clarifying heterosis benefit to the individual calf

[pdubdo]

Came across a noble foundation article that seemed to say that an f1 dam+purebred sired calf will outperform a simple f1 calf from purebred dam & sire in terminal calf-specific categories (weaning weight, yearling weight, ADG, etc). Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[Son of Butch]

Came across a noble foundation article that seemed to say that an f1 dam+purebred sired calf will outperform a simple f1 calf from purebred dam & sire in terminal calf-specific categories (weaning weight, yearling weight, ADG, etc). Am I understanding this correctly?

yes
3 way cross vs 2 way cross, terminal production

 

[Aero]

Best plan I have is a 2 way maternal cross (closed herd, linebred, 2 different, genetically isolated breeds) then a terminal 3rd breed (any black bull...) and sell all the calves.

2/3 of added profitability will come from the heterosis in the F1 cow due to fertility and longevity improvements. Heterosis in the calf is a lot less because they don't stick around long enough to matter and heterosis mainly effects lowly heritable traits.

 

[Son of Butch]

2/3 of added profitability will come from the heterosis in the F1 cow due to fertility and longevity improvements.

After reading a study on tooth retention in purebred vs crossbred cows,
I contend much of the increased fertility and longevity is because F1s have the best teeth with the longest retention giving them a leg up in nutrition.

 

[Aero]

After reading a study on tooth retention in purebred vs crossbred cows,
I contend much of the increased fertility and longevity is because F1s have the best teeth with the longest retention giving them a leg up in nutrition.

I've not heard that but it would not surprise me. Why some thrive and others don't can come down to one trait that happens to fit the system slightly better than the other.
Kinda reminds of the article I read that showed a vast majority of professional baseball players' success is attributed to really good vision - not some superhuman baseball gene.

 

[Son of Butch]

Kinda reminds of the article I read that showed a vast majority of professional baseball players' success is attributed to really good vision - not some superhuman baseball gene.

Yes, most of the population is right hand-right eye dominant, but over 1/2 of major league baseball players have cross hand-eye dominance, lefties with dominant right eye or right handed with left eye dominant. Rarity of successful switch hitters correlates to the rarity of central ocular dominance. Vision is a key element in
hand eye coordination.

 

[Ebenezer]

What few ever discuss - the extra weight of a 2X or 3X cross also requires more groceries.

 

[chaded]

What few ever discuss - the extra weight of a 2X or 3X cross also requires more groceries.

So no free lunch as it's made out to be?

 

[greybeard]

Crossbreeding Systems for Small Herds of Beef Cattle | MU Extension

Crossbreeding in commercial beef cattle production improves efficiency through heterosis and breed complementation. | Bill Lamberson Professor, Animal Sciences Jordan Thomas Assistant Professor, Animal Sciences Figure 1. Crossbred cattle at the University of Missouri South Farm Beef Research and...

extension.missouri.edu

Crossbreeding in commercial beef cattle production improves efficiency through heterosis and breed complementation (Figure 1). Heterosis or hybrid vigor is an advantage in performance of crossbreds compared to the average performance of the parental breeds. Heterosis is particularly strong for traits that are lowly heritable such as conception rate, preweaning livability of calves and preweaning growth (Table 1).

Crossbred cows with crossbred calves can be expected to wean as much as 25 percent more pounds of calf per cow exposed than purebred cows with purebred calves of the same average breed makeup.

 

[Ebenezer]

So no free lunch as it's made out to be?

That's what I saw. More cows were open because the bigger calves demanded more milk. Grazing will not go as far. Replacements from the best cows have to be via another breeding group and another bull or keep big mongrels. Sort of a "pick your poison" deal.