Arthrogryposis Multiplex (AM)

Formerly known as Curly Calf Syndrome (CCS)

On Sept. 18, 2008, the American Angus Association announced it had identified a recessive condition carried by some cattle currently called Arthrogryposis Multiplex (AM) and formerly known as Curly Calf Syndrome (CCS).  Of the dead calves that had been confirmed as CCS, 47 of 48 with known pedigrees had been identified as tracing back to GAR Precision 1680 on BOTH sides of the pedigree, which is a must for a recessive gene to be expressed.  Precision is a bull that the AAA estimates has about 400,000 registered progeny and over 40,000 of those trace back to Precision at least 2 times.  Who knows how many commercial progeny are out there, but it's undoubtedly more.

At Downey Ranch, we take our responsibility as your seedstock provider VERY seriously.  We would NEVER sell you ANYTHING that we're aware of as a problem.  Thus, until a test becomes available we don't know which if any of our Precision bred cattle carry this defect.  Some have Precision way back in their pedigrees, some are as recent as a grandsire.  Doing the simple math, we only expect about 10% of these pulled bulls to carry the defect, but at this time, we don't know which ones they are.  Therefore, we immediately made what we considered to be a very easy and the only correct decision;

DRI pulled all the bulls with any Precision bloodlines from the Nov. 7, 2008 Production Sale.

Just a few days before our sale, the AAA announced that several AI sires had been tested for the AM gene.  The 2 sires that affected our bull crop the most, GAR US Premium Beef and GAR Retail Product, both sons of Precision, were tested CLEAN for the AM gene.  Thus, those bulls are being made available private treaty.  We will have the listings up soon.  The AAA expects to have a commercially available genetic test for AM sometime in the spring.  Once that test is available, we will check the rest of the bulls and make only the clean ones available for sale private treaty.

Now, we'll seemingly back-track a bit.  We encourage you to read the articles below, but in the meantime, here's our straightforward explanation why we consider this to be a 100% MANAGEABLE problem that should not cause great alarm to our commercial customers.

  1. AM is a recessive gene.  That means for a calf to be born dead with this condition, he needs a copy from the bull AND from the cow.  So both your bull AND your cow would have to have Precision blood AND have received a copy of the gene (only 1/2 of the progeny of an affected animal will receive the gene).  That is not going to be the case for most herds unless you've deliberately line bred Precision.

  2. An animal with only one copy is perfectly normal.  They perform, breed, behave, etc. just like any other animal.

  3. You can avoid having ANY AM calves by using only 'clean' bulls.

    • For right now, I'd recommend you not buy any bulls with Precision bloodlines unless tested clean.  Because Precision was so widely used, he has MANY descendants in AI studs literally all over the world and which ones carry Precision is not going to be obvious to most folks unless they check pedigrees carefully.  Thus far, we've seen very few seedstock operations pulling Precision genetics from their sales, so if you're in doubt, ask your seedstock provider for that information on any bull purchases you're considering.  At DRI, we pulled those bulls for you; no research is required on your part.

    • After the advent of a test, buy only tested-free bulls.  We will of course test everything as soon as the test becomes available.  We will market only AM-free bloodlines in our sale.

  4. You may have AM genetics in your herd already.  Remember, the AAA estimates there are over 400,000 registered animals in it's database with Precision blood.  That means there's a lot of bulls out there possibly affected.  But even then, only 1/2 of Precision's progeny would receive a copy.  After a couple of generations, at only a 50% chance of transmission each time, you have only a 6.25% chance of getting the gene in your calves if you're using a Precision grandson.  Even then, your cow would have to have the gene too for you to get a AM calf.  So don't panic!  You may be using Precision bred bulls currently or may have used them in the past.  It is more probable than not when you consider the number of descendents, even if you have no direct sons.  However, unless you've had AM deformed calves,  then AM is not causing you any problems.  In other words, don't worry about if a single copy of the gene is present in some of your females.  Using the strategies I've listed above under #2, you'll never have AM problems.  If you currently run bulls with Precision genetics and have NOT had AM calves, I'd feel perfectly safe recommending you continue to use the bull(s).  Or take advantage of the currently high cull prices, sell the bull to be on the safe side and replace him with clean genetics.  Again, I'd stress here that knowledge is power and this situation is 100% manageable.

  5. This is not a problem anyone caused.  Genetic mutations happen in virtually all if not all animals (and people!) born everyday.  That's how change happens over the millennia.  Most mutations don't affect a thing and you never know about them.  Most mutations (and all lethal ones) are recessive and require that the individual carrying the gene run into another individual with the same gene for it to be expressed in the progeny.  Precision or one of his ancestors (this is being researched) got this mutation through the fault of no one.  It is only because Precision was such a TREMENDOUS sire of carcass genetics and thus was used heavily himself as have his progeny in AI and ET that we've had a chance for this recessive gene to be expressed.  You are probably using totally unrelated genetics right now that carry some bad recessive.  It's just that your herd will never have the chance to run into another copy of it.

  6. There has been NO coverup.  A few out in the cattle industry have been seeing conspiracy at every turn and have been pointing fingers at the AAA, breeders, veterinarians and any other boogeymen they can think of.  It has been only recently that this problem has come to light and been identified as genetic.  The AAA has moved very quickly and has been very open as has Gardiner Angus Ranch, an operation whose integrity we greatly admire.  Gardiner Angus, with over 27,000 calves born since 1991, have reported only 11 (0.04%) deformed calves.  They diligently submitted all 11 born over those 17 years for testing and were repeatedly told (and rightly so) that the problem could be viral, environmental or possibly genetic.  With less than 1 born per year out of over 2,000 born at GAR, that would not get anyone's attention.

Now, here's some more reading for you.

 

For all the most current AM information on the American Angus Association's website, click here.  I STRONGLY encourage you to read all of the documents on the AAA site.

And as always, call me at 785-556-8160 if you have questions or would like to visit further about CCS.

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