Longhorn Cattle Colors

Longhorn cattle have the most variable coat color of all the cattle breeds of the world. Unlike the white-faced dark red Herefords or the stereotypical black-and-white spotted Holstein, longhorns can have almost any combination of colors, patterns and markings. This variability makes breeding longhorns for a particular appearance a difficult task. Although other features of longhorn cattle, e.g., their horn length, can be influenced by the environment, color is solely dependent on genetics.

  1. Colors

    • Longhorn cattle come in almost every color---brown, red, black, yellow and even colors called ringstreaked or mulberry blue. White found on longhorns can be bright or a muted cream. Longhorns also come in many shades of brown, from rich dark chocolate to light fawn. Cattle of the longhorn variety with a washed-out cream-colored coat are called grullas after the color of the sandhill crane.

    Patterns

    • Some breeds of cattle are spotted or splotched and some are brindled, but longhorn cattle come in many patterns. Some are brindled, looking like the Welsh Corgi dog. Some are speckled, others streaked, while still others are peppered with contrasting colors. Some longhorns are a solid color with few markings. It is not unusual to see black longhorn cattle with a black-speckled white patch on their rumps, much like Appaloosa horses. Many longhorns have a dark line down the middle of their backs or a ring of lighter color around their muzzles.

    Genetics

    • Longhorn cattle color is determined by two pigments---black and red. The black pigment, Eumelanin, causes black to gray coloring, depending on how high or low the concentration of the pigment is. Phaeomelanin, the red pigment, can cause dark red to light yellow, depending on its concentration. When the genes governing coloration do not prompt either the black or red pigment, the coat color is white in that area. Mixtures of these two pigments and no pigment in different areas of the longhorn's body produce the almost infinite variety of colors and patterns.

    Breeding

    • Some longhorn cattle breeders believe that breeding longhorns for a particular appearance is near to impossible, according to doublehelixranch.com. Mating a solid black bull with a solid black cow often results in a calf of a completely different color or a combination of other colors. Because longhorn cattle have eight different color-directing genes, there are over 26,000 combinations of possible genotypes. This gives the longhorn a substantial chance of highly variable coloration.