On our home page….

We wanted to alert those who skip our Home Page and come direct to this blog that we’ve posted some pictures of our 688 line-bred calves there.

We’re not entirely convinced that breeding a sire (even one as good as Rotokawa 688) to his daughter is a good idea.  But in these matters, at least, we think it’s a good idea to try something for ourselves before making a decision.

So far, the results have been excellent.  Of the 10 embryos implanted, we got seven calves…two males and five females.  One of the bull calves died at about six months and, while we think it was the shock of a nearby lightning strike, we cannot rule out what is called a “fatal gene” which does show up in this kind of mating.

We would grade four of the five females good to excellent and, since recipient mothers are involved in this program, we’re not ready to rule out that the fifth will yet make up ground for what might have been poorer nutrition from its dam.  In any event, we have another year to decide on that and the next breeding decision.  Typically, these heifers would be mated with another close relative, an uncle or a brother.  That’s when it will become interesting.

What we are doing with this, of course, is concentrating the genetics; we trust,  good genetics.  But, if we are mistaken in our judgment, we could also be concentrating the genetics of traits we don’t want.