Angus folks & Genetic Condition Codes and Descriptors

[WalnutCrest]

<snip>

There are a couple of Angus bulls that are carriers of the Double Muscling gene that I'm still toying with the idea of using. Even the carrier animals seem to have increased muscle expression. But if I retained heifers by those sires, I'd either need to test them, or make certain that later bull selections were not DM carriers.

There are many different types of mutations in the myostatin area. Many of those increase the incidents of calving problems. A few do not.

The ones that do, do so because the phenotype starts expressing itself in utero.

The ones that don't wait until the calf is a couple of weeks old before expression.

If I were you, I'd be leery of bulls of the first type and have zero issue with bulls of the second.

 

[Ky hills]

I wouldn't buy or AI to a bull that was a known carrier for any of the severe recessive traits, but one like a red carrier wouldn't be much of an issue for me. I have been having my bull calves DNA tested if they are potential carriers, at present the only condition that some of mine could have are DD.
As far as I know all of the known codes are listed on the registration paper if they are carriers or potential carriers, I didn't realize that when I first started buying some purebreds, and feel certain it isn't something that all make customers aware of.
I have heard some breeders, minimize the seriousness of them, and even brag about how much a few of the carriers have sold for. Heard one time that a breeder had never had any issues with AM or NH in his registered herd but had a few in his commercial herd. That to me proves that it can be managed and worked around with registered cattle, but then it is more problematic for a commercial producer, in part due to popular genetics being heavily used. From what I understand a lot of the active cases are manifested in cows being open due to miscarriages. I believe that it is the responsibility of registered breeders to be upfront about explaining to their customers about the conditions and the status of the animals they are marketing if there are carriers and or potential carriers.

 

[SIMMGAL]

one sold Saturday with the DDC gene to a commercial cattlemen for $2,600. at this sale.
Myself, I wouldn't buy a bull with any known genetic conditions. I always ask myself WHY?

I lose respect for any "breeders" that sell known carriers as breeding stock as opposed to culling.
I understand they want to make money and let the buyer beware ect. But that doesn't mean I have to respect them.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Backbone Ranch]

The 'lethal' (and potentially lethal) conditions... sure, I'm avoiding them. AM/NH/CA/DD seem to be most widely distributed - and most commonly tested for - but the others are out there, often sliding along for generations, undetected - unless breeders are testing for them.

Coat color conditions, like Red or Wild-Type color... probably would merit minor consideration, if any, in my herd... though with a majority of my cows being red-carriers, a red-factor Angus bull would throw some red calves... but I've not backed away from usinga number of hetero-black Simmental and Shorthorn sires...

There are a couple of Angus bulls that are carriers of the Double Muscling gene that I'm still toying with the idea of using. Even the carrier animals seem to have increased muscle expression. But if I retained heifers by those sires, I'd either need to test them, or make certain that later bull selections were not DM carriers.

The Murray Grey breed is predominantly Angus. In our herd, we pay attention to the Alpha-mannosidosis and the double muscle gene. Our entire cow herd has been tested, so we know the individuals that are carrying each gene. We are currently working at culling out the A-manno gene, but we still have a few cows and heifers that are carrying the double muscle gene. All of these double muscle carriers go back to the same bull. The carriers of the double muscle gene have better muscle expression, especially in their back end. In our herd, any calf carrying the A-manno gene is put into our beef program, but we will still sell some of the double muscle carriers for breeding stock; we let the buyer know ahead of time if an individual carries the double muscle gene. Although we personally would not use a double muscle carrier as a herdsire in our own herd, one man that I know of actually prefers the double muscle carrier bulls because they will add more pounds to his calves. Both this cow and her 4 1/2 month old calf are carriers of the double muscle gene; they both have better than average muscling in their back end when compared to the rest of our herd.

 

[limftw]

I'll never forget buying heifers from Leachmans and then the next year all that business with DD hit the fan and it turned out 3/5 heifers were potential carriers. Sent DNA in on all of them and all tested negative but it was still more stress than i would like. Kinda made me wonder if they had a heads up on the situation and liquidated all replacements that were potential carriers.

 

[Oldtimer]

We don't sell anything that has a known genetic defect or is a possible carrier.. When they came out with OH I had some registered heifers I had kept to sell as replacements come back as possible carriers - and I tested them before I would sell them.. They all tested negative..

 

[WalnutCrest]

The 'lethal' (and potentially lethal) conditions... sure, I'm avoiding them. AM/NH/CA/DD seem to be most widely distributed - and most commonly tested for - but the others are out there, often sliding along for generations, undetected - unless breeders are testing for them.

Coat color conditions, like Red or Wild-Type color... probably would merit minor consideration, if any, in my herd... though with a majority of my cows being red-carriers, a red-factor Angus bull would throw some red calves... but I've not backed away from usinga number of hetero-black Simmental and Shorthorn sires...

There are a couple of Angus bulls that are carriers of the Double Muscling gene that I'm still toying with the idea of using. Even the carrier animals seem to have increased muscle expression. But if I retained heifers by those sires, I'd either need to test them, or make certain that later bull selections were not DM carriers.

The Murray Grey breed is predominantly Angus. In our herd, we pay attention to the Alpha-mannosidosis and the double muscle gene. Our entire cow herd has been tested, so we know the individuals that are carrying each gene. We are currently working at culling out the A-manno gene, but we still have a few cows and heifers that are carrying the double muscle gene. All of these double muscle carriers go back to the same bull. The carriers of the double muscle gene have better muscle expression, especially in their back end. In our herd, any calf carrying the A-manno gene is put into our beef program, but we will still sell some of the double muscle carriers for breeding stock; we let the buyer know ahead of time if an individual carries the double muscle gene. Although we personally would not use a double muscle carrier as a herdsire in our own herd, one man that I know of actually prefers the double muscle carrier bulls because they will add more pounds to his calves. Both this cow and her 4 1/2 month old calf are carriers of the double muscle gene; they both have better than average muscling in their back end when compared to the rest of our herd.

BBR -- There are many different mutations in the myostatin allele. Which one are you referring to? Not all are problems.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Walnutcrest- We have a handful of cows that are carrying a copy of the nt821 allele for myostatin.