Wednesday 8 November 2023

New photos of the Watussi-influenced Auerrind cattle

 Here are some new photos of Watussi-influenced Auerrind cattle: 


© Yannick Weinand
These photos show the Watussi x Chianina cow. It is interesting to see its phenotype develop, as this combination bears a huge potential for future crossbreeds.
 
All the subsequent photos are © Claus Kropp
This is the (Sayaguesa x Hungarian Grey) x (Sayaguesa x Watussi). It looks great, it has a perfect aurochs colour and a very long snout, much of the Sayaguesa-appeal. 

This cow is the Chianina x (Sayaguesa x Watussi). Her morphology is very good, and her light but not diluted colour endorses the suspicion that Chianina has some degree of sexual dichromatism masked by the dilution alleles. Also the snout is very long. 

This is one of the Maremmana x Sayaguesa cows with the Sayaguesa x Chianina bull behind it. This combination bears good potential, Chianina and Sayaguesa bring the size, Maremmana horn length and a good winter coat. 

This young bull is (Watussi x Sayaguesa) x (Watussi x Chianina). It's great that this combination exists, it has the potential for tremendous horns and the colour is right as well. 

This is the (Sayaguesa x Grey) x (Sayaguesa x Watussi) bull, a combination which I think bears great potential. The horns seem to grow huge, especially considering that the bull is not even 3 years old (!). 

I have to say that I am very happy with how the Auerrind project is progressing. Those are great animals with a lot of potential for even better future crosses.


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9 comments:

  1. Yannick9 November 2023 at 10:54

    Thank you for sharing some contemporary material from the Auerrind project, Daniel!
    Given the projects relative dearth of public communication in recent years, I'm glad for every picture or morsel of information.

    The Chianina x Watussi cow I photographed (80 956) is not at all far removed from your 2016 predictive artwork, I think. So, good work on that:
    https://breedingback.blogspot.com/2016/07/news-from-auerrindprojekt-germany.html

    Considering the complications with Watussi individuals in the beginning (Ubutaha, Granny, Maua), it is nice to now be able to see the impact of the breed in the F2 generation. If I'm not mistaken almost all the Watussi influence in the project stems from Thando though, 80 956 (and her calves) being the only offspring of Dambia I am aware of.

    I was very happy to see an adult Doro now just as pretty as early shots of her as a calf seemed to promise. I didn't even recognize her when she was pictured with the rest of the Schwarzach breeding group, but mistook her for either Dulce or Divina, which for me raises the question where the "missing" Sayaguesa x Maremmana ended up.

    The picture of the young (Watussi x Sayaguesa) x (Watussi x Chianina) bull also is the first useful shot of his mother (85 892) I've seen, since she was a calf. Her being the only other Watussi-Chianina F1, it would be great to have a profile shot for better comparison to 80 956. It's nice to see, that Lola from the ABU got to play her role in the project after all.

    The last picture btw., unless I am profoundly mistaken, does not show one of the (S x W) x (S x CH) bulls 59 752 and 59 755, but Doro's full brother (59 751).

    Another animal with Watussi influence I would love to see a contemporary profile shot of, would be Darwin (S x CH) x (W x M). The last picture I've seen next to his grandfather Leo, made him look somewhat similar to Apollo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daniel Foidl10 November 2023 at 01:34

      Hi Yannick, you are right, that's the full brother of Doro, I should have checked the ear tag number, thanks for pointing that out, I'm going to correct it in the post

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    2. Anonymous15 November 2023 at 22:16

      Hello Daniel, are there maybe pictures and updates on the former tauros-heifers, the two pajunas and their offspring?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous9 November 2023 at 15:29

    Thanks you

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  3. Anonymous10 November 2023 at 09:34

    Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yannick14 November 2023 at 14:56

    Just for fun, a cute little video of Apollo from 2021: https://www.facebook.com/100054380266296/videos/299745931704008?__so__=permalink

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  5. Cadoola15 November 2023 at 08:06

    Radiant brilliance in your post! Insightful, well-articulated, and a pleasure to read. Thanks for sharing your valuable perspective.

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  6. Anonymous18 December 2023 at 07:28

    Hello Daniel
    It is noticeable how Alvarez passes on his straight and less curved horn shape to the next generation. What do you think of this? A good horn shape is a feature that is very complicated to breed out and is not so common. Isn't there a risk that this can hardly be corrected?

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    Replies
    1. Daniel Foidl19 December 2023 at 03:34

      Hard to say because the genetic background of horn curvature is unknown. If it is just one gene and the allele for straight horns is dominant it would be easy to breed out. If it is a lot of genes the story is much more complicated, and I think that horn curvature might be a polygenic trait. At this early stage of breeding it is very hard to say which direction the horn curvature of the project is going to go, but some of the Chianina cows of the project have the primigenius spiral.

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