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Our Red Program II

PureCountry

Well-known member
These are all paternal sisters from the group we bought in Saskatchewan in February. Deep red, deep-bodied, fleshy females that have adapted very well.

91N
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127N
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22P
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100P
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21M - Unrelated to the above cows, she's one of Rkaiser's best reds. The udders been sucked, making it look uneven. She's a dandy cow.
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Her black bull calf off of Navigator
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2 full sisters from our Saskatchewan purchases. 11 and 12 years old, exceptional cows. Unrelated to the above cows also.
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The full sisters again.
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The 12yr old sister with a great heifer calf who wouldn't pose for the camera.
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Nicky

Well-known member
Real nice looking cows on all three threads!! Glad your bought cows are doing well for you. We've not always had good luck with buying cows. Looks like you even have a little greenup.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
Thanks Nicky. This is the greenest fall I can ever remember for our area. We've had lots of rains through August, which is rare, and warm weather. We have nothing to complain about.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
The thought is certainly there RobertMac, just not sure if it's the best path for us to take. I have a hard time with making so many "perfectly planned matings" as linebreeding requires. I am a bit of a naturalist, and fan of Dr. Provenza, so I'm quite tempted to mobgraze the herd and kick out all the bulls on the same date. To let them do their thing is just moving one step closer to Nature's model, and the only thnig we'll really be influencing is calving date. But to prove which individuals are truly the most adapted to our forage resources, this sytem would prove the fertility and soundness of both cows AND bulls. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
"perfectly planned matings"...that's the one that produces a calf every time??? :wink: :)

The Lasaters multi-sire range breed, range calve, and range raise their cattle...just like commercial cattlemen. Only difference the herd has been closed for 70 years.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
So it's perhaps a slightly different definition of line breeding than some use. When I think line breeding, I think of Jim Lents' book where he describes carefully planned matings done by him and his father before him, and many others in the Hereford breed. If you're running 8 bulls with 250 cows, there are no planned matings. Yes it's a closed herd, but if you were to trace individuals in the herd, there are some linebred, and some that are arguably 'inbred'. It's all perception. If you believe the Lents theory that linebreeding is no more than 50% blood of an individual in the pedigree, and crossing that 50% line defines inbreeding, then a closed herd like Lasaters is certainly going to carry inbred critters. Do I believe that theory? Not necessarily. In nature, there are certainly times when some animals are inbred.

Have you ever heard of the Coastal Wolves of Western British Columbia? They are a small pack of wolves that live on islands mainly, and have been cut off from contact with other wolf sub-species for centuries. When scientists finally found some DNA samples(fecal and hair), they were excited to test them and find out how inbred the wolves had become over such time. They were amazed to find that these wolves had something like 14 sets of genomes(can't recall exactly right now), compared to more common wolves that have 4 or 5.

If you were to test Lasaters cattle, you may find the same is true, and the same maybe false for herds that intentionally strive for heterosis. Then again, I maybe wrong. :wink:
 
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