I know short legged cows and the bulldog gene are always being discussed,but I would like to enquire about the following:-
If i want to breed a short legged cow with a short legged bull,is it enough to check the bull for the bulldog gene,or do both cow and bull have to be tested?
I have 2 very beautiful cows who are short legged,but I have 5 which are long legged. I can't afford two bulls,so will have to make a decision soon which one to go for.
breeding a short bull with short legged cows
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Duncan MacIntyre
- Posts: 2372
- Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 12:38 am
- Location: Isle of Bute, Scotland, UK
To have the possibility of bulldog calves you must have BOTH parents carriers, and that chance is one in four. If you only have two short cows, then you may by chance breed short to short several times and not get bulldogs. Or you could also get nothing but bulldogs. At one stage I managed 4 bulldogs out of 3 females in less than a year. That was when I changed my policy and now have no carrier animals at all in my herd.
If you want to keep your short legged cows, which will almost certainly be carriers, and avoid bulldogs, use a non carrier bull. Your short legged cows will then produce 50% long (non carrier) and 50% short (carrier) calves, but no bulldogs, whilst your non carrier cows bred with the non carrier bull will only produce non carrier calves. To be certain of which bull to use you might be better to test them both. If they are obviously either long or short an experienced breeder may be able to tell virtually certainly, but if there is any doubt go for DNA testing.
Duncan
If you want to keep your short legged cows, which will almost certainly be carriers, and avoid bulldogs, use a non carrier bull. Your short legged cows will then produce 50% long (non carrier) and 50% short (carrier) calves, but no bulldogs, whilst your non carrier cows bred with the non carrier bull will only produce non carrier calves. To be certain of which bull to use you might be better to test them both. If they are obviously either long or short an experienced breeder may be able to tell virtually certainly, but if there is any doubt go for DNA testing.
Duncan
Duncan MacIntyre
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
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Rutherford
- Posts: 229
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:08 am
I cannot improve on Duncan’s excellent advice. I would just add that if you use a long leg bull on your two short leg cows you will have exactly the same proportion of short leg calves, but any bulldogs which would have arisen if you had used a short leg bull will be replaced by live long legs. You can’t lose out. If you want one bull for all your cows you should pick a long. If you can find a small non-carrier you may find he is giving you small non- carrier calves that you like.
Beryl (Woodmagic)
Beryl (Woodmagic)