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Breeding / Calving Issues
A (seemingly) novel idea
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<blockquote data-quote="farmerjan" data-source="post: 1426345" data-attributes="member: 25884"><p>One thing I see with this, besides the obvious inbreeding and resulting offspring of too closely related animals, is that the heifers will be getting bred younger. Then there are calving issues which will weed out the ones that can't have the calf, through death. But, when you continually do this type of inbreeding, MANY times the later generations get smaller. The smaller heifers that do calve, have smaller calves and that is why they survived the calvings. They get bred younger, the resulting survivors have smaller calves....The genetics get more concentrated and then there are other problems with not only fertility, but deformities.</p><p> </p><p>Yes the bison did it. Rafter S and Jeanne are right. Neither were confined to a specific group or area. They roamed...over thousands of acres. They interacted with other herds of bison. The bulls fought and took over cows from other bulls. Younger bulls stole away with a few cows to form a new herd. Not only did the breeding take out some of the genetic defects, mother nature...NAMELY PREDATORS...took out the weak and genetically lessor animals. Whether it was wolves, cougars, bears or humans, they were still weeded out. The native Americans would try to take down animals near the edges of the herds so that they did not cause full fledged stampedes too. But through the constant moving and grazing, they were continually coming into contact with other herds and the genetics were never stagnant. </p><p> Even though there are many herds of feral horses that have certain traits, and genetic markers, the stallions fight and young studs form bands that roam large areas and sooner or later find a herd that the old stud can no longer defend and there is a new injection of vitality. There are a couple of herds that are known to have a disproportionate number of blind horses through a concentration of genetic defects. But again, they still have a large area to roam, and for new animals to infiltrate and add in new genetics.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 1426345, member: 25884"] One thing I see with this, besides the obvious inbreeding and resulting offspring of too closely related animals, is that the heifers will be getting bred younger. Then there are calving issues which will weed out the ones that can't have the calf, through death. But, when you continually do this type of inbreeding, MANY times the later generations get smaller. The smaller heifers that do calve, have smaller calves and that is why they survived the calvings. They get bred younger, the resulting survivors have smaller calves....The genetics get more concentrated and then there are other problems with not only fertility, but deformities. Yes the bison did it. Rafter S and Jeanne are right. Neither were confined to a specific group or area. They roamed...over thousands of acres. They interacted with other herds of bison. The bulls fought and took over cows from other bulls. Younger bulls stole away with a few cows to form a new herd. Not only did the breeding take out some of the genetic defects, mother nature...NAMELY PREDATORS...took out the weak and genetically lessor animals. Whether it was wolves, cougars, bears or humans, they were still weeded out. The native Americans would try to take down animals near the edges of the herds so that they did not cause full fledged stampedes too. But through the constant moving and grazing, they were continually coming into contact with other herds and the genetics were never stagnant. Even though there are many herds of feral horses that have certain traits, and genetic markers, the stallions fight and young studs form bands that roam large areas and sooner or later find a herd that the old stud can no longer defend and there is a new injection of vitality. There are a couple of herds that are known to have a disproportionate number of blind horses through a concentration of genetic defects. But again, they still have a large area to roam, and for new animals to infiltrate and add in new genetics. [/QUOTE]
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