Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Breeding / Calving Issues
New bull???
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Travlr" data-source="post: 1759738" data-attributes="member: 42463"><p>You understand that one of the attractions of crossbred cattle is in them having hybrid vigor, right? Within a breed the more diversity there is, the more vigor and resiliency there is in the breed. And if every animal you own shares ancestors, some close and others remote, but all from a diminishing gene pool, they are going to eventually lack diversity.</p><p></p><p></p><p>We once had over 150 different strains of wheat that were commercially raised in this country. Now there are three we commonly use. A limited genetic inventory selected for superior traits is more efficient... but also more susceptible to catastrophic disease. You've heard about the problems with oranges, haven't you? Growers are scrambling to find older genetic strains so they can cross them with the new strains that are now disease prone and the trees are dying.</p><p></p><p>We do bear some responsibility for our own selections and most if us don't have any formal training in researching bloodlines. We choose animals many times based on EPDs, visual characteristics, and/or popularity. As far as I have seen all genetic lines are completely mixed so there is only one genetic line overall in every breed. That could be done differently if the breed associations would limit availability of semen from distinct lines in a rotation or some other form of limited use. There are people with enough cattle of only one breed that they could close their herds to establish a distinct line. Of course there would still be people that wanted access regardless of how it affects long term productivity.</p><p></p><p>It's more complicated than the simple explanations I'm giving here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Travlr, post: 1759738, member: 42463"] You understand that one of the attractions of crossbred cattle is in them having hybrid vigor, right? Within a breed the more diversity there is, the more vigor and resiliency there is in the breed. And if every animal you own shares ancestors, some close and others remote, but all from a diminishing gene pool, they are going to eventually lack diversity. We once had over 150 different strains of wheat that were commercially raised in this country. Now there are three we commonly use. A limited genetic inventory selected for superior traits is more efficient... but also more susceptible to catastrophic disease. You've heard about the problems with oranges, haven't you? Growers are scrambling to find older genetic strains so they can cross them with the new strains that are now disease prone and the trees are dying. We do bear some responsibility for our own selections and most if us don't have any formal training in researching bloodlines. We choose animals many times based on EPDs, visual characteristics, and/or popularity. As far as I have seen all genetic lines are completely mixed so there is only one genetic line overall in every breed. That could be done differently if the breed associations would limit availability of semen from distinct lines in a rotation or some other form of limited use. There are people with enough cattle of only one breed that they could close their herds to establish a distinct line. Of course there would still be people that wanted access regardless of how it affects long term productivity. It's more complicated than the simple explanations I'm giving here. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Breeding / Calving Issues
New bull???
Top