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Cattle Genetic testing options for small starter herd

501 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 7 days ago by Gone Camping
ag94whoop
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AG
We have a small herd with 15 baldy cows and heifers and as I have no data on them prior to buying the originals, I am interested in getting genetic data to decide who to keep and who to cull and them what to buy to build the herd.
I just fiinshed attending the Beef Cattle Short Course with my daughter and it was definitely fire hose learning.
But given it was my first one, I learned a lot about a lot of things.

Being a novice, I rely on people teaching me and watching youtube etc to research what options and results look like but I havent seen a ton of videos on genetic testing options other than Ingenity and Zoetis Inherit tests and havent found any videos showing the results on the Ingenity tests.

As I said, we are a very small starter operation, to be fair this is sort of a second career for me and I am planning to spend 4-6 years to build a small business that I can eventually pass on. but I know i have a lot of learning and work to do, any help and guidance would be appreciated.

I am doing this in parallel with a small wildlife ranch business for MLD Wihitetail and some exotics.
B-1 83
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AG
Best genetic test I know is putting a good bull on them and see who does/doesn't wean a 600# calf
Being in TexAgs jail changes a man……..no, not really
KALALL
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AG
I don't know anything about genetic testing, or why you would in a small commercial operation, but I agree with the post above. You've already bought the cows and your bull is 50% of the genetics. Put a good bull on them and see what happens. If you have open heifers mixed in you need to get a low birth weight bull.
Animal Eight 84
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AG
Will be curious what genetic testing will reveal.

A good rule of thumb is turn a solo cup sideways.
That's the profile shape a good mama cow should have.
She should wean a good calf and breed back so that she calves annually with no help.

Also gentle temperament - no need to own snot-blowin crazy cows that will hurt you in the pens.
Just like picking a good hearted woman.
Gone Camping
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AG
Curious what you're wanting to test for. We raise Dexters and have specific things we test for (Chondro, PHA, A2/A2, Genotyping for lineage verification for registration, etc). A&M and UC Davis are the only ADCA approved testing labs and we use A&M of course.

Texas A&M University Animal Genetics Lab SVM, VIBS (979-845-6524)
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