In 1949, after ten years of breeding purebred cattle in
five dairy and two beef breeds, the CURTiSS Candy Company Farms introduced
their “Improved Stud Service”. (The
late Charles Palen joined this organization in 1952.) By 1965, they represented over half the
total growth of the entire AI industry, and were breeding over a million
cows annually.
The CURTiSS program joined
ABS as the only “private enterprise” studs, all others being regional and state
cooperatives often organized by University dairy extension. ABS advertised “Every Sire Proved Great”
on the basis of [mostly single herd] daughter vs dam evaluations for
production, and at that time generally ignored type or pedigree. CURTiSS focused on “Cow Families” and
promoted “balance” of production and type as the “Complete Cow”. Both ABS and most of the State
Cooperatives ridiculed CURTiSS as selling mostly young sires (the sons of their
most prominent breeding cows and herd sires).
They also ridiculed
planned mating (basic “pool” service was $7, but a “select” mating was $25,
where the dairyman pre-arranged to have the bull of his choice available for
his best cow) claiming that every bull in their programs was equally as good as
any other, just take what the inseminator had that day and be satisfied.
How CURTiSS and “the Complete Cow” concept changed
the industry
CURTiSS was the first AI stud
to have all its sires analyzed by the equally new Weeks’ Analysis (“aAa”
Breeding Guide) and to promote it to its customers as the way to make the best
use of well-bred AI sires.
Even after the CURTiSS
Candy Farms’ breeding herds were sold in 1954, the program grew by sourcing
bulls from prominent breeders (eg, Gray View, Skokie, Paclamar, Walkway,
Arlinda) who used “aAa”.
The “Complete Cow” concept
could be summarized this way:
(1) Select from bulls where deep pedigree maternal line
cows are mated to complementary sires.
(2) Use those bulls in your herd according to their best
application under “aAa” or self-taught mating.
(3) No matter how promising as young sires, CURTiSS only
kept as “proven” sires those whose type and production evaluations indicated
usefulness in some key area of selection.
(4) Breed ¾ of the herd to progeny “proven” sires, breed ¼
of the herd to the next young sires.
Sound familiar
today? The only difference between
CURTiSS and the most modern of AI systems today is in terminology [AI
stud “MOET” herds producing bulls]
[Genomic young sires for open sampling] –
But the one key difference
is CURTiSS never bought into “index ranking” of sires, as the only measure of
genetic “value”-- broad experience
taught CURTiSS guys there is no “perfect” bull.
How CURTiSS proved that traditional breeding and
science work better together
The two Holstein bulls
that did more to establish momentum for CURTiSS in their early, fresh semen
days (prior to 1960) were Curtiss Candy Invincible (born 1949)
and Pabst Sir Roburke Rag Apple (born 1947). Invincible was a CURTiSS
Farms young sire first available late in 1950, while Roburke
(sold as a calf from Pabst-Knutson Farm unit to Mooseheart Farms) was sold to
CURTiSS in 1953 after being proven.
The “magic cross” proved to be using one of these sires on the daughters
of the other, and by the late 1950s into the early 1960s, these two dominated
Holstein USA’s “Honor List” and were recognized as the leading sire of 100,000
pound cows (Roburke) and 200,000 pound cows (Invincible).
The components of selection and mating that made
this successful
Roburke was a leading production sire of his era, +870m +.02%
+29f , and earned a Gold Medal for also siring improved type +1.05. “aAa” called him SRS – today he would be
3-1-5 (Open + Dairy + Smooth) which basically means dairy capacity and
refinement of bone with width of body. Weight at maturity was 2400 pounds, scored
“Excellent”, most other AI studs sought his sons for their programs.
Invincible was a successful showring yearling and ended up +89m
+.05% +6f with basically breakeven type ratings +0.05. “aAa” called him RSR – today he would be
2-4-6 (Tall + Strong + Style) which basically means upstanding and growthy
with full chest, good bone and easy mobility. Weight 3000 pounds at maturity, the longest
bodied bull of his time, scored “Excellent” all his life.
Both bulls were the result
of judicious linebreeding, but each from a different bloodline
than the other.
Roburke was a double grandson of Wisconsin Admiral Burke
Lad who founded the “Burke” bloodline in Holsteins that was noted for
moderate size, early maturing cows with modern shapely udders. Today we have “Burke” influence through
descendants of Elevation and Bell.
Invincible had three close crosses to Dunloggin Woodmaster
and his dam and two grandams were the three most influential cows CURTiSS
bought at the Dunloggin dispersal in 1942.
“Dunloggin” cows were rarely fancy in the udder (but good udder texture)
but were the lifetime champions of their
era.
Thus-- when dairymen bred Roburkes to Invincible or
Invincibles to Roburke, they were making an “outcross” hybrid vigor mating
between two unrelated but individually linebred sires. They were also making a “balanced” mating
according to “aAa” concepts of physical compensation and adaptability. On the genetic selection level, you had a
competitive young age production sire crossed against a size and maturity
production sire. The result:
(1st) competitive production at any age, with (2nd) added
ability to remain competitive into old age.
Can we do this today?
We have much confusion
today over the difference between “linebreeding” and “inbreeding” and what must
be done to avoid “inbreeding depression”.
What the above teaches us is, first, a linebred bull can be an
asset to breeding; also, it teaches us that outcross combinations
of linebred bulls produce our best performing animals which the
histories of Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation (inbred Burke sire x
linebred Rag Apple dam) and his grandsires Wis Burke Ideal
(linebred Burke x Admiral outcross) and Osborndale Ivanhoe (linebred Rag
Apple x inbred Ormsby) should have informed us as well.
Use of the “aAa” Breeding
Guide (following Weeks’ Analysis of your cows) prevents inbreeding effects
as a result of guiding you away from matings involving similar genotypes. At the same time it focuses on the
qualities of the physical cow that in combination maximize production while
optimizing health.
Perhaps the best example
of a modern day linebred bull is the late Picston Shottle (EX) who is a double grandson of Hanoverhill
Starbuck who was linebred to Wis Burke Ideal and Osborndale Ivanhoe. The other influences in “Shottle” were breed
outcrosses, for example multiple crosses to Roybrook Telstar. His ability to produce hybrid vigor in the
modern population is reflected by his long life—16 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment