Gene editing

[lakeportfarms]

www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/us/2015-11-27-us-animal-gene-editing.html

It soon looks like those of us with traditional Dexter lines won't have to resort to breeding in Angus or other polled genetics in order to have our own version of polled Dexters.

So Kirk, why are they going to all this trouble to gene edit their dairy cows when they could just bring in an Angus bull to do the job?   When we talk about the polled bringing in other traits to the Dexter breed you refuse to admit it happens.  THIS is the only way to do it, not crossbreeding.

[otf]

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!

[cascade]

Plant and animal breeders have been using an effective gene editing process for hundreds of years. That older process is VERY effective, but it is VERY slow and time consuming and costly. The old fashioned method takes five generations to accomplish, but in the hands of an expert breeder, the results can be stunning.

Some of those "Traditional" Dexters are an ugly mess that don't even meet the breed description, often riddled with lethal genes due to poor breeding and poor selection and years of random breeding decisions. Slapping a polled gene on them, won't fix their other problems. Using the old fashioned five generation method to bring in the highly desirable polled gene also allows master breeders the opportunity to fix those other problems and at the end of your five generations of effort, you can have some stunning animals that test pure and breed true to the breed description, and without lethal genes.

In the case of Dexters today, if you want to import the polled gene into your poorly conformed traditional herd, you don't have to start from scratch, and you can get good results in just 1 or 2 or 3 generations, while cleaning up other messes in your herd at the same time, by starting with an existing, highly conforming and tested pure polled Dexter bull.

There are now highly conforming polled tested-pure Dexter bulls that highly match the breed description, far better than many "traditional" Dexters.


PS. Of course, if you prefer horns, you can also use these five-generation processes to clean up your horned herd too.

[jamshundred]

Load of bull as usual. 

Long before Dexters caught the fancy of royals and the landed gentry they were valued by many Irish  as the family cow.  They were not valued for good conformation and cuteness.  They were valued for function.

The breed survived because of their breed characteristics.    Those characteristics are not expressed in conformation.   It is man who thinks that is important, more the pity, as those like you who think the exterior is important, are participating in breeding out the INTERIOR which defines the Dexter.  Mores the pity.

The reports of death and illness and difficult births and dead calves I see reported on Facebook are at a minimum 95% from upgraded bloodlines.  I attribute it to the loss of the breed characteristics we value that had to be carried on the chondro cattle since that was the basis of the breed.  Since you don't have any of those or close descendents of them, you are NOT breeding Dexters, you are breeding faux Dexters.  You may believe you are transforming  them through circumstances back to having the characteristics of the breed, but you have not the ability to survive the generations required to do so.

Judy

[lonecowhand]

I'll translate for cascade, I can speak Troll : "Tired of small Dexter cattle with horns, when you can easily breed them larger and less pointy?

Breed to our Bigger and Pointless Something Else!"

[cascade]

I actually agree with much of Judy's point. There are two general types of conformation and they can sometimes conflict with each other... Some heritage breeds have been ruined by selecting for show-traits for show competition, while ignoring essential practical traits of the heritage breed... Yes, those showy animals can win in the show-ring, but they can be problematic on the heritage homestead.

I've been looking for a good source for a particular heritage dual-purpose breed of chicken. That breed is famous for high rate of nearly year-round egg laying and fast rate of body growth for meat usage... But the show breeders have hurt the breed by focusing on winning ribbons while ignoring laying ability, and now the show-winning stock are terrible layers.

Dexters also run the risk of getting out of tune for their essential practical heritage breed traits. The ONLY way to keep those traits, is via ongoing selection for those essential traits, generation after generation.

What are Dexters' essential breed traits?..the traits that EVERY Dexter MUST have to be a Dexter?

1. Friendliness and un-intimidating
2. Compactness
3. Multi-purpose (excellent productive beef and dairy)
4. Super-easy calving
5. Hardy, efficient and trouble-free
6. Rugged and long-lived
7. Personable
8. Solid black, red, or dun, some white near udder (color helps as a breed identifier).

Dexters don't need perfect udders, but they do need to be good enough to be able raise 16+ calves and share milk with humans.... Dexters don't need perfect feet and legs, but they need to be good enough to last 18+ years of trouble-free productive life in rough terrain.

Five-generation pedigrees are very useful, but they don't guarantee that an animal will have these essential traits. Pedigrees beyond 5 generations are historically interesting, but mostly useless.

Horns are lovely to look at, but they can be intimidating for some people and that conflicts with the essential breed trait of being un-intimidating.

[jamshundred]

Kirk,

You are almost singing in the choir, but there ARE breed descriptors which are directly connected to the chondrodysplasia genetics, and they are both cute ( as in the heads and small size of the dwarf Dexters) and functional.  I have owned both dwarf and non-dwarf Dexter cattle for over two decades.  I have witnessed and experienced differences in traditional animals of both categories, but take away the dwarf descending genetics and I can tell you that you are doing nothing more than breeding miniaturized cattle, and that is NOT a Dexter.  You can rationalize all you wish with scientific mumbo-jumbo but over time there has been much of that disproven along the bump road of science.  You cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear!

Judy