Prime Time? (hereford)

[NEFarmwife]

Had some company out to our place last night. Talking cattle, he said back in the 90s, he was very close to the Prime Time ordeal. Mentioned that Prime Time was HOT and there was a lot of money exchanged/sold on him. Forward 3 years and that operation lost everything because as the use of him exploded, so had defects and their entire herd had been a product of Prime time.

Noted that calves were born hairless and extremely heavy. I found this convo, interesting.

Wondering what other OOPS there have been with major consequences over the years? Aside from Epic.

 

[Lucky_P]

There was that Perfection (polled Hereford) bull, back in the 1980s, that was, like, 1/4 Red Holstein or Milking Shorthorn... but his mama was 'dead' when the question was raised and it came time to blood-type him... big legal battle over that deal.

Several bulls in the Angus breed, from back in the 80s - like Pine Drive Big Sky, Ken Caryl Mr. Angus, etc., that were reputed to have Holstein, Amerifax, or Chianina in them... but I'm pretty sure that DNA testing has debunked those rumors... but they still persist.

And, of course, GAR Precision 1680, whose widespread use spread AM(he inherited it from his MGS, IIRC) and NH(mutation arose in 1680) really made a mess in the Angus breed for much of the 2000s.

We had our very own Angus defect - Sodium Channel Neuropathy - that arose in a bull we purchase in 2007 and used for 8 years, mostly for cleanup behind AI... with him subsequently having a chance to breed a few daughters and granddaughters... producing defective calves that could not get up. Still have quite a few SCN-carrier descendents of that bull in the herd, and I'm sure that some of the cull cows/heifers we sold over the past 15 years or so have gone out to farms, but as commercial crossbred cattle, the likelihood that anyone will ever see this condition again is unlikely.

 

[W.B.]

Prime time had growth that everyone wanted. He also was very high birth weight and carried two defects that are currently testable for. The diluter defect was actually worse than the hairless because you couldn't use them on anything with a black hide. In those days there wasn't a dna test to find the non carriers so they all got dumped. The good ole days weren't always good as today's dna tests are a godsend to prevent the spread of said problems.

 

[W.B.]

Tex Prime Time had the growth that everyone wanted. He also was very high birth weight and carried two defects that are currently testable for. The diluter defect was actually worse than the hairless because you couldn't use them on anything with a black hide. In those days there wasn't a dna test to find the non carriers so they all got dumped. The good ole days weren't always good as today's dna tests are a godsend to prevent the spread of said problems.