by Geoff Minchin
If the staff at Landcorp had been more aware of the strict cull policy on red boers imposed by South African stud breeders then the red boer may never have been allowed to establish itself as a boer breed in its own right. When Landcorp went to Zimbabwe to get embryos the focus of their attention was angoras where they had obtained access to some animals from one of the top South African studs that were “almost stud quality”. While Landcorp have been reluctant to admit it those involved in the embryo work claim the boers were literally an after thought. “The breeders where we were taking the angora embryos had access to some boers which they claimed were purebred. Quite honestly we didn’t know for sure if they were purebred but they looked pretty good,” said Lance Morley one of the people hired to assist in the embryo work. As history now records it has been the boer that proved the huge moneyspinner for Landcorp earning millions of dollars over the space of only three
years. Landcorp boers began with a handful of imported embryos implanted into recipient does on Soames Island. After 60 days the recipients were transferred to the Keri Downs Quarantine Station under the care of farm manager Ron Cornelius. There were no red kids born until 1988, the second kidding at the station.
Looking back Ron’s wife and co-worker, Sue Cornelius, says they were not that surprised at finding reds because they had been told almost nothing about the breed standards. In that year two bucks were born, Brownie (544/88) another buck that was wethered due to inferior conformation and four does.
Although they did not begin deliberately breeding reds to reds Sue found that whenever Brownie went to a red doe nearly all the kids were red but if he went to a red and white doe they would be mainly normal colouring with just the odd animal having a large covering of red. It was the same with the red does, only when put to a red buck would they produce mainly red kids.
Sue said it was obvious that the red genes were not strong enough to overpower the red and white genes but were “hovering” in the background ready to come out. But she said they also quickly found out that not every red was able to throw red consistently and in fact Brownie was one of only about two lines that could repeat the performance. Just about every buck and a good number of the does that have been able to throw red colouring when bred “red to red” have come from the Brownie line. The exception was a red-headed, white buck called “Star” (not the same “Star” that went to Nebraska for a price rumoured to be in excess of $US50,000) but he would only throw red progeny to a doe line that goes back to A99.
On the dam side there was also a very narrow genetic base with most red progeny coming back to doe numbers 49/88 and 61/88 (1988 born). Since then one or two other doe lines have appeared which can produce similar results.
But right from the beginning the reds got no favours at Landcorp. There was no policy to breed reds as such in fact there was some argument by senior Landcorp personnel to avoid breeding red. Under this environment the reds had to be able to be in the top 10% or so of animals to avoid culling. Brownie was that sort of animal, recalls Sue. His performance statistics put him in the top half dozen animals and he was to peak at about 120kg, in spite of spending six weeks in plaster with a badly fractured foreleg when he was a yearling. He justified the decision by Ron and Sue to use him as a sire, not just for the red animals he left behind, but for some of the normal coloured animals he sired. It is also of interest to note that his full brother was the Old Man (536/88) one of the top sires imported into the US.
A look down Brownie’s progeny line makes interesting reading and includes:
* Booger (583/92) by Brownie from dam 49/88, the original red buck imported into the US by Norman Kohls in 1993. Booger died in 1997 after siring a number of champion meat goats.
* 533/93 from dam 61/88 another Brownie son sold for the top price of $US7500 at a special sale of red boers at Talpa, Texas in 1995 (eight of the 17 red boers sold at the sale were by Brownie).
* 55/93, a Brownie doe, sold for the top price of $US5000 at the same sale.
* Bush (his US name) bought by McMorries of Texas from Landcorp.
* Gideon another son (bred by Ron and Sue after leaving Landcorp) and sold to Rodney Robinson, Texas (Gideon’s sister also ended up in the US but is now dead).
Sue said that the boer was developed over many years in South Africa from a mixture of bloodlines including indigenous goats and genetics from the East, India and Spain. Included in these were nubian type animals with strong red, black and brown colouring.
While the South Africans have bred for red heads and white bodies for many generations those colour genetics remain and only need the right mix to come back out,” said Sue.
She said it was interesting to note that while defence against skin cancer, some of the commercial animals available can have variable degrees of pigment. “At least with the reds you can be pretty sure of the pigment whether it is a stud or commercial animal.”
But as Sue points out: “you can make good cases for both animals, but in the end it is what you the breeder want to see in your paddock.”
Sue said she and Ron had often been asked if they had a preference for red boers. “We don’t have an preference for all reds over white with red heads. We look at a goat, regardless of colour, to see if it is structurally sound and able to produce a viable agricultural product.”
Both going on 10 years Brownie and 49/88 are supposed to be retired but someone must have forgot to tell them. The two original reds spent some time together in the winter and in December last year 49/88 gave birth to a massive red buck kid.
While Ron and Sue say that it is nice having the original red genetics in case they have to go back to them, it is obvious that nostalgia and “softness” play a big part in the decision. Brownie can no longer chew properly and gets massive wads of compacted grass stuck in his cheeks, which he cannot swallow (looking like a kid with a huge gobstopper in each cheek). Every day or two Ron has to put his hand into this decaying mess to pull out the wads. I think that takes the special love of a man for his animals.
The South Africans say that there are no red boers in South Africa visiting overseas breeders have come back with photos of a large flock of does with a big red doe right in the middle. She said she was sure those does had only been kept because their performance was higher than the average of the other does.
One of the lastest surviving original red does at Landcorp with a “surprise” kid.
During their eight years as farm managers at Keri Downs Ron and Sue developed a soft spot for the reds largely due the interesting challenge that breeding coloured genetics presents, says Sue. They have since bought the original red sire and dams- Brownie, 49/88 and 61/88 (had to be put down last year)- that laid the foundation for the red boers which are now recognised as purebred under the New Zealand boer registration system.
The Cornelius’s have a flock of about 20 red does and four bucks including Brownie, a son Rajah, Magnum who has Brownie several generations back on the dam side, and Aussie a red buck resulting from the introduction of the Terraweena (Australian) boer genetics from white parents. The Terraweena buck was brought in to provide a desperately needed new genetic line to add to the very thin Landcorp line. Sue said they would not normally use a buck unless it had several generations of red breeding to ensure repeatability of type colour and temperament.
She said that in the original crosses of red to red the percentage of red progeny was variable in the range of 50-80% but now that they have red to red going back four or five generations they are finding the colour pass down is closer to 90%.
Ron and Sue breed red headed boers as well as all reds and like both. They say there are arguments for each type depending on where you are farming and what you are trying to do. Some breeders in the USA and Australia favour the reds because they will blend with the background and be less vulnerable to predators such as eagles and coyotes. Pigment is another area where the reds can have an advantage, especially in the area of commercial animals.
How to pick your red bloodlines?
Sue said she can only really talk for Landcorp red bloodlines but it is probably fair to say most reds whether they are in Australia, USA or New Zealand (now also Korea), come back to Landcorp lines.
She said the genes are recessive which means that you need to do your homework on the red bloodlines before purchasing.
If you don’t you could buy a buck (or doe) that is red but which can’t pass the red genes on, except on a random basis, even when bred to other reds.”
Sue, who maintained pedigree and mating records at Keri Downs for eight years, said that apart from the bucks described above, the doe lines to look for in pedigree papers were A99 and BL24. She said A99 was the superior line in both conformation and colour. There are also red lines from African Goat Flocks and Terraweena.
However, because many people have now bred up lines from indigenous local species such as Spanish goats in the USA it will soon be possible to find good red lines without any help from the above bloodlines.
“In the end though, if you want to buy something that will breed true you need to see proof that the last two or three generations have reliably thrown red,” she said.
Original article was seen here. -
http://www.caprine.co.nz/wa.asp?idWebPage=2310&idDetails=129
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