THE BRINDLE COLOUR IN CATTLE 

 IN RELATION TO RED. 



By CHR WRIEDT, 



Grenlund, Grorud, Noriuay. 



Prof. J. Wilson has suggested that brindle is the heterozygote 

 between black and red, or dun. From Wilson's data S. Wright has 

 concluded that there is a special unanalyzed factor for brindle. Wilson 

 has mentioned that dark coloured Jerseys crossed with red cattle give 

 brindled offspring. 



In Tranekjar in Denmark I have examined about 100 crossbreds 

 from Jersey bull and the red cows of the Danish islands and none of 

 these were brindle. 



The colours in the Telemark breed in Norway are red and brindle. 

 In this breed the segregation of black is very rare. 



At the agricultural schools of S^ve and Buskerud the agricultural 

 teachers Lalim and Meland have under my cooperation examined the 

 colours of parents and offspring in the herds of pure bred Telemarks. 

 The results are given in the following table : 



In these crosses no black individuals occurred, while according to 

 Wilson's hypothesis we should expect 7 black from the mating brindle x 

 brindle. This, taken together with the rarity of black in the whole 

 Telemark breed, gives a clear indication that brindle is a clear cut 

 dominant to red. In these data no certainly homozygous brindled 

 individual is recorded, but in a brindled bull, Tom, we have a possible 

 homozygote. Nesheim, the former leader of the school at S0ve, has told 

 me that he cannot remember that Tom has given offspring of any colour 

 other than brindle, whether he was mated with red or brindled cows. 



LITERATURE CITED. 



Wilson, J. 1909. " The colours of Highland Cattle." Sci. Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc. 



N. S. Vol. XI. p. 66. 

 Wright, S. " Colour Inheritance in Mammals, VI. Cattle." Joum. of Heredity, 



Vol. VIII. p. .521. 



