Sunday 29 November 2020

Auerrind project update

Claus Kropp recently announced an update for the breeding plan for the Auerrind project on Facebook. 

The herd at Bielefeld on Felix Hohmeyer's farm will consist of Apollo the Watussi x Maremmana bull that will cover two purebred Sayaguesa and a purebred Pajuna cow. Another herd at Lorsch will consist of the Sayaguesa x Maremmana bull Benito which will cover two Sayaguesa x Chianina and one Chianina x Watussi cow. 
So that we can expect the following crosses for the next few years: 

Sayaguesa x (Watussi x Maremmana) 
Pajuna x (Watussi x Maremmana) 
(Sayaguesa x Maremmana) x (Sayaguesa x Chianina) 
(Sayaguesa x Maremmana) x (Chianina x Watussi) 

Apollo (Watussi x Maremmana) © Claus Kropp
Benito (Maremmana x Sayaguesa) © Claus Kropp

I am looking forward to these crosses very much. The Sayaguesa x (Watussi x Maremmana) and the (Sayaguesa x Maremmana) x (Chianina x Watussi) will be particularly interesting to me. In the latter combination, the chance is 1/3 that the recessive colour dilution found in Maremmana and Chianina will be visible, but colour is a comparably easy fix. Maybe the second generation will include the first animals that have both a spectacular body size and horn size at the same time. 


2 comments:

  1. Hi Daniel,

    Seeing that both Watussi and Maremmana are used in this project, could the zebu influence start to get to high?

    On another note, I was just reading an interesting article that claims that genetic diversity in Chinese Indicine cattle is much higher (2ce as diverse) than that of the Indicine cattle of the Indian subcontinent.
    The article implies that this may be evidence of a second domestication event of Indicine cattle in (Southern) China or nearby South East Asia. I must say the hump morphology of the Indicine Chinese yellow cattle looks different than the Zebus from India. The hump starts farther back and forms more of a ridge than a hump. The head and horns also look more natural, less derived.

    What's your opinion on this and with the genetic diversity could it be useful for a breeding back attempt of the (Indicine) Aurochs?

    https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/34309-where-is-the-chinese-yellow-cattle-from

    ReplyDelete