That Elusive Red

[lonecowhand]

 I was just looking at Mrs. Fermoys pedigree to see where she got her red.

It looked to me like it was 9 generations back on her otherwise black ancestry, so I started looking at other early red cows and noticed the same long pattern.

It's like it pops out of nowhere, but sure enough, way back, there's a red.

So Gene and Karrie and whomever is on the Red Project, it could be a while before a Score!

[genebo]

It is certainly elusive. I just got the report back on another calf that did not inherit the red.

It's supposed to be 50/50 each time we breed a Traditional red. I'll have to check to see what our percentages are.

[Deleted]

nothing is ever 50/50 some animals will through or not through certain genes over and over again. Makes you wonder what the scientist are missing. I know they are missing something just no clue what actually affects the inheritance of certain genes that are suppose to be a 50/ 50 odds. 

[Donlin Stud]

Isnt that so true Mike.

1. Jack a black coloured but dun and red carrying bull, shared his dun gene with his first born, producing one of our double dun carrying red coloured girls.

Yet Jack has joined with 2 other dun coloured females (only one carries red) for three consecutive years now and not a single dun coloured calf has resulted. 4 black and 2 red. Their new owner was wanting to breed a dun coloured herd.

2. We have two short legged three quarter sisters, each have had four calves to long legged 3. sires, yet all 8 calves are short legged.

3. The sisters’ mother is a dun who suddenly popped up from a long history of black Dexters. Early on I tried to locate the duns on each side of her family tree but gave up on the 3rd screen

It’s the random allocation of the variety of potential genes that makes breeding the Dexter breed so rewarding.

I feel sorry for those with breeds of a single colour and a single size – how boring