Red, White or Roan Shorthorns

[shortii]

So I was talking with a fellow shorthorn breeder the other day. He asked me how my calves were looking. I told him that I had two nice white heifers that I was pretty excited with and that I planned on taking them to the North American. Before I could finish speaking he said "get ride of those white b!@#$%s, they're worthless, a red or roan heifer will beat them hands down". I know that Vogels  reserve b&o heifer at Jr. Nationals this year was white, and I personally think she was a dang nice heifer. The way I look at it, you can have a good shorthorn and be successful in the show ring no matter if they are red, White or roan a good one is a good one.


Is there really a bias with color among shorthorns in the show ring?

 

[kfacres]

ever heard of the "white heifer disease"?  It's just an old wive's tale... but some people take hardcore resistance to this day upon it...

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I actually had a hifer with white disease a long time ago-it seened to stem at that time from heavily linebred Irish breeding. As far as a red or roan being better than white-Bull$%^&(T  color em good.Thats why a blue roan still outsells anything in the barn around here-in the worst place on the planet for Shorthorns,Va. Rightfully so a while back,but the quality is changing:-especially in West VA and Maryland. O0

 

[PDJ]

ever heard of the "white heifer disease"?  It's just an old wive's tale... but some people take hardcore resistance to this day upon it...

Not sure that it is a wives tale or not.  Back in 1979 (God I'm old) I had a white heifer sired by a Canadian Image son.  She was a non breeder, and hadn't developed properly, similar to a freemartin.  As an added negative, stress would cause her to cycle.  In heat at every show.

 

[twistedhshowstock]

Not sure that it is a wives tale or not.  Back in 1979 (God I'm old) I had a white heifer sired by a Canadian Image son.  She was a non breeder, and hadn't developed properly, similar to a freemartin.  As an added negative, stress would cause her to cycle.  In heat at every show.
[/quote]

Not sure stress causing her to cycle can be attributed to white heifer disease, its pretty common for stress to induce a heat cycle in pretty much all species.  Stress is actually used pretty effectively to induce heat by those people that dont want to give drugs, simply move one female to a new location or mix her with a new group of individuals and the stress will cause her to cycle. Super highly effective in sows. 

 

[PDJ]

Not sure stress causing her to cycle can be attributed to white heifer disease, its pretty common for stress to induce a heat cycle in pretty much all species.  Stress is actually used pretty effectively to induce heat by those people that dont want to give drugs, simply move one female to a new location or mix her with a new group of individuals and the stress will cause her to cycle. Super highly effective in sows. 

The white heifer disease may not have caused her to cycle due to stress, but it sure kept her from getting bred, thus in heat all summer and fall.  She was the only case we can remember, and my great grandpa got his first registered shorthorns in 1917.

 

[jaimiediamond]

"White Heifer Disease is a reproductive problem in a proportion of white females in breeds such as Belgian Blue and Shorthorn where the white coat color is inherited as a recessive condition with the alternative coat colors being roan for the heterozygote and another solid color for the opposite homozygote. The problem is a result of incomplete development of the female reproductive tract." Sheila Schmutz, Ph.D.

I have never seen an animal affected by white heifer disease (and hope I never do) but I don't believe its an old wives tale. On a side note I spent most of my youth wanting nothing but white animals to show that only ended when I spent the time washing them!

 

[thunderdownunder]

I myself have never seen this problem in a white heifer, but I don't dispute it exists: just like AM, CA, NH, TH, etc

Personally I don't care what colour an animal is - they're all the same colour under the hide, and that's what we're meant to be focussed on breeding.