3 Primary Breeding Principles:

Trait Observation, Intentional Pedigree, and Genetic Testing.

BY LAWERENCE G. RICHARDS, LIVING DIAMONDS RANCH

WHAT IS REGISTERED LIVESTOCK BREEDING … and by extension WHAT IS A REGISTERED LIVESTOCK BREEDER?

Well first and foremost Registered Livestock Breeding is Pedigree based Livestock Breeding and it is a Disciplined Activity.
I will elaborate using experiences learned at Living Diamonds Ranch following over 30 years of yak breeding with a multi-trait selection program.

I first recognized the importance of pedigrees when I sent several registered American Quarter Horses to a well established trainer. He required I provide their pedigrees as he stated that training was best accomplished knowing the grand Sires and grand Dams and beyond in the lineage. As behavioral traits carried through from the lineage, he would be prepared to adjust the training with this knowledge in hand. Yes, mindset and trainability transmitted through the pedigrees in horses, but also in yak and other species.

Examples of Trait Selection for Hoof Shape in Yak

Now, I will discuss something we discovered and implemented at Living Diamonds Ranch. The short upright hoof with straight sidewalls that does not require trimming (in most instances) especially important in the rear hooves. We refer to this as the LDR Signature short upright hoof. This was first brought into our breeding program by “SENIOR DIAMOND” aka. LDR DIAMOND II D248 and transmitted to his sons “JUNIOR DIAMOND” aka. LDR GOLD DIAMOND II G013 and “JACK” aka. J7 KOOSKIA PHIL and then from JUNIOR DIAMOND into LDR BLACKBERRY K074 and LDR WILDBERRY M068 and into their sons LDR DR.LOCK O086 and LDR ALASKA P018 respectively and on and on into their progeny that have excelled at the NWSS. Yes, it is highly heritable. I consulted early on with an elite Angus breeding group, and they concurred that hoof structure is highly heritable and extremely important in livestock breeding. What is the key for the pedigree based breeder here? OBSERVATION. You have to be able to observe phenotypic traits in order to select them, that is, breed for them.

Examples of Trait Selection for Leg Conformation in Yak

Moving on through other examples in pedigrees. When we first imported yaks from Canada many were sickle hocked and cow hocked. We began to select away from this distorted phenotype. As an example, the famous SBR DREADLOCK F199 bred by Dan Thee, was sickle hocked to a degree that did not fit LDR specifications. So, we bred SBR DREADLOCK F199 to BLACKBERRY and LDR ROYAL GOLD C027 producing LDR DR.LOCK O086 and LDR INFINITY L074 respectively. Producing 2 bulls with outstanding conformation (no sickle hock and no cow hock), while retaining many of the fine attributes of DREADLOCK including the Imperial coat. These sires then transmitted this outstanding conformation onto their progeny. One prestigious breeding ranch promulgated the theory that yaks needed to be cow hocked in order to brace themselves climbing uphill. The humorous corollary would be that going downhill they would snowplow like a novice snow skier! If you have ever seen a cow hocked yak trying to run across an ice pond and trying to get their feet under them, you would appreciate what I am communicating. Again, note how important observation of phenotype is for the livestock breeder. Further, minimal sickle hock and no cow hock will act in concert with the short upright hoof with straight sidewalls to nearly eliminate hoof trimming. At Living Diamonds Ranch, we will not use a bull without a hoof score of 100 with the possible exception of a 95% rating for a bull otherwise exceptional. A perfect example of a recent bull that never required hoof trimming is the BLACKBERRY son LDR ALASKAN POWERBALL A161 recently sold to Jefrey Star. In these examples, you can trace the hooves and the conformation transmitting through the pedigrees. Indeed, Registered livestock breeding is pedigree based.

Although, my first NWSS Presentation at the IYAK Annual Membership was mysteriously removed from the IYAK website, it can be found with my Second Genomic Research Presentation on my Yakzz webpages (linked above) and on the WHYC Science Page (linked here). In it I made the following statement:

"Parental Verification of Sire and Dam by DNA testing is the most powerful tool available to insure the accuracy or integrity of pedigree records and consequently their value in managing breeding programs”. Never let that principle be ignored!

Pedigree is the cornerstone of a breed registry, and verifying heritable contributions from parents is central to being an intentional breeder. Genetic testing can also verify calculations of kinship with the Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI). This can be more reliable than the historical paper-and-pencil methods traditionally used by breeders for known generations in the family group. Also, genetic kinship calculation has the advantage of addressing the relatedness of that animal within the entire current population, not just the family group. This is an important component of intentional breeding.

Problems with Multi-Sire Breeding Programs

How do Multi-Sire Breeding Programs apply in Registered Livestock Breeding Programs? Multi-Sire breeding programs are utilized by commercial breeders not in registered breeding programs. It allows large groups of females to be covered by multiple sires in a single large pasture. It is for the propagation of numbers, not quality, and takes the breeder out of the selection process. Breeding decisions are predicated upon hormones and pheromones not on intentional fine-tuned breeding decisions by the breeder, predicated upon pedigrees and phenotypes trying to produce the best possible offspring. In fact, “Hormones and Scents” could be a fine name for a Country Western love song, not the protocol of a respected registered livestock breeder. Multi-Sire Breeding groups present the additional problem of Parental Verification, for as the number of potential Sires increases the statistical reliability of the parental verification decreases, particularly in restricted gene pools.

Now some breeders running multiple-sire programs have replied “we are just hobby farmers”. Well why do you have 4 or 5 bulls in your breeding pasture? Sell the other bulls for meat and use the best one as a breeder. Remember Ted Turner famously said “we have to eat the bison to save them”, and the Livestock Conservancy offers similar advice for saving Heritage breeds. I submit that purchasing yaks from a highly established disciplined breeding program and submitting them to a multi-sire breeding program is disrespectful of that breeding program. It is also deleterious to the future of the yak in North America.

Benefits of Intentional Breeding

Now with the advent of Genomics there are additional tools, such as Coefficient of Inbreeding and Trait Identification for Coat Color and Fiber Type, that will aid the breeder in breeding decisions, and with many more traits and congenital disease markers to follow. However, many observable traits such as hoof structure and conformation require a multitude of genes acting in concert, and it is unlikely that genotypes for such complex constellations can be replacements for phenotypic observation. So, train your eye if you want to be a good livestock breeder. Indeed, important traits like hoof shape and leg conformation are not Identified by geneticists. Any visible traits are only validated and confirmed as heritable by geneticists. They are identified by breeders with a keen eye.
Many benefits of genetics are things which are less visible than hoof shape and coat color, such as Parental Verification. Also, we can now genetically test for Impurity occurring through hybridization with cattle, which was often previously hidden, except from the most experienced eyes. New genetic tests result in an allele count of Cattle Introgression (CI), so that we can identify and cull the hybrids from the seedstock breeding population.

As for discipline in a breeding program. I have a 40 acre ranch and it is impossible to run separate breeding pastures as the bulls will destroy any fence you can build to get to the other breeding groups. Again the power of “hormones and scents”. So I rent summer breeding pastures throughout the county. I trailer up to 30 yak cows and 4 or 5 breeding bulls to separate out of sight breeding pastures. Because the cows usually all have calves I transport them one cow with calf per compartment to protect the calves. With 3 trailer compartments you can see I am doing a lot of hauling. And in the fall I bring them all home the same way. This is what I mean by a disciplined breeding program.

These breeder's tools must be used together to create the most exceptional offspring:

1) trained trait observation,

2) intentional pedigreed breeding, and

3) genetic testing.

Has it paid off? Well, I suggest you can check the records of my nationwide placement of superior breeding and award winning stock.

I call upon the yak community to rededicate themselves to disciplined breeding programs with pedigrees insured by the highest quality genotype testing offered by GeneSeek, and support breed associations that protect pedigree and promote serious intentional breeders.

Lawrence G. Richards
Living Diamonds Ranch
World Heritage Yak Conservancy