ANOTHER (potential) GENETIC DEFECT in Shorthorn cattle

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DL

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Two days ago I went to check on a cow in labor and found a dead heifer calf - my immediate response was "bovine guilt" HOWEVER! as I opened the calves mouth I realized that she had a CLEFT PALATE but no other obvious abnormalities. Necropsy of the calf revealed HYDROCEPHALUS

Now I went back through my notes and discovered other breeders in other states has Shorthorn heifer calves with cleft palate and hydrocephalus - I believe we have 5 or 6 samples from affected calves as well as sire and dam - if you have a Shorthorn calf that is born dead check the mouth before you throw it into the dead pile - if it has a cleft palate get a full necropsy and save samples.

The first picture is the cleft palate - if you feel the roof of the mouth you notice that it is not smooth and continuous like it should be. The 2nd picture is the head of a calf with hydrocephalus - this hydrocephalus is obvious grossly (ie the head is misshapen) and the 3rd picture is a cross section of the head of a calf with cleft palate and hydrocephalus - you can see that inside the skull there is a big empty space and the brain is pushed down toward the neck because of the pressure from the extra fluid
 

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knabe

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Is this the same one where I got phone calls for that was in a paper from late 60's or 70's ?  If it is, cool. Another test to save bloodlines.
 

knabe

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Cut the BS said:
thinking... good time to disperse.

Save yourself a lot of grief and get rid of all your cattle.

Gonna be hard to find a spouse with those expectations.

Try PETA.
 

DL

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knabe said:
Is this the same one where I got phone calls for that was in a paper from late 60's or 70's ?  If it is, cool. Another test to save bloodlines.

I think it is different than that reported in those older papers - but waiting on the evaluation of the eye - those cases had retinal dysplasia and other eye defects - time will tell eh?
 

kfacres

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knabe said:
Cut the BS said:
thinking... good time to disperse.

Save yourself a lot of grief and get rid of all your cattle.

Gonna be hard to find a spouse with those expectations.

Try PETA.
Don't worry-- I'll just sucker some woman in- and then sue her to stay.. i hear the courts can make everything right- heck, who' needs a woman when you can just sue away at your profits and income..? 

don't worry- been with the same one for 5 years now. 

I'd sure like to file a law suit against someone... 
 

DL

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Cut the BS said:
don't worry- been with the same one for 5 years now. 

I think you better submit an ear notch before you start thinking about making little BS's
  ;)
 

GoWyo

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DL said:
Cut the BS said:
don't worry- been with the same one for 5 years now. 

I think you better submit an ear notch before you start thinking about making little BS's
  ;)

Ear notches on both of the BS's.  (clapping)
 

DL

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GoWyo said:
DL said:
Cut the BS said:
don't worry- been with the same one for 5 years now. 

I think you better submit an ear notch before you start thinking about making little BS's
  ;)

Ear notches on both of the BS's.   (clapping)

Great idea and maybe a BSE on the one  (clapping) (clapping) (clapping)
 

DL

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Yet another report of hydrocephalus in a Shorthorn calf tonight ........
 

sue

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I found this post valuable. we had a calf in 2007 born with what we thought was "hydro" . I called Dr Beever's office.  We bred the sire, grandsire and great sire so the last thing we would want is the base of our herd a problem.

Again I have resubmitted the same information.

 

sue

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knabe said:
With a test, you can screen offspring  and eliminate carrier to carrier breeding. 
Our calf did not look like the one posted. Normal in appearance.
.
 

DL

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knabe said:
Is this the same one where I got phone calls for that was in a paper from late 60's or 70's ?  If it is, cool. Another test to save bloodlines.

knabe - histopathology on the calf (the one with internal hydrocephalus) showed no evidence of retinal damage or abnormality - suggesting that this is a different combination of abnormalities than those reported in the 70s
 
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