Update on PHA twin and cow from this last spring

[Titangirl]

Last spring I posted on here pictures of our PHA experience having twins with a 30lb survivor we named Millie along with 210 brother who of course did not survive.  As you remember I was able to save the heifer calf and cow without doing a c-section.  Well I thought I would give you a update on mommy and baby.  Mom is fine just had a full work up and ultrasound and her uterus is perfect with no damage!  We are gonna breed her for a fall, as we purposefully held her over because as you could expect she went down hill pretty bad after the babies.  Millie is grown to be quiet spoiled and full of it and I do believe she thinks she's one of us!  My five year old nephew showed her at our county fair last week and won their class.  I posted pictures for you all to enjoy!

 

[justme]

They are darling...both kids and calf!  You are one of the few that had a happy ending to PHA.

 

[ROMAX]

So does that mean that calf is definately a PHA C ?

 

[knabe]

So does that mean that calf is definately a PHA C ?

no.  50% chance she's a carrier, 25% she's free, 25% affected.

 

[vcsf]

So does that mean that calf is definately a PHA C ?

no.  50% chance she's a carrier, 25% she's free, 25% affected.

Actually would it not have a 66.67% chance of being a carrier.  My reasoning is that this calf is definitely living and two thirds of the living calves will be carriers and and one third will be free the affected calves are all dead.

 

[Okotoks]

So does that mean that calf is definately a PHA C ?

no.  50% chance she's a carrier, 25% she's free, 25% affected.

Actually would it not have a 66.67% chance of being a carrier.  My reasoning is that this calf is definitely living and two thirds of the living calves will be carriers and and one third will be free the affected calves are all dead.

I believe there is a 50% chance she is a carrier and 25% chance she is free.(the other 25% option is gone since she lived!)
Unfortunately she also has a 90% chance of being a freemartin.

 

[coachmac]

no matter what she turns out being capable of ..... or tests with..... it looks like that nephew of yours was having a blast leading her around!  Congrats on introducing a young'in to the ring with a heifer that I am sure he was proud of!!!

 

[Titangirl]

Yes we know that more than likely she'll be a freemartin and won't be able to produce and if she is in the rare 10% that she is fertile than she'll be extremely dirty.  We don't know what we are going to do with her but more than likely she'll be here for the rest of her life, because when you fight so hard to keep one alive it's hard to just say off with her head.

 

[knabe]

this will come off hard, but it would teach a good economic lesson to get rid of her and teach them what lethal recessive genes are and that playing with fire has consequences.  no way should a carrier be mated to a carrier.  if you didn't know one or either was a carrier, that will be a lesson as well.  the earlier people learn lessons like this, the better.  kids deal with consequences pretty well after that initial cry.

 

[Titangirl]

We had no idea that she was bred to a carrier, we had her confirmed A.I. to Salute and at some point she slipped the calf and was rebred to our neighbors "Dirty" bull.  We had no idea and if you know me personally I would NEVER breed carrier to carrier.  So our lesson was learned when I discovered the problem at hand and delivered it by myself with the help of a clueless neighbor boy who was mortified when he saw what was coming out of this cow.  I consider myself pretty lucky to have only lost one and not three.  I don't need to learn a "good economic lesson".  As far as our lessons go his was breaking Millie (that's the calf) because he would watch his older brothers work their calves and Millie was his project so he wouldn't get left out.  He also had a Market lamb that he showed the night before and sold and believe me we got the initial cry on that one.

 

[Okotoks]

We had no idea that she was bred to a carrier, we had her confirmed A.I. to Salute and at some point she slipped the calf and was rebred to our neighbors "Dirty" bull.  We had no idea and if you know me personally I would NEVER breed carrier to carrier.  So our lesson was learned when I discovered the problem at hand and delivered it by myself with the help of a clueless neighbor boy who was mortified when he saw what was coming out of this cow.  I consider myself pretty lucky to have only lost one and not three.  I don't need to learn a "good economic lesson".  As far as our lessons go his was breaking Millie (that's the calf) because he would watch his older brothers work their calves and Millie was his project so he wouldn't get left out.  He also had a Market lamb that he showed the night before and sold and believe me we got the initial cry on that one.

I think the most important experience for little ones is that they have fun and enjoy showing. If they get stepped on, stomped on, drug around and have a bad time it's pretty easy for them to lose interest. By the looks of it Millie was a perfect fit to accomplish this as that is one happy looking kid. If he is around livestock he will learn all about life experiences sooner, not later!

 

[knabe]

so did you tell the bull owner?  and did they know?

 

[justme]

That little kid wouldn't understand the PHA stuff and an economic lesson...geesh sometimes its ok to have a heart!

 

[flacowman]

With a kid that age (looks to be 6-9 years to me?) I would at least keep her for him to show this year and if she is freemartin then she can hit the road.  I would definitely let them have their day in the sun though.  Market heifer possibly?  There are several shows in this area at least where they are sold, which might be a viable option and let the kid "buy" next year's calf from you or someone else with the money.  Do what you will, I'm just brainstorming.  (pop)  Good luck with her!!!  <rock>

 

[Titangirl]

The Bull owner had no clue and our cow calved before his was suppose to start, let's just say he slept with his cows all spring!  But he didn't have any thank goodness I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  Wyatt (that's my nephew's name) is keeping Millie for a Market Heifer project for next summer, she's his best friend and if she keeps his interest perked that's all that matters to me!  By the way he's a big 5 year old   Just to refresh everyone's memory I thought I'd re post the pictures from her birth of her and her brother!

 

[Okotoks]

I think it's great that some good came of this and Millie served a purpose.
But this is the future people if everyone keeps using carriers. Commercial people cannot justify testing for genetic defects so they will very rapidly figure it out that the best place to get their bulls is from herds that are clean and have done the testing to prove it. Meanwhile there will be a lot of innocent people hurt so do we need those winning steers at any cost! Just take another look at that calf that amazingly did not come out the side of the cow. It's bad enough that these genetic defects pop up but we have tests for most of them and can actually eliminate them if we try. Do you really want to be responsible for calves like that and the grief it will cause. There are good free bulls and we can breed better if we try.