Yet another possible genetic defect hits the Angus breed.

[legendrockranch]

Here is a link to yet another possible genetic defect the Angus breed is dealing with.

www.angus.org/pub/scn/SCN-Announcement-022217.pdf

I know this has nothing to do with Dexters, but in the cattle world genetic defects can pop up at any time.

Barb

[Cascade Meadows Farm - Kirk]

In the production of sperm, genes are copied billions of times each day in each bull. Genes get miscopied at a rate of 1 in every 10,000 copies to 1 in every 50,000 copies on average. If the gene provides for a necessary function, and the function is disabled due to the bad copy, then you have a problem.

The more numerous the breed, the more often they will encounter broken genes. But we can expect to encounter them occasionally in the future in Dexters too, just like we have encountered three different ones that we have found in Dexters so far (BD1, BD2, PHA).

With the advent of DNA testing, we can take two different approaches when we encounter these serious problem genes:

Option 1. Implement a 15 year plan to phase the problem genes out (giving breeders plenty of time to eliminate the gene, without impacting the gene pool)

Option 2. Live with the genes indefinitely, and say things like "it's no problem, just test the parents and don't breed two carriers together"

The problem with approach number 2 is that we will just keep accumulating more and more and more of these broken genes in our breed, and it will give our breed a black eye... The DNA testing labs love option 2, because it is an endless and ever-growing source of income for them.

Option 1 is ideal because it gives breeders a very generous amount of time to eliminate these serious problem genes, with only positive benefits to the gene pool.