Twinner Cattle Newsletter -- Winter '00-'01
Annual pre-sale gathering of twinner breeders, Wednesday January 31st
USDA-MARC will be holding their annual sale of twinner breeding stock on Thursday, February
1st. Last year we had a good turn-out Wednesday evening before the sale for a gathering of those
with an interest in twinning cattle. The back room at the Garden Cafe (Holiday Inn) in Hastings,
NE has been reserved again for a meeting place. We’ll start at 7 pm, though you can come earlier
to visit if you like (room will be open at 6:30 pm). Those who desire can order dinner (“dutch
treat”) off the cafe’s menu at 7:00 pm, and after we’ve had a chance to eat and visit there will be a
short program. I'll update you on the research work at the University of Wisconsin related to the
genetics of twinning. Hopefully someone from MARC will be able to visit with us about their
ongoing project as well -- I'm still working on lining someone up from MARC. The Garden Cafe
(at the Holiday Inn) is located at 2201 Osborne Drive in Hastings, NE. When you come in, just
ask the host or hostess for the “twinner cattle” group and they'll point you in the right direction.
MARC twinner cattle sale, Thursday, February 1st
If you haven't already gotten a sale flier and catalog request postcard, you can obtain a catalog
from MARC by sending a request to "MARC SALE CATALOG REQUEST, University of
Nebraska, RLHUSMARC, P.O. Box 166, Clay Center, NE 68933-0166". This year's sale will
include 18 twinner cows and 8 twinner bulls.
The North American Twinning Cattle Herdbook is under development. At this point three
breeders have registered 177 animals. There are 199 calving and 286 ovulation rate records from
the registered and related animals which will be used shortly in an initial genetic analysis.
Others are welcome to join in this Herdbook at any time. If interested, contact me at the
University of Wisconsin.
Alternative twinning genetics are under evaluation in work ongoing at the University of
Wisconsin. As mentioned at previous gatherings of the twinner group, we have been producing
a number of offspring from a Canadian cow ("Alberta", ~1/2 Simmental, 1/4 Red Angus, 1/4
Hereford) who had an exceptional reproductive record (three twin sets and one set of
quadruplets in her first four calvings). The first Alberta son was used in progeny test matings
this past fall, and three more sons will be used in progeny test matings this coming spring and
fall. We anticipate the birth of another eight Alberta offspring this April, so hopefully there will
be more sons to evaluate. Her first son was sired by the MARC-bred bull, Twin Mix (888521).
The next three sons are sired by a UW-bred son of the Swedish Friesian sire 839802, a sire used in
the foundation of the MARC herd. This 839802 son inherited the desirable alleles for ovulation
rate on chromosomes 7 and 19 based on our work at Wisconsin. Any sons born this April will be
sired by an Angus bull reputed to have genetics for high twinning rate. The first four Alberta
daughters are now about 15 months of age and are being evaluated to determine if Alberta's high
ovulation rate is heritable. The three Alberta sons born last spring are for sale and would be
available after semen collection in mid-May. Bear in mind that until progeny data on ovulation
rate is obtained we won't have a good idea about their genetic merit for twinning rate.
Marketplace:
I'm re-running this information on sires from whom semen is available. If you have a sire from
whom semen is available and you'd like to list it in the next newsletter, please contact me.
(continued on back)
Semen from twinner bulls:
USDA ID#888521, 48.2 twinning rate EBV (USDA), Owner: Daren Cyphers. Contact Hoffman
A.I. Breeders, 801 - 753 - 7883 or ABS Global Inc, 1 - 800 - ABS - STUD
USDA ID#949673, 47.2 twinning rate EBV (USDA). Owner: Daren Cyphers. Contact Hoffman
A.I. Breeders, 801 - 753 - 7883.
USDA ID #918521, 51.4 twinning rate EBV (USDA), contact Sean Smith, 1211 240 th Avenue,
Thurman, IA 51654, 712-628-3005.
USDA ID#969381, 64.0 twinning rate EBV (USDA), contact Brian Kirkpatrick, 4917 Tocora Lane,
Madison, WI 53711.
That's all I have for now. I look forward to visiting with those that can attend the meeting on the
Wednesday, January 31st.
Brian Kirkpatrick
Professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1675 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-4323
608-262-5157 (fax)
kirkpat@calshp.cals.wisc.edu