Julian":3svanjcx said:MikeC":3svanjcx said:Aero":3svanjcx said:MikeC":3svanjcx said:Quality Cattle":3svanjcx said:What could be expected by breeding a son to the dam?
The only time I've had that mistake happen was a complete trainwreck.
details please.
Was holding a cow (a very good cow, I might add) and her calf in a trap close to the barn for some reason (don't exactly remember why). Anyway, her son (the year before) was in another trap next to her. One morning when I went to feed, her son was in the pen with her. I saw no signs of the cow cycling so I just got him out and made a note of it.
When the cow calved the following fall, she was early........ obviously bred to her son by my breeding date records.
The calf wasn't quite right, I could tell by looking at her. The older the calf got, the more pronounced her physical and mannerisms, such as - she had a very narrow nose and mouth, she always held her head down, abnormally long ears, she had a very curious trot when she moved, almost like a bouncing gait and was always thinner than the rest of the calves in the pasture. She little tiny feet and legs too.
One of my neighbors who helps me often referred to her as "retarded".
My helper - "Willie" referred to her as "Flicted" :lol:.
When the calf got about 6 months old and 400 lbs., much lighter than her contemporaries, I let her take a ride to the sale barn. She only brought about $60 because of her looks.
I would never breed a son to his dam. If you had seen this calf you wouldn't either.
Mike,
All that means is that there are some non-desirable genes in that particular cow. Inbreeding just brought them to the surface. Did you keep her son as a breeding bull after that? He did contribute 1/2 of the "retarded" calf's genetics.
Yes, I realize their were undesirable genes somewhere. But you COULD NOT look at either the cow or her son and know they were there. They were as perfect "Phenotypically" as any I have ever had.
No, I sold the bull (son) to a commercial breeder. The cow stayed around for several years afterwards, and gave me a total of 12 calves, some daughters are still here, which were all good stock except that one.
I forgot to mention earlier that the heifer I sold was dumb as a rock. She would run right into a fence as though it weren't there, get right back up, and do it again.