There are several reasons a situation of mistaken parentage could happen. I can't speak to the cause in any of your situations, so
please don't anyone think I'm doing that. I don't even know all the breeders who are involved, so what I am about to say is not directed at anyone. And I am
absolutely not criticizing LaDena, Barb, Donna or anyone else who has had a case of mistaken parentage! This simply isn't the kind of thing any buyer would expect to happen--until it did.
I know I'm opening a can of worms here, but I'm going to go ahead and do it . . .
The only way to avoid this situation is to buy animals that are Sire and Dam Qualified and get the animals you breed Sire and Dam Qualified. How can this situation of mistaken identity arise?
1) Simple error or oversight: At this point parentage verification is not required in the ADCA for registration. Period. All it takes is for both parents to be pedigreed. (Bulls have to have to be genotyped, but all that really does is identify that bull with his particular DNA markers. It doesn't prove that the sire on his pedigree is really his sire, and it doesn't prove that the dam on his pedigree is really his dam. Cows don't even have to have their DNA on file.)
If you read the thread on the VGL article about parentage verification, you will see that mistakes can happen. They can be completely honest mistakes.
2) Naiveté or lack of understanding or lack of education or whatever you want to call it. Someone simply doesn't realize the mistakes that can happen. I've been in Dexters for almost 5 years and have just recently begun to be aware of what
can happen. (That's why I'm writing all this, hoping that someone who didn't realize the possible problems will learn about them and be able to avoid them.) This plays right into number 1.
3) The nature of bovines. Bulls jump fences, even from neighboring farms or ranches, and they can jump back again without anyone ever knowing. Even if you only have one bull, you can't be positive a totally strange bull didn't get in and breed one of your cows unless you have no other cattle anywhere around. Cows jump fences, too! Cows switch calves, too. We've had a case of that on this forum, but luckily the owner had DNA on file for the cows and could easily double-check that the calves were sorted out the right way.
4) The nature of AI. AI can fail to take or a cow can slip a calf. Then if you have a bull on your place, or even a bull calf you think is too young to do anything, see number 3. You may KNOW your cow is bred to an AI sire, but she and the bull aren't going to tell you otherwise.
Did I miss any others? Very possibly, because I'm thinking as I write.
Please feel free to chime in!
5) Dishonesty. Now we get down to actual dishonesty, but you can see it's low on the list. I personally (naïve as I am!) like to believe that most Dexter breeders are good, basically honest people. If you have gotten into trouble with an animal purchased from a dishonest breeder, I really don't know what you can do. I really don't know what even the ADCA can do because (sorry if I'm beginning to sound like a broken record)
parentage verification is totally voluntary. So it would be very hard to PROVE someone's dishonesty. I guess you could reasonably begin to question it, but read on a bit first.
Okay, so how does a situation become unresolvable? That's a bit harder to answer, but I'll throw out some thoughts (Can of Worms, Part II) . . .
1) Naiveté or lack of understanding. The breeder just doesn't get why it's a problem or that THEY are responsible for the problem and responsible to fix it. "After all, it's a Dexter, isn't it? It's registered, isn't it? Well, who cares who the actual parents were then?" Well, if you thought you were getting an animal with super beef qualities or fantastic udder lines, of course you care!
2) Embarrassment, shame, worry, etc. The breeder might hesitate to tackle the situation because they are embarrassed and are worried about what else might turn up if they turn over that rock. This is not an excuse, just an explanation for why they might hesitate to jump on the situation and fix it.
3) Inertia: discouragement, feeling overwhelmed, being unsure how to work things out. The very thought of sorting out this situation can be paralyzing. Having multiple generations going back without parentage verification (which obviously wasn't available years ago); having some animals deceased or sold on and unable to be genotyped; having multiple bulls and/or cows that need to be genotyped; being extremely busy with life and feeling this just isn't quite as important as calving, sick animals, daily chores, etc. This goes back to number 1.
4) Cost. The cost can be overwhelming, especially if there are numerous animals that need to be genotyped to solve a situation.
5) Stubbornness. "We shouldn't have to do parentage verification and nobody's going to make me do it!"
6) Failure to adhere to the ADCA code of ethics. I separate this from dishonesty simply because it's conceivable that a breeder thinks they are honestly representing their animal, but they fail to understand that when a parentage error is discovered and pointed out to them, that it is
absolutely incumbent upon them to do everything in their power to rectify it. This is where the Ethics Committee should get involved and point this out to them. A truly ethical breeder would rectify the situation or--IMHO--if that should prove impossible, refund the purchase price or agree with the buyer to adjust it. If a breeder were notified of a parentage error and failed within a reasonable time period (a month or two or three?) to start to rectify it, then I believe we would arrive at . . .
7) Dishonesty. That's the only thing I can think of that's left. Again, it's last on the list; I'd first want to look at the previous reasons to help me understand why a breeder wouldn't help me correct my animal's parentage. I'm not excusing--I'm trying to understand what's going on so hopefully I can figure a way to get somewhere.
Somewhere along the line, hopefully after you've tried understanding, patience, politeness, polite assertiveness, etc. . . . you might end up going to the ADCA leadership. It's disturbing to me to think that the ADCA could be made aware of a situation and either not do anything about it or be unable to do anything about it. If our breed association does not realize that the integrity of our breed is called into question by unresolved parentage situations, then I'm afraid we're in trouble.
PLEASE believe me, I'm NOT trying to be inflammatory. And despite my little worm picture, I really DON'T want to open a can of worms--merely some reflection and discussion. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and this is where my thoughts have ended up. I imagine that mostly the current way things are done works out pretty well. Until it doesn't. And then what do we do? This is the answer I came up with.
ETA: As a testimony to how I agonized over this, I started writing it when LaDena said she had one cow figured out, and you can see how long it took me to finally post it!
Please feel free to chime in!
