librarian said:
About TH coming from Galloways:
I got this picture from an old thread
http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/the-big-show/some-herd-sires-from-the-past/30/
Is this the "old Deerpark Improver" that supposedly brought TH in? I am not arguing or anything, but
why is it commonly believed that he carries Galloway blood and that Galloway was the source of TH? Has DNA work been done on this Improver bull that shows Galloway genetics? He sure doesn't look like he has any Galloway in him. I understand that the Galloway had a lot of TH in the 60's and I have read some of Dr. Beever's work on the subject. But my understanding is that older Galloway breeders rarely indulged in extensive linebreeding, whereas Shorthorn breeders have always line bred, or increased the probability of concentrating recessives etc. I also understood that during WWII the purebred Shorthorns of Great Britain were sent into the countryside to remove them from "bomb alley" and there was a period of loose management. When the dust settled Calrossie seemed to be holding most of the surviving genetics and went to work linebreeding on top of line breeding to rebuild herds and export breeding stock. This is just my understanding, not necessarily accurate.
Anyway, how can anyone be certain that TH in Galloways didn't originally come from Shorthorns? Using a pure bred Shorthorn bull on Galloway cows seemed to be a far more common practice than the other way around. Seems like they would have been using cows that at least looked Shorthorn to do a "stealthy" cross with a Galloway infusion. Just something I have always wondered about in a peaceful, rhetorical, way.
When we were importing Irish Shorthorns in the early 70s from Ireland, I had several opportunities to visit with several Irish breeders at that time. In one of these conversations with Kevin Culhane, who was considered to be the key person to be involved in exports of the Irish strain of Shorthorns from Ireland. You basically had to have his approval before any purchase for export from Ireland, would be approved.
I asked Kevin Culhane where the Quane Bros, of Deerpark, had purchased the sire of Deerpark Improver? The sire of Improver was a bull named Clare Man, and he had no pedigree at all. Kevin Culhane told me that the Quane's had maintained a closed herd for many years but eventually decided that they maybe should introduce some outside genetics. ( keep in mind that none of the Deerpark herd at this time had any pedigrees of any kind). The Quanes saw a red bull calf selling at the local auction barn and they purchased him. This calf was Clare Man, the sire of Deerpark Improver. It is interesting that no other bloodline from the Quane herd has ever tested positive for TH unless Improver is found in the pedigree of the animal, so it is " assumed" that TH was introduced to this herd, and to the entire Shorthorn breed, through this bull. I also find it interesting that I have never found another animal from the Irish strain that was sired by Clare Man. I have no idea why Improver would have been the only calf from him.
When TH was identified in Shorthorns, Dr. John Beever was the key researcher who traced this defect and found the test for identifying it. In a conversation I had with Dr Beever at this time, he commented to me that he found it very unusual that the TH defect in Shorthorns was 100% identical to the TH defect that had been identified in the Galloway breed in the late 50s. He said it was possible that this could happen but the odds of an identical defect showing up in two separate breeds was very very rare. When I told Dr Beever about what I had been told about the sire of Improver, he immediately said that this was the first thing he had heard that made any sense, and that he was almost certain that Clare Man ( who was a red grade bull selling through the auction market) was probably part Galloway in his genetic make-up. To my knowledge this has never been proven, but it does make considerable sense to me. This story also provides some explanation to me if no one else, of where some of the hair has come from in some of the cattle from this genetic background.
I also saw Deerpark Improver several times while he was in the US. He was totally different in his phentype than any other Irish import I ever saw. He did not resemble the other Irish Shorthorns that were brought over, in very many ways other than his red color.
In 2010, I had the opportunity to have a great visit with Donald and Diana McGillvary in Scotland. They owned the famous Calrossie herd and were still living on the original farm but were raising commercial cattle then ( Mostly Piedmontese cross cows). The McGillvary's were both in their 80s when I visited them, but their memories were incredible. Even though they had dispersed their Shorthorn herd years before, they had kept up with many of the new bloodlines in the breed. At one point in our conversation, Donald said that there was several animals of " questionable " genetics in both the Shorthorn and Angus breeds in the 50s and early 60s in Scotland. He even made the point to mention these questionable genetics were also found in many of the polled Shorthorns at the time that were being developed. That brings us to Clipper King of USA being a TH carrier. His sire was Clipper King of Bapton who was bred and raised in Scotland in the 50s. I can remember hearing that Clipper King of Bapton had an incredible hair coat and that it appeared to be different from the hair coats of the horned side of the breed at the time. I have no proof, but it does make me wonder if a Galloway snuck in there somewhere as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that there were a number of Shorthorn breeders at this time in Scotland who also had Galloway herds on the same farm.
I guess the thing that makes me believe that TH was introduced to the Shorthorn breed via the Galloway breed, is the fact that there has only been one other bloodline that can be traced to Improver prior to Clipper King of USA being tested and found to be a TH carrier. If it was the other way around, and the Galloway breed got TH from Shorthorns, I would think there would have been other carrier lines found.
