librarian
Well-known member
I am relocating from upstate NY to NE Nebraska. I am wondering about taking animals with me, or acquiring locally adapted animals when I arrive. I do like the stuff I have, but want to be realistic. What I have is already paid for, which is important. This is only a handful of seedstock. I am keeping all the Shorthorns, but I have made several good Shorthorn crosses which I am wondering about taking or not. The crosses are 2 and 3 year olds.
The question is about epigenetics and the changes I might expect the brood cows to experience moving from a moist environment with lots of low protein watery grass to a dry environment with less grass of higher protein. (I think that is the situation, I can use a good explanation of the differences in grass types and the nutritional implications for gestating cows).
Any theories on timing would be appreciated. Overwinter bred animals or move animals in the Spring? Same with young stock.
I am just getting ready to put the bull out and expect to calve early summer on pasture. I am wondering how fetal programming actually works and if the fetus will be programmed for the environment of conception and early gestation and then be born into something different where the environmental triggers are altered and results will be compromised. Or do environment triggers just reach deeper into the total range of the expression for DNA, if the environment is challenging, and the new environment will act on a different portion of the total range of genetic potential within the animal?
I am just overthinking it because I like to understand and need help understanding.
My basic idea is to take very young stock and let them adapt. The few older animals that go will have to do the best they can and I can begin sorting for adaptability when the time comes.
So, I am asking for some natural selection and functional management information. It's grass and grass hay for diet. They have to make it on that to be in the program.
Also, in looking for land out there,:
The area breaks between what was once "Loess mixed-grass prairie on loess soils. The vegetation is rather dense, and the ground is not usually visible among the plants. The prairies are almost entirely converted to cropland in level areas and to rangeland in more dissected terrain."
and what was once " Upland tall-grass prairies: The original luxuriant, perennial, sod-forming and bunchgrasses on uplands in the eastern third of the state are now mostly eliminated by agrarian activities. Fragments of virgin prairie remain in areas too steep to plow, in odd corners unsuited for cropland, and in railroad rights-of-way. Forbs are numerous and conspicuous. Species diversity is maintained by occasional burning, which stimulates the native species but harms the aggressive, introduced ones such as musk thistle, Kentucky bluegrass, and smooth brome-grass."
How much difference will I see in grazing success between these land types?
The question is about epigenetics and the changes I might expect the brood cows to experience moving from a moist environment with lots of low protein watery grass to a dry environment with less grass of higher protein. (I think that is the situation, I can use a good explanation of the differences in grass types and the nutritional implications for gestating cows).
Any theories on timing would be appreciated. Overwinter bred animals or move animals in the Spring? Same with young stock.
I am just getting ready to put the bull out and expect to calve early summer on pasture. I am wondering how fetal programming actually works and if the fetus will be programmed for the environment of conception and early gestation and then be born into something different where the environmental triggers are altered and results will be compromised. Or do environment triggers just reach deeper into the total range of the expression for DNA, if the environment is challenging, and the new environment will act on a different portion of the total range of genetic potential within the animal?
I am just overthinking it because I like to understand and need help understanding.
My basic idea is to take very young stock and let them adapt. The few older animals that go will have to do the best they can and I can begin sorting for adaptability when the time comes.
So, I am asking for some natural selection and functional management information. It's grass and grass hay for diet. They have to make it on that to be in the program.
Also, in looking for land out there,:
The area breaks between what was once "Loess mixed-grass prairie on loess soils. The vegetation is rather dense, and the ground is not usually visible among the plants. The prairies are almost entirely converted to cropland in level areas and to rangeland in more dissected terrain."
and what was once " Upland tall-grass prairies: The original luxuriant, perennial, sod-forming and bunchgrasses on uplands in the eastern third of the state are now mostly eliminated by agrarian activities. Fragments of virgin prairie remain in areas too steep to plow, in odd corners unsuited for cropland, and in railroad rights-of-way. Forbs are numerous and conspicuous. Species diversity is maintained by occasional burning, which stimulates the native species but harms the aggressive, introduced ones such as musk thistle, Kentucky bluegrass, and smooth brome-grass."
How much difference will I see in grazing success between these land types?