Still concerned about “inbreeding” depression?

 

In the heyday of “Mogul” at Select Sires, his developer Charlie Will noted that this bull had 90 pedigree crosses to “Elevation”, Select Sires’ greatest bull of the 1960s and  1970s.   In a seven year life producing semen “Mogul” put out well over one million straws and has a legion of sons and grandsons in Genomic AI.

His most important son may prove to be “Delta” who similarly gave ST Genetics an opening into the purebred world.     At this point it appears his son “Lambda” will be his major claim to fame.    

If there is a focal weakness in this three-generation sire line, it may be “flinty bone hind legs”.    “Mogul” and “Lambda” both expired before their time due to failure of their rear end function.    As for “Delta” he is part of the Genomic trend toward straight legs and stiff pasterns, which has not helped cull rates to improve.

A growing body of evidence is suggesting that “inbreeding” depression is not the fault of having ancestors in common, so much as having a too-rigid breeding selection in favor of tall, narrow, straight-legged cows who are hard feeding and slow rebreeding.     “aAa” Breeding Guide is the more sure way to avoid inbreeding “effects” as the sires you use have more pedigree inbreeding.