Isn't this going to be heartbreak?

[Dahdo]

"One first calf Dexter heifer, due mid September, bred to Angus. $1000
One first calf Dexter/Wagyu cross heifer with 5mo Dexter calf, exposed to Dexter Cross bull. $1500"

I saw this ad Craigslist yesterday. Is there something I am missing, or is this "first calf" Dexter heifer likely to need a c-section? I read that Angus calves are typically 70-94 lbs. It seems like the seller might know what is coming since they are selling one month before the calf is due. On the other hand, they are up front about the facts. Are they clueless? Am I clueless?

Here is the ad:

portland.craigslist.org/grg/grd/3188070589.html

I was so disgusted that I already emailed the seller with a few choice words. Do I need to eat them?

Dave

[laughingllama75]

I am not positive....but I myself would not have bred her to an angus. Not a first calf heifer. They may have picked a low-birthweight bull.....but you never know.

[kansasdexters]

Dave,

There are five, known, recessive genetic disorders found in Wagyu cattle in the United States. I would be very concerned about getting an untested animal that was a Wagyu cross bred with a Dexter. You could potentially end up with an animal that carried multiple, undesirable recessive genetic disorders. Here is a link to information on the known Wagyu genetic disorders: www.agprodx.com/pdfs/DisorderInfo.pdf

Wagyu breeders have to test for five potentially lethal genetic disorders!

Angus breeders don't have it much better, they have their own long list of potentially lethal genetic disorders:
www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=1341

A healthy, well built Dexter heifer that was ready to be bred (16 to 18+ months old) and was bred to an Angus bull will probably be okay. Her calf will be smaller than what a purebred Angus calf would be because the genetics of the dam influence the size of the calf just as much as the genetics of the sire. First calf heifers normally have smaller calves than mature cows do and they tend to go into labor sooner than the 283 days gestational average.

Crossbreeding experiments with Dexter cattle were done at Cambridge University in 1953 by Sir John Hammond to determine the maternal effect on calf size and development of the offspring. The largest of the British breeds, South Devon, was bred by artificial insemination to Dexter females and South Devon females. The smallest of the British breeds, Dexter, was bred by artificial insemination to South Devon females and Dexter females.

The resulting birth weights comparing the cross-breds with the purebreds were as follows:

Dexter x Dexter 49.0 lb
South Devon x Dexter 51.0 lb
Dexter x South Devon 70.0 lb
South Devon x South Devon 105.0 lb

In Sir Hammond's experiments, conducted in 1953:

For the South Devon breed, the average size bull was 2,464 lb, the average size cow was 1,032 lb, pure bred calf birth weights ranged from 65 lb to 142 lb, the average birth weight was 100 lb

For the Dexter breed, the average size bull was 978 lb, the average size cow was 535 lb, pure bred calf birth weights ranged from 32 lb to 70 lb, the average birth weight was 52 lb.


Patti

[Dahdo]

Patti,
The results from Hammond's experiments are interesting. His results appear to show that the size of the sire and dam were not equally important. The Devon x Dexter cross had an average weight of 52 lbs--only 3 lbs more than the Dexter x Dexter, but the Dexter x Devon cross had an average of 70 lbs--21 lbs greater than Dexter X Dexter. I don't know whether it was sire or dam (the table doesn't mention whether sire or dam breed is listed first), but doesn't it appear that either the Devon sires or dams were having a greater influence on birth weight in his Dexter crosses? It could have something to do with sample size I suppose, does the paper give how many calves the averages are based on? If the sires had less influence, I guess I would feel better about that Angus bull serving a Dexter heifer, but if you're not worried I'm not worried.

Also interesting to hear that Wagyu and Angus have even more genetic disorders to worry about than we do.

Dave

[kansasdexters]

Hi Dave,

The notation is Sire x Dam, so Dexter sire x South Devon dam resulted in a 70 lb calf
South Devon sire x Dexter dam resulted in a 51 lb calf

It was a small sample group, the four maiden South Devon heifers came from the Dartington Hall herd, Totnes, Devon; all were registered with the South Devon Society. Semen was obtained from a South Devon bull that was very closely related to the females. The four Dexter females came from the Animal Research Station, Cambridge, and semen was from a closely linebred Dexter bull also from the Research Station.

I was also surprised to see how many genetic disorders exist in Wagyu and Angus cattle. Somehow PHA and Chondrodysplasia don't seem like much to complain about now!

Patti