have been wondering the same thing!
-Marissa & Rookie

[uncle Will in In.]

Sex isn't a deciding factor with cattle horns.

[Christof]

Hello,

everyone who is interested in polled dairy cows can join our discussion group at yahoo:

www.yahoogroups.com - search for: polleddairycows

More about polled breeding you will find at my homepage (most texts are translated into English below the German texts):

http://www.holsteinzuechter.de/html/baldus.html

and here:

www.polled.de
www.polleddairycows.com

Best wishes
Christof Baldus
Germany