In this episode of the Grazing Grass Podcast, we delve into the rich tapestry of livestock coat color genetics. From the sleek black of Angus cattle to the lush red of Red Polls, we uncover the chromosomal dance that dictates the stunning variety of hues in our farm animals. Whether you're a livestock enthusiast or a seasoned breeder, this episode promises to deepen your appreciation for the science behind animal pigmentation. We discuss the genetic interplay of pigments, the extension and agouti loci, and the role of DNA testing in breeding for desired traits. Join us as we explore the fascinating world of color genetics and how it shapes the beauty and identity of livestock breeds. Share this journey with us to better understand the living canvas of genetics that contributes to the agricultural landscape.
Visit our Sponsors:
Noble Research Institute
Kencove Farm Fence
NOTE This file was generated by Descript
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Welcome to the Grazing Grass podcast episode 115.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:08 Cal: You're listening to the Grazing Grass Podcast, sharing information and stories
00:00:08 --> 00:00:12 of grass based livestock production utilizing regenerative practices.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 I'm your host, Cal Hardage.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 You're growing more than grass.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 You're growing a healthier ecosystem to help your cattle
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 thrive in their environment.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:30 You're growing your livelihood by increasing your carrying capacity
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 and reducing your operating costs.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:38 You're growing stronger communities and a legacy to last generations.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 The grazing management decisions you make today.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:47 impact everything from the soil beneath your feet to the community all around you.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:53 That's why the Noble Research Institute created their Essentials
00:00:53 --> 00:00:58 of Regenerative Grazing course to teach ranchers like you easy to follow
00:00:58 --> 00:01:05 techniques to quickly assess your forage production and infrastructure capacity.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 In order to begin grazing more efficiently.
00:01:09 --> 00:01:13 Together, they can help you grow not only a healthier operation,
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 but a legacy that lasts.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 Learn more on their website at noble.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 org slash grazing.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:29 It's n o b l e dot org forward slash grazing.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:35 For today's episode we are going to discuss livestock coat color.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:39 I find the color of livestock and genetics to be fascinating so
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 we're going to discuss that today.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 We're going to discuss the basis of genetics, a little bit about
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 pigments, and the genes responsible.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 Then we'll move on to cattle, goats, sheep, and hogs.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 We will not touch on poultry as it's a whole different world, and
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 we won't discuss horse colors as I'm not familiar with the genetics of it.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 It will take us a few episodes.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:07 The main source utilized for today's episode is the 2021 book, Practical Color
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 Genetics for Livestock Breeders by Dr.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:11 Sponenberg.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 He's done a lot of work with color genetics as well as breed conservation.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 If you look him up, it's very fascinating, he's done a lot of
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 work for the Livestock Conservatory.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 First off, why color?
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Color is important to livestock breeders.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:32 Many established breeds have a specific color or pattern
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 that helps to identify them.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:39 For example, Angus are black, Red Poll are red, and Holsteins
00:02:39 --> 00:02:40 are black and white spotted.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:45 This was one way early breeders differentiated their breed, or
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 their cattle, from another's.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:52 However, in the current cattle industry, they've been breeding
00:02:52 --> 00:02:53 cows that look more similar.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:59 So now we have a lot of breeds that, there's a black version, or even a red
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 version, when there didn't used to be.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 Limousine used to just be red.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:10 Now we have black Limousin simmental used to be more of a yellow orange
00:03:10 --> 00:03:17 red spotted cow, and now breeders have worked towards having a solid black or
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 solid red, a lot of times a blaze face on Simmental, to get that coloration
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 that the cattle industry here wants.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:30 We even have black herefords, which is crazy in my mind.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 Sorry if you breed those.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:37 And there are red Charolais now, obviously those are just a few examples, but
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41 there's been lots more that people have bred those colors in, why that can
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 happen in the breeds we have in the U.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:48 S., a lot of the breed associations have breed up programs where you can take a
00:03:48 --> 00:03:56 commercial animal, made it to a full blood or registered purebred and slowly work
00:03:56 --> 00:04:00 that percentage up until it's high enough to qualify as a purebred on its own.
00:04:01 --> 00:04:06 And in doing so with careful management of that, you can make some of those genes
00:04:06 --> 00:04:10 such as color genes that's highly visible.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:15 Carry on and get into that purebred where it didn't used to be.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 Now I, I do have, there's an argument of fullbloods versus purebreds.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 A lot of times I think purebreds hold a lot of promise there, but I know when
00:04:26 --> 00:04:32 I look at limousine, red Limousin, I do not see any black Limousin and I'm
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 only, there's a lot of people gonna disagree with me, but where I live,
00:04:35 --> 00:04:39 I don't see black Limousin with the muscling that I see on red Limousin
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 now I'm sure there's isolated cases where that's not true and I'm sure
00:04:44 --> 00:04:48 there's herds that's that, that's not true, but I see that a lot.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:56 Now with the cattle industry and the way they've really placed a premium on
00:04:56 --> 00:05:02 black animals, we don't see that with the other livestock industries as much.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 Granted poultry and hogs.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:13 They're breeding for those white animals in the commercial setting, But it's not
00:05:13 --> 00:05:19 as widespread as What's happened in the cattle industry at least in my viewpoint.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:24 It's not When discussing colors, there's two pigments that come into play.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:30 We have eumelanin, which is black when it's unmodified, and
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 pheomelanin, which is a tan.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 One thing with the eumelanin, is that you get an animal that's
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 very consistently that color.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:49 Now with the pheomelanin, you get a tan, but it can vary from cream to a very dark
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 brown, and it can vary on the animal.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 So you get some variation there.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:58 And to be honest, instead of saying big words that this Okie has trouble
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 with, we're going to call those, we have the black pigment and the tan pigment.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 And we're not going to go into the mechanism behind that.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 However, if you find that fascinating, Dr.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:10 Sponenberg
00:06:12 --> 00:06:16 has a great discussion of it in his book that I'll leave
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 a link to in the show notes.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 But he gets into it really deep.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:27 For our discussions, I'll refer to them as black pigment and tan pigment.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 Now when we're discussing genes, we're talking about
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 genes that occur on chromosomes.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 And all animals have chromosomes.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:38 And they occur in pairs.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:45 For example, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes or 46 chromosomes.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 Cattle and goats each have 30 pair.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 or 60 chromosomes.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:55 Sheep have 54 chromosomes while hogs have 38 chromosomes.
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 And when we get an animal, it gets half its chromosomes from its
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 father and half from its mother.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:06 So they get one version from their mother, one version from their father.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 While it's half each time, it's a random assortment for each animal.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 That's the reason you can have full siblings that look
00:07:13 --> 00:07:14 different from each other.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 Thus, half the genes are from its mother and half from its father.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:26 The genes located on a chromosome pair are usually referred to as the genes
00:07:26 --> 00:07:31 locus, or in the case of multiple genes, we might say the genes loci.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:36 The locus is basically the address to where we find that gene.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 And since chromosomes occur in pairs, there's two spots on, for a gene.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:46 on the first version of that pair and the second version of that pair.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 So there's two genes.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:53 And the version of that gene that's on a locus is called a allele.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:58 And if two alleles are the same, then we have a homozygous animal.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:04 So for example, if in the locus for black, and we'll talk about that a
00:08:04 --> 00:08:09 little bit more, if they have the black allele in both places, then
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 that animal is homozygous for black.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 And if they're different, we call it heterozygous.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 If they have a black allele in one spot and maybe a red allele in another spot.
00:08:22 --> 00:08:27 For livestock color, there are a few loci which are important to determine color.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:33 The great thing about color, it's easily observed, and it's fairly discreet
00:08:33 --> 00:08:40 when you're looking at how one genotype is displayed versus another genotype.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 And I say fairly discreet.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:48 It's not totally, but it's enough to make color more easily identified
00:08:48 --> 00:08:52 and studied than if we were talking about the fertility of an animal
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 or their average daily gain.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:01 And when we're looking at an animal, what we are seeing is called the phenotype.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 A while ago I mentioned the genotype.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:07 The genotype is actually the genetics behind the color.
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 So phenotype, is what we're looking at.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 Genotype is what's on the genes.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 And as you will see later, we can sometimes predict the genotype from
00:09:18 --> 00:09:23 the phenotype, but we can't always figure out all of the genotype.
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 To start, there's two main loci for color.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:34 One is the extension locus and the other is the agouti the extension locus is the
00:09:34 --> 00:09:41 main one we use in cattle while agouti locus is predominant one in goats,
00:09:41 --> 00:09:45 and I say one is the predominant one.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 Both are important for our common colors.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 And we will discuss that more.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 Agouti is not as important in cattle.
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 Extension is not as important in goats.
00:09:58 --> 00:10:03 With the extension locus, Livestock may have more, but they will
00:10:03 --> 00:10:04 have at least three alleles.
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 So we have black, wildtype, and red.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:11 Those are the three alleles for the extension locus.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:18 With the black allele, beading the domino allele, and I can't And an animal carrying
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 at least one black allele will be black.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:28 And then for red is the recessive allele in the extension locus.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:34 And for an animal to be red through the extension locus, the animal must
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 carry two copies of the red allele.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:45 Thus, if we have a red animal with a red phenotype, we can also make the
00:10:45 --> 00:10:53 assumption that animal is homozygous red genotype, because the only way
00:10:53 --> 00:11:01 to get a red animal, in our example right now, is through carrying two
00:11:02 --> 00:11:06 red alleles at the extension locus.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 However, on the other hand, if we have a black animal, we can say,
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 that animal is a black phenotype.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:17 But we can't say exactly what's in the genotype.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 So we know it has at least one allele that's black.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 On the other allele, we don't know.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 It could be another black, which would make it homozygous black.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:35 It could be a wildtype, which would make it heterozygous black, a wildtype carrier.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:42 Or it could be a red allele, so then we have a heterozygous black animal that
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 is often referred to as a red carrier.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:49 And before we get too far on this, black and red in goats is
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 a different mechanism, usually.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 And we'll talk about that when we get to goats.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 So we've talked about black allele and red allele.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 The third allele is the wildtype allele, which is often
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 referred to as brown in cattle.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 In goats and sheep it's a bigger range of colors and patterns.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:15 In cattle we have, I hate to say a narrow set, but much fewer alleles there.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:23 When an animal is black or red, whatever's in the agouti locus is hidden,
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 so it doesn't make any difference.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:33 If we have an animal that says it should be brinnel, In the Agouti locus, if that
00:12:33 --> 00:12:40 animal says it's black in the extension locus, or the red in the extension
00:12:40 --> 00:12:45 locus, it doesn't matter because that, that brinnel will not show through.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 And I'm using brinnel as an example, and I know there'll be some people in my
00:12:49 --> 00:12:54 comments there's some cases where brinnel shows through, but we won't get into that
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 right now, we'll talk about that later on.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 If we have an animal showing wildtype.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 which is brown.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:08 We are seeing what, it shows what's in the agouti locust.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:15 And in the agouti locust there are a few alleles for each species.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:21 I want to say cattle have about 6, goats and sheep have almost 30.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 So there's a lot happening there.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 Before we get to the agouti locust, back to the extension.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:34 If we have an animal that's wildtype, that the genotype, or the phenotype.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 We have an animal that's wildtype and phenotype, so
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 that means they're that brown.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:48 We do not know if the second allele there is wildtype or red.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 We do know it's not black because if it was a black allele,
00:13:51 --> 00:13:52 the animal would be black.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:58 An animal that's brown can be homozygous for wildtype, or it can be heterozygous
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 for wildtype and a red carrier.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:01 You
00:14:02 --> 00:14:06 know, a while ago I mentioned goats and sheep have tons of different alleles.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:12 Alleles in the agouti, locusts in cattle have six, hogs only have three.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:20 It's important to remember, at any point, an animal can only have two alleles that
00:14:20 --> 00:14:24 they carry, because they've got that one pair of genes or two chromosomes
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 with that gene loci, or locusts on it.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:34 So no matter what animal, Or no matter how many alleles there is,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:39 an animal can only have two versions of that gene on a chromosome.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:45 And when we think about black and red at the extension locus, the animal is
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 predominantly a solid colored animal.
00:14:47 --> 00:14:51 But with the gooty, locust, the animal usually displays
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 a pattern of black and tan.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 And you'll notice that when you think about in cattle are black
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 animals, they're usually solid black.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:03 Red animals, and I say solid black, uniformly black, uniformly red.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 We'll get into some white spotting in a little bit.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:11 Then for animals that are wildtype, they're what we call brown, and you know
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 a lot of times they'll be darker on the front part of them than the back part.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 They'll darken as they age.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 Males are often a darker color than females.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:26 And their color can vary from really light colored to fairly dark.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:32 When a cow is displaying wildtype, whatever is in agouti shows
00:15:32 --> 00:15:36 through, and that's usually some kind of black and tan pattern.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:42 It's not as noticeable in cattle because you do have a little bit
00:15:42 --> 00:15:46 darker on the front and it goes back, but it's very noticeable in goats.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:52 And when I say black and tan, those pigments, the final color will depend
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 if there's some other modifiers present.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 Just to summarize up to this point, we have two main color
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 genetics for livestock species.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 They're the extension locus and the agouti locus.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:09 The other loci we can consider as modifiers to the color
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 determined by extension and agouti.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 The types of these modifiers, there's a few different types.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:22 There's the brown, There's dilutes, there's albino, and whitespotting.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 So we've got four categories of different types of modifiers.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 The brown locust dilutes black to a brown or dun color.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:37 For cattle, dun and dexter cattle is usually caused by the brown locust.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 When we talk about goats, there's a few different alleles there.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:48 For the dilutes, they are common in hogs, common in cattle, but we don't
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 see them as much in sheep and goats.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:55 Also, not all the loci are identified for dilutes.
00:16:56 --> 00:17:00 But, inheritance has been determined for most of them.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:06 In cattle, there's a silver locus, which is home to a Charolais
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 allele and a Simmental allele.
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 Which we will discuss more when we discuss cattle.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:16 The albino locus is another gene to modify the color of an animal and
00:17:16 --> 00:17:21 usually modifies it to white with pink or very light colored eyes.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:26 Most of the time when we're looking at our livestock species, we don't see
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 the albino coming into play as much.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 Lastly, we have white spotting, which is a few loci.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 It also causes the most confusion when we're trying to figure
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 out the genotype of an animal.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:49 White spotting can vary from very little to almost completely white.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:55 And when an animal is almost completely white, it is difficult to determine the
00:17:55 --> 00:18:01 base color of the animal due to the base color that's determined by the actions of
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 the extension locus and the agouti locus.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:10 And again with white spotting there's a large number of alleles and also
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 possibly a large number of loci.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:19 Now how we're looking at it, usually we are able to group those
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 alleles into one of three groups.
00:18:24 --> 00:18:28 The first group is we have white areas that are very cleanly white.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 They don't have any of the color hairs encroaching up on them.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 Nothing speckled in the middle.
00:18:33 --> 00:18:34 They're a clean white.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:41 Then secondly, we may have a white area, but it's got colored hairs
00:18:42 --> 00:18:47 in it to make spots in there or flecks or speckling inside it.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 And then lastly is a continuation of that, and that's where we get
00:18:50 --> 00:18:54 roan areas rather than a white area.
00:18:54 --> 00:19:00 So roan the different colored hairs are intermixed throughout.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:05 To wrap up the loci, we have extension locus, we have the
00:19:05 --> 00:19:09 agouti locus, and they've really determined color and pattern with
00:19:09 --> 00:19:15 a few modifiers that include brown, dilutes, albino, and white spotting.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 So we're going to take those And for today, we're going to go
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 ahead and get started with cattle.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:26 Kencove Farm Fence is a proud supporter of the Grazing Grass
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 podcast and graziers everywhere.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 At Kencove Farm Fence, they believe there's true value within the community
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 of graziers and land stewards.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 The results that follow proper management and monitoring can
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 change the very world around us.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:44 That's why Kencove is dedicated to providing an ever expanding line of
00:19:44 --> 00:19:48 grazing products to make your chores easier and your land more abundant.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:52 Whether you're growing your own food on the homestead or grazing
00:19:52 --> 00:19:57 on thousands of acres, Kencove has everything you need to do it well.
00:19:57 --> 00:20:02 From reels to tumblewheels, polytwine to electric nets, water valves to
00:20:02 --> 00:20:06 water troughs, you'll find what you're looking for at Kencove.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 They carry brands like Speedrite, O'Brien's, Kiwitech,
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 Strainrite, Jobe, and more.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 Kencove is proud to be part of your regenerative journey.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 Call them today or visit Kencove.com.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:24 And be sure to follow them on social media and subscribe to the Kencove YouTube
00:20:24 --> 00:20:31 channel @KencoveFarmFence for helpful how to videos and new product releases!
00:20:31 --> 00:20:35 So first on cattle, let's discuss the extension locus.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:40 With cattle, we have black, wildtype, and red alleles, and
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 they're all fairly common in cattle.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:49 However, there are a few uncommon alleles, and we'll talk about those later.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:55 And because colors so closely related to breeds, we're going to talk
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 about a few breeds and their colors.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 Angus is a great example of the black allele.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07 Red Poll cattle are a great example of the red allele.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 And let's just talk about red Poll for just a second.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:14 As you recall, for a red phenotype, the animal must be
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 homozygous for that red allele.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 So they've got two of those red alleles.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:25 And when you mate a red Poll to a red Poll, the calf will be red.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:32 There is no other possibility on color, and I say no other possibility,
00:21:32 --> 00:21:37 there's some other factors that are not very likely to come into play.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:44 And with the red allele at the extension locus, you can also get that white switch.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:48 So a lot of times you'll see a red cow with a white switch, a tail switch.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 I love that, but there's variations in it.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 Some won't have very much white showing there, but some will.
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 So red's pretty easy.
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 We look at the animal, we see the phenotype, and we're able to
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 say, here's the genotype for it.
00:22:02 --> 00:22:06 However, with black, when we look at Angus, and we see a black phenotype,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:13 because black is dominant, we don't know if that animal is homozygous for black.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 And, that's really why we have red Angus.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 When Angus was developed as a breed, they crossed some other breeds to create it.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:27 And the breeders Actually, I want to say, and if I'm wrong you can
00:22:27 --> 00:22:32 correct this, I think the first herd book for Angus back in Scotland,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 England, allowed red or black animals.
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 And then it became Angus were black.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:46 And when you mate black animals together, if you're culling the red out, you can
00:22:46 --> 00:22:51 get rid of a lot of the red alleles that's in that breed population.
00:22:52 --> 00:22:56 But it's very difficult to get to a zero percent.
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 So what would happen?
00:22:59 --> 00:23:07 People would breed a black, heterozygous black red carrier to another red
00:23:07 --> 00:23:11 carrier, not knowing they were red carriers, and they'd get a red calf.
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 And then some people started keeping those red calves.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 Then they were actively breeding to get some of the red.
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 Because they come from a common base or common start.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 It's just a matter of the color they were kept.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:29 Now without DNA testing, it's difficult to breed out a recessive gene.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:35 You can test breed, take a bull and mate him to a few females,
00:23:35 --> 00:23:39 see what the offspring is, and you'd want to mate the females a
00:23:39 --> 00:23:44 recessive gene so that If there's any recessives, they would show up.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 It's time consuming and costly.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:55 So if we bred a bull, a black bull, to a group of red females, red cows, if
00:23:55 --> 00:24:00 the black, if the bull is homozygous for black, then all the calves would be black.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:04 However, if that bull is heterozygous for black and carries that red
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07 gene, there'd be some red calves.
00:24:08 --> 00:24:15 Luckily, Now with DNA testing, you can just get a DNA sample, pull some hair,
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 send it off, a couple weeks later you can know if that bull is homozygous
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 for black or heterozygous for black.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:25 And for the most part, if you're breeding black animal to a black
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 animal, it's not that big a deal.
00:24:27 --> 00:24:32 But if you had a herd of red cows and you were using a black bull on them and
00:24:32 --> 00:24:37 you want to make sure that calf crop were all black, you'd want to test that
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40 bull and make sure he's homozygous black.
00:24:41 --> 00:24:45 The other thing we have going for us are AI bulls usually have enough
00:24:45 --> 00:24:49 offspring that they know if they carry any of those recessives.
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 However the DNA testing is really nice.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 So we've talked about the red allele, like for red Poll cattle gives us that
00:24:58 --> 00:25:02 nice solid red color with a white switch.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:07 We've talked about the black allele that gives us a nice black animal like Angus.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 A third common allele is wildtype.
00:25:10 --> 00:25:14 And wildtype we often refer to as brown.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:18 So in cattle, what breed do we see that shows the wildtype?
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 There's a few.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22 One we're going to use for our example is a Jersey.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:28 So if you think about Jersey cattle, they can be very light colored,
00:25:28 --> 00:25:33 they can be fairly dark, they can be a whole range in between.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:37 But it's typically a tan or a brown coloration.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:42 And often times the bulls are a darker shade of it.
00:25:43 --> 00:25:48 So when you think of wildtype coloration, that's a perfect example.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:52 So let's think about some breedings and what we would get.
00:25:52 --> 00:25:57 If we take a Jersey cow and we breed her to a homozygous black
00:25:57 --> 00:26:01 bull, we will get all black calves.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:08 However, if we take a Jersey or a wildtype cow, colored cow and we breed
00:26:08 --> 00:26:15 her to a heterozygous black bull who is a red carrier then half the calves
00:26:15 --> 00:26:20 we get will be black but the other half will be wildtype coloration or brown.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:28 On the other hand if we breed a jersey cow to a red Poll bull all
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31 the calves will be brown because
00:26:32 --> 00:26:37 wildtype coloration or brown is recessive to black but dominant to red.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:47 One other thing with wildtype coloration or this brown, a lot of times you'll
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 see a white ring around the muzzle.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:52 of the cow or bull.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 So just look at their muzzle and they'll have a white ring around it.
00:26:56 --> 00:27:01 When you are looking at a red animal, they typically don't have that.
00:27:01 --> 00:27:07 Or if you're looking at a very dark bull and you're wondering, is that black?
00:27:07 --> 00:27:11 Is that just a really dark brown for wildtype?
00:27:11 --> 00:27:14 Does it have a white ring around its nose?
00:27:14 --> 00:27:21 Black animals do not, red animals do not, wildtype or brown animals typically do.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:29 Now, one thing I mentioned earlier with cattle or with any of the livestock
00:27:29 --> 00:27:37 species, if we have wildtype as the phenotype for the animal, whatever
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 is in the agouti locus shows through.
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 So whatever pattern that is.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:49 And there's brindle that's available there, but there's not there's some shades
00:27:49 --> 00:27:56 of brown, some different things, but it's not as well understood as goats or sheep.
00:27:58 --> 00:28:02 So typically you can just remember if you've got a brown animal or an
00:28:02 --> 00:28:07 animal that maybe the tan colors are reduced to a silver because of a
00:28:07 --> 00:28:12 dilute included in there, the animal will be darker towards the front.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 and lighter towards the back.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:20 There's one way to tell that, but the actual mechanism in the agouti locus.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 They're still figuring it out.
00:28:22 --> 00:28:27 With the exception, as I mentioned a while ago, of brinnel.
00:28:27 --> 00:28:31 And brinnel will show through on a wildtype animal.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:35 And before we continue with the extension, so let's talk
00:28:35 --> 00:28:37 about brinnel for just a second.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:40 Brinnel is when you get those dark stripes on an animal.
00:28:40 --> 00:28:47 And it's used often times when you do a F1 cross of Hereford to Brahman
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 brahmans are typically wildtype.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55 Now I say typically, there's been a lot of breeding to get some of
00:28:55 --> 00:29:00 those red or black, get those solid colors in there, but traditionally
00:29:00 --> 00:29:02 they've been a wildtype color.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:07 That silver coloration with the black on the front and goes and fades lighter
00:29:07 --> 00:29:10 as you go back on the animal, that is a wildtype coloration with the dilute.
00:29:12 --> 00:29:17 So that animal, wildtype, is dominant to red.
00:29:17 --> 00:29:20 So if we made them to a Hereford, cow.
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 That Hereford is red at the extension locus.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 So then we get a calf that's wildtype.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:34 Interestingly enough, most Herefords carry a brinnel at the agouti locus.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:40 They carry the brinnel alleles at the agouti locus and it's not
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 displayed in a solid red animal.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:48 So then we get this offspring that's wildtype, brown, and it
00:29:48 --> 00:29:51 shows what's in the agouti locus.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:55 And it says brinnel because brinnel is dominant to the others.
00:29:55 --> 00:29:59 So then we have this wildtype animal that's also a brinnel and that
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 gives us those tiger stripe F1's.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:07 Very interesting how they can use those, how they can use it.
00:30:07 --> 00:30:11 It was discovered, they make that crossing, those genetics
00:30:11 --> 00:30:17 underlying there really trademark almost those offspring animals.
00:30:18 --> 00:30:23 Continuing on with extension, there's a couple of, there's another allele
00:30:23 --> 00:30:26 in the extension locus we haven't talked about, and then there's
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 another gene that affects it.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:35 First, we have an allele called black red, or Telstar red.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:41 And for the black red allele, it came about, it's available in
00:30:41 --> 00:30:46 hostings Telstar was one of the major bulls that had this coloration.
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 And what happens, the calf is born?
00:30:49 --> 00:30:54 red, and then it turns black at a fairly young age of three to six months.
00:30:56 --> 00:31:01 And when it's born, you can't tell the red allele from the black red allele.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03 The phenotype looks the same.
00:31:03 --> 00:31:12 Likewise, when the animals turn black, you can't tell the phenotype whether or
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 not it's due to the black red allele.
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 or the black aloo.
00:31:16 --> 00:31:22 Now I say that in the animals I've looked at I have not been able to tell.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:27 Now I have heard people say they can tell like on the red animal there'll
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 be some black hairs on it or on the black animal there'll be some red hairs.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 My experience is limited.
00:31:33 --> 00:31:38 I have had some in the past and I was unable to tell.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:44 Now that's been a while and I haven't looked at any recently so maybe you can.
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 I'm not sure.
00:31:46 --> 00:31:52 But do know black red is a allele in the extension locus that's not usually worried
00:31:52 --> 00:32:00 about in beef cattle, but it does occur in Holsteins now on the black red or tail
00:32:00 --> 00:32:08 star allele, it is recessive to black, but it's dominant to wildtype and red.
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 So if we think about the,
00:32:11 --> 00:32:16 if we think about the dominance of those different alleles, we have black,
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 black red, wildtype, and then red.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:24 Now there is a second gene of importance when we're talking
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 about the extension locus.
00:32:25 --> 00:32:29 However, it's not an allele at the extension locus.
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 It is located at another spot, and it is called dominant red.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:37 And it overrides anything in the extension allele.
00:32:39 --> 00:32:46 Dominant red gene occurred in Holsteins and when it's present, it doesn't
00:32:46 --> 00:32:52 matter what is in the extension locus, because the animal will be red.
00:32:52 --> 00:32:54 It'll be a dark red, but it'll be red.
00:32:55 --> 00:33:01 Now let's say we have a dominant red bull, and we made it to a black and white
00:33:01 --> 00:33:08 Holstein that calf is going to be red and white, because the red is dominant.
00:33:08 --> 00:33:15 to black, wildtype, black red, anything in the extension locus because it hides
00:33:15 --> 00:33:17 whatever is in the extension locus.
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 Very interesting.
00:33:19 --> 00:33:24 I do not know of that gene being outside of Holsteins at this point.
00:33:24 --> 00:33:27 I think it was discovered in the late 80s, early 90s.
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 There's very few bulls out there that have it but it is out there.
00:33:32 --> 00:33:39 And my understanding with this is it looks the same as recessive red.
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 It's just a dark red.
00:33:43 --> 00:33:45 So I think that's really fascinating.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:51 And for today, we're going to wrap up our episode, having covered just
00:33:51 --> 00:33:56 a little bit about the basics of genetics, the black and tan pigments,
00:33:56 --> 00:34:01 and the gene loci that are important to coloration in our livestock species.
00:34:02 --> 00:34:05 Then we were able to talk about the extension locus.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 in cattle as well as the agouti locus in cattle.
00:34:09 --> 00:34:11 Next week we will continue on.
00:34:11 --> 00:34:16 We'll talk about the dilutes that really two breeds that jump out
00:34:16 --> 00:34:18 to us, Simmental and Charolais.
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21 There's other breeds that have it and those colorations that come in.
00:34:21 --> 00:34:26 And then we'll talk about white spotting and that'll get maybe a
00:34:26 --> 00:34:29 little confusing among the white spotting, but it's very interesting.
00:34:30 --> 00:34:32 And we'll wrap up that and then we'll get to the other species.
00:34:33 --> 00:34:35 Also, let me know what you think about this episode.
00:34:35 --> 00:34:37 A little bit different than normal.
00:34:37 --> 00:34:41 If you have knowledge that I don't have, I don't know everything.
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 In fact, I know very little.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:49 But if you have some information contrary to what I've said
00:34:49 --> 00:34:51 today, hey, please let me know.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 I'd appreciate it.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:56 Also, if you have another source for this type of information, beyond.
00:34:57 --> 00:34:57 Dr.
00:34:57 --> 00:35:01 Sponenberg's book as well as some other commonly available things.
00:35:01 --> 00:35:06 I'd love to know it because I think color genetics are fascinating.
00:35:06 --> 00:35:10 Cal: Thank you for listening, and if you found something useful, please share it.
00:35:11 --> 00:35:12 Share it on your social media.
00:35:13 --> 00:35:14 Tell your friends.
00:35:14 --> 00:35:16 Get the word out about the podcast.
00:35:16 --> 00:35:17 Helps us grow.
00:35:18 --> 00:35:22 If you happen to be a grass farmer and you'd like to share about
00:35:22 --> 00:35:25 your journey, go to grazinggrass.
00:35:25 --> 00:35:29 com and click on Be Our Guest.
00:35:29 --> 00:35:32 Fill out the form and I'll be in touch.
00:35:33 --> 00:35:37 We appreciate your support by sharing our episodes and
00:35:37 --> 00:35:39 telling your friends about it.
00:35:39 --> 00:35:42 You can also support our show by buying our merch.
00:35:42 --> 00:35:44 We get a little bit back from that.
00:35:45 --> 00:35:49 Another way to support the show is by becoming a grazing grass insider.
00:35:50 --> 00:35:51 Grazing Grass Insiders
00:35:51 --> 00:35:56 enjoy bonus content, monthly zooms and discounts.
00:35:56 --> 00:35:59 You can visit the website grazing grass.com.
00:36:00 --> 00:36:03 Click on support and they'll have the links there.
00:36:04 --> 00:36:06 Also, if you haven't left us a review, please do.
00:36:07 --> 00:36:10 It really helps us as people are searching for podcasts.
00:36:10 --> 00:36:16 And I was just checking them and we do not have very many reviews for 2024.
00:36:16 --> 00:36:19 So if you haven't left us a review, please do.
00:36:20 --> 00:36:23 And until next time, keep on grazing grass.
Related Episodes
166. Grazing Sheep with Big Tom Perkins
Big Tom Perkins is a seasoned farmer who has successfully navigated the challenging transition from cattle to sheep farming. With his extensive experience at Con-O-Creek Farm in western Pennsylvania, he has become a beacon of innovation in livestock management and rotational grazing. His story is o...
165. Silvopasture: Getting Trees Started Right with Austin Unruh
In this episode , we feature Austin Unruh, the founder of Trees for Graziers. Austin's journey into the world of silvopasture and agroforestry began in 2017 when he started planting trees along streams to improve water quality. Since then, his passion for integrating trees into pasture systems has ...
164. Splitting the Farm to Evolve with Becky Szarzynski
Becky Szarzynski is a pioneering farmer in the field of sustainable farming and regenerative agriculture. With her independent venture, Ember Cattle Company, based in Fairfield, Virginia, Becky has transformed her family's farming legacy into a solo endeavor. Her journey is marked by innovative pra...