Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
At the lectures held this weekend, one of the participants asked Dr Larry Cundiff (MARC) "isn't black Simmentals mostly Angus?? He smiled and said, "Well there are a lot of black Simmentals out there because of the crossbreeding going on, since the beginning of the breed - up to a new resurgence of crossing the two breeds now. Actually, the Angus could have about as much influx of other genes as the Simm." :shock:
He explained that the Angus, being Homozygous black & Homozygous polled, could easily have "accidents" without anyone knowing the difference, and that there was a lot of that in the development stages of the breed. And, he felt that there were more than accidents happening.
He said that if the Simm were not a true breed, than all the research between Continentals & British wouldn't have as much differences, IF the Sm was more Angus influenced.
In research on Heterosis & Carcass - if the cow is 50% Cont & 50% British, that was the "ultimate" results. Once they were bred back to be 25% British & 75% Continental, you lost some of your heterosis & the carcasses became leaner with less marbing. And if they were 75% British & 25% Continental than you lost some heterosis & the carcasses had more YG4 with more marbling.
Another participant ask Dr John Pollak, Cornell "Aren't black Simmental just F1 cattle? He said, "no the majority of black Simmentals have a minimum of 92% Sm genes, although there are a lot of F1 registered Simmentals that are 1/2 bloods".
He explained that the Angus, being Homozygous black & Homozygous polled, could easily have "accidents" without anyone knowing the difference, and that there was a lot of that in the development stages of the breed. And, he felt that there were more than accidents happening.
He said that if the Simm were not a true breed, than all the research between Continentals & British wouldn't have as much differences, IF the Sm was more Angus influenced.
In research on Heterosis & Carcass - if the cow is 50% Cont & 50% British, that was the "ultimate" results. Once they were bred back to be 25% British & 75% Continental, you lost some of your heterosis & the carcasses became leaner with less marbing. And if they were 75% British & 25% Continental than you lost some heterosis & the carcasses had more YG4 with more marbling.
Another participant ask Dr John Pollak, Cornell "Aren't black Simmental just F1 cattle? He said, "no the majority of black Simmentals have a minimum of 92% Sm genes, although there are a lot of F1 registered Simmentals that are 1/2 bloods".
Weellll - the devil made me do it. I couldn't resist. It was great. There were probably 100 people in the audiance, and most of the questions - positive & negative were about Simmental. I figure we must be doing something right if they're talking about us. 
