Thoughts on Genetic Diversity

Every once in a while I read a letter or an article that inspires me to respond. John Forelle an NADA board member, ADCA member, and owner of Folly Farm in N.Y. recently traveled to England to take the Devon tour and was himself inspired to write an observational piece. John’s piece delights me. It brings several important topics to mind that I would like to address.

The first thing and maybe the most important is that I am glad to see John discover the international Devon community. There is a group of Devon loving brethren that started getting together over a century ago that loved Devon cattle and each others company so much that they organized the world Devon congress, a tour of the Devon herds within five countries; USA, England, New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.
 
In 1980 Devon breeders worldwide went to England for the first World Devon congress and toured the farms and the countryside sharing insights on Devon cattle and their unique attributes and styles. The most important thing they did on this trip however was to form friendships that have lasted over more than a quarter century. Growing up we had Brazilian teenagers come to stay with us and attend high school, we had workers from England and Brazil live on our farm and work Devon cattle beside us. We continue to enjoy each others friendship and even purchased a bull together with our Brazilian friends at the last World Devon Congress in Australia in 2008.       

World Devon Congress 1984 Effingham Farm, Virginia

The most wonderful thing about these trips is that Devon breeders can put politics and petty competition aside and enjoy Devons. Breeders learn from other breeders, share their thoughts, and gain perspective. I wish more of that happened here in the United States. It never fails to amaze me that when I attend meetings and shows few people take the time to go study the cattle. I do not mean the ones in the ring either. I mean the ones in pasture. Most shows and sales are relatively close to a Devon herd, or two, or three. Go visit. A lot can be learned from another man’s herd including blood lines to use, or sometimes more importantly, what genetics you should  avoid. One can learn the strengths and weaknesses of the genetics in this country only by visiting herds in this country.

This brings me to my second topic of discussion. John mentioned that the two main blood lines in this country are Rotokawa and Lakota. While this is tremendously flattering, there is certainly more to the U.S. Devon gene-pool. I think what John meant was that the bulls people are using over their herds have been mostly Lakota and Rotokawa genetics and we should not lose the good blood lines that we have by concentrating to many of our breeding efforts in one direction. Many people have focused on the Rotokawa lines and with good cause, they are tremendous cattle. Others have used Lakota blood lines, but understand that Lakota runs 5 different family lines and has just imported three more. We have done this because of the importance of a diverse genetic base and feel like this is why people have trusted our guidance and genetics for 50 years.

Many individuals who share John’s and my appreciation for genetic lines have worked to preserve the old American Devon lines. Last year, Mike Scannel and Joan Harris bought semen from the Lakota Buckeye P60 bull to breed to their now mature Buckeye cows. They had bred Rotokawa sires for many generations but wanted to preserve this line for diversity in their herd. They did this by breeding to a Buckeye line sire. Bill Walker in S.C. has focused his breeding efforts on the Noyl Boy line, one of Lakota’s lines going back to the Effingham herd. He purchased daughters from us and others and semen on the three top bulls in that line, Noyl Boy M78, Noyl Baron L67, and Lakota’s H48. This line can further be broken down to the Tomotley and Morse blood lines that dominated the breed in the 50’s and 60’s. Jacob Owens in Kentucky has used the Holbrook/Albion line almost exclusively and has as fine a set of cattle as anywhere. The Tranthams and Hickl’s have line bred the Guardsman line with a great deal of success, Andre Boenig has been cut off from the rest of us in Washington State breeding similar lines to the Brashears in Kansas, Their lines go back to the Alona herd of Washington state and the Burwood Mounty bull brought down from England through Canada in the 80’s.

I have surely upset many people by not mentioning their herds and blood lines, and there are many more that certainly deserve mention. I only looked to make examples. But what John points out is that as breeders you can breed cattle for production only by breeding the best performance bull to your best cow. Surely this will produce the best calf. If you choose to run a Devon stud however you need sample different bloodlines and import into your cow base the traits you desire. When you get the phenotype you want you can condense the genetics and in a sense create something all your own. This sounds great but be warned, you are traveling on potentially dangerous ground. More people fail at this than succeed. Why? When you condense the genetics you replicate bad genes as well as good ones. Genetic flaws are expressed in a dramatic fashion as happened recently in the angus breed with curly calf syndrome. The selection process becomes critical and culling must be done ruthlessly.

Do you want to breed Devons, or run a Devon stud?  Before a breeder undertakes the line creation/manipulation process, they should do several things.

First, they need to start looking at more cattle and the pedigrees that accompany them. In our herd, different maternal lines have different color ear tags; this is one way to compare groups of daughters and sons. When I visit a herd, I get to see how different genetics work together and see what works and what does not. This is done at no expense. This is the cheapest education I can get in this business. I mentioned several wonderful lines before; well guess what? They all have genetic issues. I have learned them from others and have been studying the bloodlines and noting reoccurring trends for a lifetime. It is an ongoing education that all breeders should undertake.

Second, you must have your herd established. Do not risk line development unless you have a solid base of cattle to breed and maintain while you manipulate the genetics of your cattle. If you are successful...great! Breed more in that direction. If you fail.. it is not a total disaster.

Lastly, a breeder should never get so focused on one type of cattle and lose the ability to appreciate the other styles of Devon.  It takes all the joy out of breed diversity. I invite you all to visit (please phone first) and I will show you the  different lines we are genetically engineering at Lakota. Do not come to buy, come to look, listen, and share. We will learn from each other.

John’s observational piece brings up the point that the Associations should work together to put standards in place to prevent the importation of impure genetics into the gene pool. It is the responsibility for all of us to go one step further; see and critically evaluate any bull that you are considering using and scrutinize his pedigree. Call the breeder, other breeders, or an association representative. Ask questions and get clarification. Do not breed blindly on the recommendations of others. Take responsibility and make the best decision based on performance information and not future predictions.

 

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