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Hillview Red Wing

Hillview Red Wing was the first homozygous polled Dexter identified in the United States. (A homozygous polled animal cannot produce horned offspring.) His genotype was determined through a genetic linkage study that required tracking the markers around the polled gene on Red Wing and 13 of his relatives.  The Hillivew and Belle Fourche herds continued to use this process on select animals for the next 10 years through a lab in Canada, until U.C. Davis provided a more affordable option for testing. (The test we used could not be applied to outside animals without having virtually the whole pedigree available for testing, and the pedigree had to be parentage verified for accuracy of the polled test.  Because of this, our herds were the also the first parentage verified Dexter herds in the United States.)

Hillview Red Wing was our absolute favorite bull calf produced in 2001-2003, so his polled genotype was just icing on the cake. He came from a fabulous dam, (now very well known; HV Saltaire Susie) and his sire’s dam and daughters had exceptional udders.  Although it has been over 15 years since we first introduced the polled trait to our herd (in heterozygous form,) we still occasionally use Red Wing on select cows, by artificial insemination.  We also found he was especially good for improving rear udder attachment, and recommended him for cows with udders that tipped forward and pointed at their front feet.  We have yet to see a “tippy” udder produced by Hillview Red Wing, even from cows with weak rear udder suspension.  Red Wing also added heel to his offspring, which was important for breeders struggling with lack of heel depth in their herds.  Finally, he had an excellent disposition.

Although we replaced Red Wing with a son of his, Belle Fourche Mr. Right, we felt Red Wing was an important part of the development of our herd. It is true, many breeders purchased Hillview Red Wing straws strictly because he was red and homozygous polled.  For the breed itself, it was fortunate he had so much to offer. Red Wing was, perhaps accidentally, improving feet, udders, hip angle, length of hip, and dispositions all over the country.  

Evelyn Anderson was very proud of this bull, and we always enjoyed seeing her disappear into the woods and come back with Red Wing on a halter and lead rope. We appreciated all the people who took time to send photos of Red Wing’s calves, grandcalves, and great-grandcalves, to Evelyn for her 100th birthday.

Hillview Red Wing

Hillview Red Wing

Red Wing's sire: Hillview Dynamo

Belle Fourche Scarlet - one of Red Wing's calves

RDoubleD Sheridan - one of Red Wing's calves