GENOMIC testing might be the great hope for dairy sire selection but it has thrown Jersey breeding programs around the world into chaos after findings that the dam of one of the breed’s most successful sires was not pure Jersey.
The bull in question is GANNON, one of the top US sires of the last few years and with its brothers and their increasing crop of sons now featured in Jersey bull proofs around the world.
Many of the top Jersey studs in the United States have also built families based on GANNON’s outstanding dam, Oomsdale Gordo Goldie Gratitude.
But recent genomic testing has shown this cow was in fact 22.3 per cent Holstein with the most likely source a red-carrier Holstein bull.
And that is the dilemma the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA) board will address when it meets in Clevland, Ohio, over the next couple of days (March 11-13).
The Australian Jersey Breed Society will consider its response to this issue when it meets mid next week, after the AJCA position has been finanlised.
BOS Trading manager Peter van Elzakker who markets GANNON in Australia said how the AJCA handles this issue will have enormous implication not just in the United States but in Australia and every country where this breed is found.
If, as seems likely, they decide GANNON and the others from this cow family are not full pedigree, then the decision will be how far back into the Appendix system they put those animals.
Most major US studs are believed to have family lines descended from this cow so the disruption to breeding programs, additional cost and lost income could be substantial.
BOS Trading and breeders in Australia and elsewhere who have invested with the hope of selling bulls and/or building new cow families also face the likelihood of significant financial loss.
Mr van Elzakker said just how this situation arose is not clear because the cow in question was DNA typed along with its dam and maternal grand dam in 2002 and showed no conflict with the AJCA recorded parentage.
Genomic evaluation for Jerseys was only introduced in 2009 and the obvious question now is the extent to which other cow families might also come into question.
Rohan Sprunt from Kaarmona Jerseys in northern Victoria said they were among the Australian breeders who took a position to secure genetic material from this US cow family.
“If it’s registration is cancelled then it will be money out the window,” he said.
In western Victoria Karen Couch from Riverside Jerseys said GANNON had not been included in their breeding programs and nor had they intended to.
But she said she had close links with the family who owned this cow and felt for them at this time.
“We don’t know what happened – it might have been something as simple as the wrong straw of semen pulled from the tank or a bull getting through a fence.”
She said commercial breeders should have no hesitation using these bulls that were from a cow family noted for its scale and production.
Rather than simply deregistering any animal linked to this cow, Mrs Couch wondered if genomic testing could in fact be put to advantage to simply record the percentage of off-type blood on their pedigree.
“That way they would remain on the register and potential buyers would see exactly what it was they were buying,” she said.
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