Angus Genetic Condition Update

[3waycross]

BTW the Gelbvieh Assn. Released their position last week re. the more common genetic defects.

The only animals that will be required to be tested for all know defects are potential AI sires. Near as i can tell it will add approx $150 to the cost of certification.

Anything else is up to the individual.

 

[boondocks]

Any sense having the heifer tested for it now?[/quote]

Is the heifer a potential carrier because of her genetics ?
I would just wait and if you get a calf you want to keep for a replacement bull or heifer - then test it..[/quote]

Yes, heifer is a potential carrier, but it's a ways back in her pedigree--like many, to "Ken Caryl Mr Angus", AAA Reg. No. 8989216. So far as I can tell in a quick whiffle, no others in her line have come up DDC yet, just a string of DDP in one line carried thru from that bull. I have another cow that's DDP (also AMP, NHP) so I will probably just go ahead and test them both. The tests don't look too pricey (DD test looks like $22) and I'd rather just know, I guess.....

 

[robert]

Look for Stockmens resource center in IA to do the testing, they charge $20/test so you'll save a little dough! They're on the old inter web.

 

[boondocks]

Thanks Robert, will check that out!

 

[Till-Hill]

Robert,
What about the companies selling semen will they pull the semen on any possible carriers?

ARGHHHHHHHH. I just had a heifer AI'd today to Predestined. I'm feeling like an idiot.
She was AI'd 3 weeks ago (to a noncarrier), but went into heat today. The tech came out but had none of the prior semen, suggested Predestined, and we agreed. All I could remember in the heat of the moment was that it was a well-known name and the stats in the catalog (to my untrained eye) looked decent. It all happened so fast.

So, to answer your previous question: apparently the semen has not been pulled on known carriers. No wonder it was available and in the tank....

Any sense having the heifer tested for it now?

Select Sires came out almost immediately and said they would continue to sell carrier bulls, just another reason to not do business with them. There has been a great rush to minimize the potential impact of DD, and while the initial projections of high embryonic death and few affected calves is a little off base as there are some DD affected animals that show no outward signs of the defect, there seems to be an increased number of conditions associated with this defects expression. As for your heifer, see if she sticks, try and determine is the heifer has any potential to be a carrier, if she's registered then you can go to your AAA member login and check for potential carriers. Good luck!

Every major stud and well little ones too will continue to sell semen on DDC bulls. Any good cattlemen should be able to decide if using one of the DDC bulls is a good idea or not. If you went thru 3-4 generations and have used no carriers and a DDC bull fits the bill on a mating why not use him if he is "ELITE"? I will continue to use DDC, along with THC, PHC bulls as long as the mating calls for it with known pedigree's. It will take a few more thoughts around mating time but this is very easy to get around. I suggest everyone use clean bulls as clean up. Just my thoughts I guess but I wouldn't go hammering on a single stud as they are all going to keep selling them.

 

[boondocks]

I have a follow-up question for those versed in reviewing lineage at the AAA website. I'm trying to puzzle out how a carrier cow/bull can have both parents test free of a condition. (Mostly cause I'm a nerd).

For example, take a look at the records for "GAR Precision 1680", AAA# 11520398. He shows as a carrier for 2 defects, Arthrogryposis Multiplex ("AM") and Neuropathic Hydrocephalus ("NH"). (You can see on his chart the notation AMC and NHC, the C indicating carrier).

So, when then you click through to his sire, Tehama Bando 155 (AAA# 9891499), the sire comes up as free of both those defects: "AMF" and "NHF" (the F standing for free, natch).

I then click through to dam, the un-melodically named 9J9 GAR 856 (AAA# 10895323), and am surprised to learn she is supposedly utterly free of NH (although a "possible" carrier of AM).

It's been awhile since my genetics, but how is it possible for a bull who is a carrier for 2 defects to have both parents clear of one of them, and the other defect has one of them clear and the other parent a "possible"? What am I missing? (Spontaneous mutation?!) Thanks!

 

[Lucky_P]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

 

[3waycross]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

How else would he have got it if he didn't inherit it. By contact with an infected animal?

 

[Jake]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

How else would he have gor it if he didn't inherit it. By contact with an infected animal?

The theory is that it originated in him as a mutation.

 

[boondocks]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

Thanks Lucky. I assume that all known Angus who have had the NH defect or are carriers for it descend from that line, then (so far we can know anyway)?
As for the AM, I guess we can assume his dam actually was a carrier, and he lost the coin toss. http://www.angus.org/pub/AM/AMFactSheet.pdf

 

[JWBrahman]

I have a follow-up question for those versed in reviewing lineage at the AAA website. I'm trying to puzzle out how a carrier cow/bull can have both parents test free of a condition. (Mostly cause I'm a nerd).

For example, take a look at the records for "GAR Precision 1680", AAA# 11520398. He shows as a carrier for 2 defects, Arthrogryposis Multiplex ("AM") and Neuropathic Hydrocephalus ("NH"). (You can see on his chart the notation AMC and NHC, the C indicating carrier).

So, when then you click through to his sire, Tehama Bando 155 (AAA# 9891499), the sire comes up as free of both those defects: "AMF" and "NHF" (the F standing for free, natch).

I then click through to dam, the un-melodically named 9J9 GAR 856 (AAA# 10895323), and am surprised to learn she is supposedly utterly free of NH (although a "possible" carrier of AM).

It's been awhile since my genetics, but how is it possible for a bull who is a carrier for 2 defects to have both parents clear of one of them, and the other defect has one of them clear and the other parent a "possible"? What am I missing? (Spontaneous mutation?!) Thanks!

Genetic Drift

 

[animalsci2011]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

Thanks Lucky. I assume that all known Angus who have had the NH defect or are carriers for it descend from that line, then (so far we can know anyway)?
As for the AM, I guess we can assume his dam actually was a carrier, and he lost the coin toss. http://www.angus.org/pub/AM/AMFactSheet.pdf

Thank you for posting this. I hadn't seen where the AAA had started allowing carrier females to be registered again. I knew back a couple of years ago they tried to get rid of the gene entirely by not allowing animals(females) to be registered if they were carriers.

 

[animalsci2011]

boondock,
The NH defect originated in 1680. He didn't inherit it.

Lucky is correct and if you look back on his mothers pedigree you see Rito 9J9 who was a carrier of AM so his mother was a carrier even if she had never been tested.