DOC HARRIS":245i6su4 said:Very close breeding (In-Breeding) such as this - brother sister - will exacerbate traits and characteristics exponentially, sometimes to a advantage for the breeder and sometimes to an impediment, opening a "Pandora's Box" of problems. Some of those problems and potential troubles appear in these pictures of these "cute" little "Ah-h-h-h Inspiring" results of "Horseplay" breeding. You mentioned the purpose was for "Horn Genetics", as if that would seem to be a justification for experimenting with Mendel's Laws of Inheritance - -HOWEVER - - if you will look carefully at the heifer's hock set and knees you will notice that she is abjectly cow hocked AND sickle-hocked, along with front splay-footedness carrying on to her 16 month's picture, which defect does not bode well for longevity or the production of desirable breeding progeny, whatever the genetic purpose may be at the outset! You are selecting for "HORN" to the detriment of most of the 'functional' characteristics which define a financially proficient member of the breeding herd.
In aggressively pursuing the homozygosity of "Horn" production to the detriment of Functional and Growth Characteristics, along with other multi-trait selection indexes, the dollar value and profit margin components are insignificant and have no relationship to engaging in a profitable enterprise.
Are we marketing "Cute" and/or "Horn" - or Tax Deduction?
DOC HARRIS
DOC, thank you for this post. There are many longhorn breeders out there breeding just like you said, for the homozygosity of "Horn" production, and they do not realize the detriment they are causing the rest of the animal and the breed. I have seen 4 or 5 year old "big-horned" females sell multiple times for "big" money, that have never had a calf....and the worst part, the owners dont even care. Plus, there are too many of them that would think they are supposed to be cow-hocked, because they are cows. Just don't know what they are looking at when they see a Longhorn, unless they are looking at a tape measure.
Thank you again for that post. I might referrence it some or quote some of it, of course that's if you do not mind.
Ryan