Polled livestock
Polled livestock are
Terminology
The archaic term muley or mulley[3] is sometimes used to refer to hornless livestock (especially cattle) in folk songs, folk tales, and poetry,[4] and in the name of the polled Irish Moiled cattle breed. "Muley" derives from Irish and Scottish Gaelic maol, and Welsh moel.
Genetics
In
In sheep, the allele for horns in both sexes is partially dominant to the allele for being polled in both sexes, and both of these are dominant to that for polling in the female only.[6]
The development of true breeding polled goats is discouraged as the polled locus is strongly associated with Polled Intersex Syndrome (PIS).[7][8][9]
Naturally polled water buffalo also have genital defects.[10]
Scurs
Naturally polled animals may have scurs – small, loose, horny growths in the skin where their horns would be. In cattle, this trait has been traced to a separate gene (on a different chromosome) from that responsible for polling. However, the presence of the allele for scurs in cattle can only be seen in a polled animal, because horns replace the scurs in horned animals.[11] Similar scurs may also occur where disbudding of a naturally horned animal has been incomplete.
Reasons for polling
Polled livestock are preferred by many
In other circumstances, horned animals may be preferred, for example, to help the animal defend itself against
In the US no show requires horns to be left on. Most shows require at a minimum blunting of the horns to a minimum diameter of 1⁄2 inch. Boer Goat Shows allow disbudded goats.[12] Dairy breeds of goats are required to be naturally hornless or disbudded.[13] 4H and FFA show goats must be hornless or blunted so as not to be sharp and dangerous.[14][15]
Development of polled strains
Polled strains have been developed of many cattle breeds which were originally horned. This has usually been done by crossing with naturally polled breeds, most commonly
See also
- Livestock dehorning
- Castration
- Docking
- List of cattle breeds
- List of domestic Asian water buffalo breeds
- List of sheep breeds
- List of goat breeds
References
- ISBN 978-1-60342-036-5.
- .
- OCLC 44475779. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
- OCLC 1480854.
- PMID 27153274.
- ISBN 978-0-521-82300-5: Appendix 2 (quoted in Horn Phenotypes and Genotypes in Soay Sheep, Saltmarsh Ranch Soay Sheep).
- ^ "Polled/Horns in Capra hircus". Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA). Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- PMID 32060960.
- .
- ISBN 0-444-88638-9)
- .
- ^ "ABGA Sanctioned Show Rules" (PDF). adga.org. 29 April 2014. rev 0429142. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ "2014–2015 Show Rules" (PDF). adga.org. May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-27. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- ^ "Goat District Rules, Regulations, and Shows". kyagr.com. Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
- Extension and Outreach. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2020-11-28. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- ^ "polledjerseys.com". www.polledjerseys.com.