We've held over heifers in the past that were undoubtedly bred back to their sire. I don't recall any major problems - just interested in what other folks might have to say on the matter. I think the timing of seeing a return in this case might be better if I sell these three this fall and get a couple of replacements in the spring for the ones I have now that are showing signs of aging out.
If the bull is
not a carrier of a defective gene ( and if it is, he only has one copy, heterazygous for it. If he were homozygous for it, carried 2 copies of the gene, then he would have the defect) then he of course could not pass it to a daughter. (her mother may be a carrier though, which opens a whole nother can of worms). Bred back to that daughter, then there is no chance the non-existent gene is passed to his daughter-who-is-also-his-granddaughter. It is when the bull
is a carrier, that the chances of a defective calf increase when bred to his daughter. Most commercial breeders do not test their animals for defective genes, so it is like I said, Russian Roulette, when they inbreed.
It doesn't matter one way or the other, if the father-daughter calf is intended to be terminal or retained yet again...the gene is passed at conception. I guess the ones saying it doesn't matter as long as it is just a terminal cross, don't care about the next person to own it. Another negative to buying commercial, sale-barn heifers. And if the are
bred heifers, they may be father-daughter heifers that was bred
back to her sire-grandsire.
I have a contact for Brahma replacement heifers, that does retain some of his heifers for his own use from time to time., He maintains around 150 brood cows, that he uses to custom breed 1/2 Brahma replacements ` for folks. He keeps Brahma semen in his tanks, too. When one of those cows is about to age out, he will AI her to a Brahma sire. But it wont be to one that was
her sire, when
her momma aged out.
A guy that ropes with us keeps a commercial herd of about 50-60 cows...mostly angus, black baldies, and a few simm angus. He has 2 Angus bulls he that he uses...dividing the cows into two different pastures at breeding time. He does retain heifers sometimes, but he will breed them to the bull that was
not her sire.