When I checked that two week old heifer calf born in our herd , I was pleasantly surprised no horn buds (that was 1978). Hopefully, we will never get so stuck in our pride of tradition we will be closed to change. Take polled dairy and beef cattle. True most of the best bulls are horned, however with laws now restricting you on horn removal with lots of costs, perhaps the time has come for change to polled cattle.
Dominate polled genes (PP) can be interbred with the top horned genetics, and in a few generations just about all cattle could be polled. Cattle that are polled have a faster jump in growth as they jump over the hurdle of horn removal, also no horn infections. No chance of forgetting to do horn removal. Great savings on labor and vet cost (I am sure vets would rather do herd checks rather than horn removal unless they like torture gore and war of course! Just saying.)
Polled or horned? What do you think? Please email up, Thank you in advance!
Mike Sokolowski President Alpha Genetics Inc.