What is a "BREED"?

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MikeC

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What is a breed?

by Roy Wallace and Harlan Ritchie

Jul 1, 2006 12:00 PM


What is a breed? Is there really such a thing as a purebred?


Let's begin by defining what a breed is. The late Hilton Briggs, the quintessential authority on breeds and author of the book, "Modern Breeds of Livestock," defined a breed as: "a group of animals that, as a result of breeding and selection, have certain distinguishable characteristics."

Briggs goes on to define a purebred animal as "an individual both of whose parents are duly registered in a Registry Association."

It's interesting to note that Briggs says nothing about "breed purity" or "percentage of blood" in either definition. If one delves back into livestock history, it can be concluded that very few populations of so-called "purebred" cattle existed. Rather, nearly all breeds were developed by combining various strains of cattle within a region into a generally agreed-upon type.

British breeds


The Shorthorn breed was created by selecting the best of the native, short-horned cattle in northeast England and infusing them with a small amount of Galloway blood. The Hereford breed was developed by infusing the native cattle of Herfordshire in southwest England with Flemish cattle imported from the low countries in Europe.

Shorthorn blood is reported to have been introduced into the Angus breed at an early stage of its existence. And the Red Poll breed originated in the English countries of Norfolk and Suffolk where some Galloway and Devon breeding eventually found its way into the breed.

As near as can be determined, two British breeds appear to have remained free of outside blood — Galloway and West (Scotch) Highland.


Galloway originated in southwest Scotland's Galloway province. When the Romans first populated England, cattle roamed the region's forests. These indigenous cattle became the progenitors of the Galloway. Today, Galloway are recognized as the oldest breed of beef cattle in the British Isles.

The West (Scotch) Highland originated in the rough, mountainous region of western Scotland. It's known these cattle were bred for centuries in the West Highland region. Consequently, it is nearly as old as the Galloway breed.


Continental breeds


Meanwhile, the first Charolais cattle in the U.S. didn't come directly from its mother country of France, but via Mexico in the 1930s. These cattle were then crossed with other breeds in the U.S. The same is true of the first Charolais to be imported from France through Canada in 1966.

The Charolais breed as it exists today in the U.S. is largely the result of a grading-up process. Charolais bulls of French descent were used on British cows, primarily Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn.

In the late 1960s and early '70s, a wave of bulls from other Continental breeds were brought into Canada and used in the grading-up process on British breeds of cows. The new breeds included Simmental, Limousin, Maine-Anjou, Salers, Chianina, Piedmontese, Belgian Blue, Romagnola, Marchigiana, Tarentaise and Normande.

After 4-5 generations of upgrading, these new breed associations registered the animals as purebreds. Obviously, there would still be a small amount of genetic material remaining from the base British cows.

Some final notes


A final note regarding the purity of the Continental breeds is in order. By the end of World War II, Europe was in total chaos, and cattle ran loose in many regions. As a result, a significant amount of interbreeding occurred.

It's also important to note that during a period of type change in the late 1960s and early '70s from overly small, fat cattle to growthier, leaner types, there was some unethical infusion of Holstein and Brown Swiss blood into the Angus breed, as well as Simmental blood into the Hereford breed. In some instances, such cattle were detected via blood-typing and removed from the herd book. In other instances, they weren't.

During the 1970s, the American Shorthorn Association established an appendix program in which it opened its herd book to Milking Shorthorn, Irish Shorthorn, Australian Illawara Shorthorn and Maine-Anjou blood. This served to enhance the performance and carcass composition of the breed.

Finally, we come full circle and return to the initial question, "Is there really such a thing as a purebred? The likely answer is, It all depends upon how you define "purebred."

Harlan Ritchie is a Michigan State University distinguished professor of animal science. Roy Wallace is Select Sires' vice president of beef programs. Both were named among honorees selected for the "BEEF Top 40" published in September 2004.
 
I am finding it shocking to see ~official industry spokesmen like Harlon Ritchie publicly admitting that Angus breeders added Holstein and Brown Swiss and Hereford added Simmental blood. I think we all have KNOWN that that happened (maybe it was for the best I don't know); but I have seen breed defenders on this board categorically DENY that those things ever happened.
 
"What Goes Around Comes Around!" For those of us who have taken the time and effort to do the fascinating task of attempting to trace your Geneology back as far as you can, you suddenly come to the realization that with all of the Wars and invading of Nations by other Nations and the Rape and Pillaging that went (still 'goes') on - - we don't really have a clue who the heck we are! I know that I am my Father's Son because I look like him and my hands are almost exact duplicates of his! Strong EPD's!!!

DOC HARRIS
 
DOC HARRIS":2p54r76s said:
"What Goes Around Comes Around!" For those of us who have taken the time and effort to do the fascinating task of attempting to trace your Geneology back as far as you can, you suddenly come to the realization that with all of the Wars and invading of Nations by other Nations and the Rape and Pillaging that went (still 'goes') on - - we don't really have a clue who the heck we are! I know that I am my Father's Son because I look like him and my hands are almost exact duplicates of his! Strong EPD's!!!

DOC HARRIS

I was reading an article once that if you go back a few hundred years 50% of the world has common DNA. Go back a thousand years or more and we are all related.
 
Brandonm2":2zvwcw18 said:
I am finding it shocking to see ~official industry spokesmen like Harlon Ritchie publicly admitting that Angus breeders added Holstein and Brown Swiss and Hereford added Simmental blood. I think we all have KNOWN that that happened (maybe it was for the best I don't know); but I have seen breed defenders on this board categorically DENY that those things ever happened.

All my show steers were angus. The gentleman that I bought my calves from was full of honesty and integrity.
My dad had a good relationship with him for years because of this.
When the frame scores of show steers started up this man refused to insert different breeding into his animals and keep up with the trend, keeping his herd "Aberdeen" as they were called back then.
I also remember him breaking down and crying at his dispersal because of the low prices his cattle brought.
It was a sad day. Wonder what those frame 3 cows would be worth today had the breeding been left intact?
 
Silly me. I thought for once MikeC was going to give us some useful information. But I see it's actually just another Angus Bashing Thread. I should have know better. :roll:
 
FF":31pfebsd said:
Silly me. I thought for once MikeC was going to give us some useful information. But I see it's actually just another Angus Bashing Thread. I should have know better. :roll:

Silly you is right!
You keep forgetting that I have some angus cattle myself.
878 daughters to be exact.

The cows are not the ones to be bashed.

"CAB" is another story. ;-)

You must be harboring more "Guilt by Association" (pun intended) than I first thought to read angus bashing out of this thread. :lol:

Had I been showing hereford calves would this have been a hereford bashing thread? :roll:
 
MikeC":2xqna4l3 said:
Frankie":2xqna4l3 said:
Silly me. I thought for once MikeC was going to give us some useful information. But I see it's actually just another Angus Bashing Thread. I should have know better. :roll:

You keep forgetting that I have some angus cattle myself.
878 daughters to be exact.

The cows are not the ones to be bashed.

"CAB" is another story. ;-)

You must be harboring more "Guilt by Association" (pun intended) than I first thought to read angus bashing out of this thread. :lol:

Had I been showing hereford calves would this have been a hereford bashing thread? :roll:


Good post Mike. Glad to see someone admitting what has gone on and is still going on with some breeds.
 

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