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Quality Assurance

December 2008

There are two matters we wish to mention.

First –

Unlike most studs, we have our bulls fertility tested before sale.  In the last year we’ve been told of several disasters which have involved loss of a year’s production.  Structurally sound bulls sold by some leading studs have turned out to be completely infertile.

To avoid this we "go the whole hog".  Not only is a complete structural assessment carried out, but semen is tested for motility.  It’s time consuming and expensive, but we believe it’s a "must"

Secondly –

. . . the matter of curly calf syndrome which has had much publicity in the past eight weeks.  It was first revealed by the American Angus Society shortly before we attended the Gardiner Angus Fall Sale in Kansas on 29 September, 2008.  It involves, apparently, a recessive gene which may lead to the birth, or still-birth, of calves with a particular spinal abnormality.  Those born alive rapidly die.

It appears plain that the problem may be traced back to the great American Sire—Precision 1680.  Bred by the Gardiner family, this sire has had a "huge effect" upon the Angus breed since 1992.  Perhaps his best-known son – and most used in Australia – was C A Future Direction, who in turn, has sired literally thousands of bulls and females registered in the US and Australia.

So good has been the Precision 1680/Future Direction line, that, in many instances, there will be found "1680 blood" on both sides of an animal’s pedigree.  And this is where a problem may develop.  If both the sire and dam of any particular calf, are carriers of the recessive gene, a CCS calf may eventuate.

We stress "may eventuate"!  The number of calves with this syndrome can be judged by considering the following.

Gardiners Angus Ranch, the breeder of Precision 1680, might be considered the epicenter of any problems arising from CCS.  After all, in all of their recent sales so far as we can see, 1680 has featured on one or other side of every sale animal’s pedigree.  And in a large number of cases there has been Precision 1680 on both sides of the pedigree.

Yet in a "Question and Answer" page on their web-site – see www gardinerangusranch.com – Mark Gardiner reveals that, since 1992, there have been 22,000 calves born at Gardiners, and only eleven suspicious still-births.  And of those, only six have involved Precision 1680 breeding.

It is believed that half of Precision 1680’s progeny are carriers of CCS, and in turn, each of those progeny will sire sons or daughters of which, only half will be carriers.  If a mating of two carriers was LIKELY to produce a CCS calf, then in our view there would be far more examples.

We might add that Dick Whale, who consults to Burnbend, and many other studs, has never encountered this syndrome in all of his work.  Yet Future Direction, in particular, and his progeny have been widely used throughout Australia .

It is important that we do not over-react to this issue. But we will await the results of further work being carried out by Angus Australia.

 

January 2010

As noted, the material to the left was written in December 2008.  Thirteen months later, we see no reason to change a word of it!  We have again checked with Mark Gardiner – there have been no more cases of ‘curly calf' in his herd or the many other breeding herds in the US which use Gardner breeding exclusively.  Yet, until September 2008, he had no reason to change his breeding practice which, as we have said, frequently involved using ‘1680 blood’ on both sides of a calf’s pedigree.  (It is not a practice which we usually followed but this is not the point).

Further, in Australia the number of known cases throughout the country is, as we understand it, less than twenty.  And C A Future Direction (a carrier) and his son Ardrossan Connection X15 (also a carrier) were, in a number of years, the most used AI sires in Australia.

The names have changed.  In Australia the condition known as ‘curly calf’ is now known as ‘arthrogryposis multiplex’ (AM).   Another condition allegedly caused by a recessive gene is known as ‘neuropathic hydrocephalus’ (NH).  Again, its incidence is extremely low – nobody that we have discussed the matter with has ever encountered it.

The Angus Society on its web-site – www.angusaustralia.com.au – lists the Estimated Breeding Values (ebvs) for all registered animals.  It now includes, in the ebvs, a statement on the status of any animal, whether it is a carrier, or has a percentage chance of being a carrier of either of these conditions.  When we sell a bull or female, those details are included in the information available to purchasers who will, of course, make their own judgment as to whether this issue may affect them.  In the light of the extraordinarily low number of cases, either at Gardiners or in Australia, we do not propose to take further action on this matter.