Testing Clarabelle's Genetics

Clarabelle just turned 2/1/2 months old and she is growing nicely fueled by Rosie's milk.  There is a long list of things to be done with a young calf.  As shown HERE, we dehorned her.  As shown HERE, we began the process of breaking her so that she'll lead.  We sent off the paperwork and had her registered with the American Jersey Cattle Association.  At four months of age, well have her vaccinated against brucellosis.   In between all that we've treated her feet for footrot and given her two penicillin shots to control an infection in her head caused by her knocking the scab off from de-horning.  There's lots to do, I tell ya!

Today, we'll show you how we recently collected tail hair samples from her to send off to determine if she has A2/A2 genetics.  One of the things we're aiming for is to get our little herd to all A2/A2 genetics.  Daisy is A2/A2, Rosie is A1/A2 and Amy is A1/A2.  Clarabelle's dad was A2/A2, so there is a chance that Clarabelle will be A2/A2.  Do you remember Punnett Squares from biology class dealing with dominant and recessive genes?

So what are A1 and A2 genetics?  Well, milk is made up of mostly liquids and some solids.  Of the solids, there is a protein called beta-casein and there are several variants of this protein - A1 and A2. A1 is thought to be a mutation that occurred a long time ago.  This article, in the Health Effects section, discusses some studies done that showed that some of the peptides created during digestion of A1 beta casein proteins may cause negative effects in humans.  As a result, there is a growing market for A2/A2 dairy cows.

In order to determine the genetic makeup of you must send in a hair sample.  Who likes having their hair pulled out?  Certainly not Clarabelle, so we tied her up.

A Captive Calf

It is important that the switch of the tail where the sample is to be gathered must be clean and free from dirt or debris.  A dirty tail hair sample renders it unfit for DNA testing.  Tricia brushed off Clarabelle's tail.

Cleaning up the little girl's tail

Now it was time to take the sample, so I grabbed her tail.  She didn't like that much.

The sample must comprise about 20 hairs, and here's the tough thing: The roots of the hair must be attached.  Some of my samples from her tail had no roots attached, so I had to pull a lot more than 20. Although it takes longer, I figured out that you get a better quality sample by just pulling one or two at a time.  

Pulling a sample.  OUCH!

Once you get a good sample of tail hairs with the roots attached, you twist it a little and tape it on the form that you request from GeneSeek.  Information can be found AT THIS WEBSITE.

We just sent this off to the lab in Lincoln, Nebraska and look forward to the results. A2/A2 is what we're looking for.  We'll just have to wait and see...