Composite Registries continue to grow

[cbcr]

The Composite Registries continue to grow with new members and services.

Recently the American Lineback Dairy Cattle Registry signed an agreement to have the Composite Registries take care of processing their registrations, memberships, classifications and other data services.

With the Composite Dairy Cattle Registry, www.dairycattleregistry.com in the Bull Cross Referencing there are over 300 bulls listed.  Membership is in North America (USA and Canada) and International memberships from the United Kingdom and Finland.  Continued interest from other European and Foreign countries in joining or becoming an affiliate is gaining as well.

Working with members and other producers we have processed over 30,000 ID's.  Correct identification is important for having a better understanding of the genetic progress and ability of not only the herd but for individual animals as well.

The Composite Beef Cattle Registry www.compositebeef.com is seeing growth too.  We have began registering Black Charolais and the Black Charolais composite, the Equalizer, (Charolais x Angus).

Of concern to many owners is that if they are breeding or crossing animals, they want the breed documentation on the papers.  With many associations and registries, even if the cow is a registered Angus, they will only list her as a commercial Angus dam.  The whole reason and purpose of registering any animal is for the documented ancestry.  Without this important information, what good are the papers?

The use of genomics continues to grow with increased importance.  As a tool a breeder can use genomics to have a better understanding of his herd and aid with breeding goals and objectives.  With increased interest in grass fed animals, EPD's become of less importance.  This is where the use of the genomics can be utilized much better.

 

[sue]

Can a non member do searches for specific composites?

 

[cbcr]

Can a non member do searches for specific composites?

Sue,

Our database is not online at this time, but that is a project that we are working on and plan on it being ready in the next few months.

 

[aj]

This is very interesting stuff.

 

[librarian]

"The whole reason and purpose of registering any animal is for the documented ancestry.  Without this important information, what good are the papers?"

I'm excited to hear the online data base will soon be up. I've been waiting for searchable ancestry before registering my animals. I want to provided documented ancestry for customers, albeit the pedigrees are from different breeds. I'd like to see a registry where one can search the pedigree back at least 5 generations on both sides and eventually have the ability to search all the way back. Have you leaped the hurdle of enabling different breed registries to "talk" to each other and combine data into novel pedigrees?

 

[cbcr]

Doing the research for registrations we go back at least 5 generations (if information is available) and on some of the diary breeds especially we can go back 15 or more generations, to animals from back in the 30's and 40's.

Where we are different is we use the original registration number that was assigned to an animal.  We do not give the animals a new ID.  If an animal was an Angus, then we use the Angus number, Shorthorn, the Shorthorn number, etc.  We see all too often an animal, especially an Angus when they are used in another breed, have numerous ID numbers.

Our papers also document several cross reference pieces of information on an animal.  Registration numbers, RFID numbers, tattoos, eartag numbers and colors, bangs tag numbers, brand information and photos.  Our papers are also a 4 generation pedigree.

 

[RyanChandler]

I have to admit- I initially thought this composite registry was a bunch of foolery as I saw it potentially giving legitimacy to some not so legitimate 'breeds'/crosses.  Looking back, while I still dislike that aspect, I can absolutely see the value in a database where commercial producers can go and view documented individual performance and ancestry.  Are grade cattle of unknown origin eligible for registration in this database or is it only limited to crossbred cattle who's origins can be stated?

 

[cbcr]

Many have had misconceptions about the Composite Beef Cattle Registry since our beginning, but we are about to start our 4th year.  With the Composite Dairy Cattle Registry, because breeders of "non-traditional" breeds were being treated unfairly, ignored and ridiculed by other registries, they came to us.  Not only does this happen in the US, but we hear it from other countries as well as some registries (US, Canada and other countries) don't do proper research and provide registrations with incorrect and missing pedigree information and are trying to close their herd books in an attempt to stop further growth.

With our diary registry we represent many of the "Non-Traditional" breeds: Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde, Finnish Ayrshire, Red Dane, Swedish Red and White, Norwegian Red, and the Red European Dairy and North American Red Dairy ( which is a composite animal with any combination of the "Red" breeds and includes Canadian and US Ayrshire ).

What is really ironic, is that a couple of the traditional dairy breeds have in the past and still today use some of these "Non-Traditional" breeds in their breeds.  They have what could be called pedigrees of convenience, they give the animal a new ID number and breed code and conveniently do not list any of the ancestry on the animal.  Some of these breeds because of introducing other breeds have been placed on the Livestock Conservancy's priority list.

With the beef registry, just as in the beginning, we were seeing animals that failed to meet qualifications for other registries due to the breed percentage or in some cases the crosses or the herd books are closed.

While we are no different than many of the other registries, sometimes a founding animal can be an animal of unknown origin, but we do identify them.  We do not directly register that unknown animal but they are part of the reference. Sometimes the animals were from a registered herd but were sold with out papers or any information.

We have had owners that have gotten fed up with a breed association and quit registering animals.  They have kept their own records on all of the animals, but some are getting to the point that it is not as easy or they feel that it is safer in case something happens they can still get the records.  We have already had a member that lost a bunch of registration papers in a fire, and we have worked with a couple of others that lost records in fires and storms.  With animals that are not registered, when that information is lost it can never be retrieved.  Some computer programs may only retain 2 - 4 generation of information (this is especially true of many of the dairy programs).

If breeders are breeding and selling breeding stock, they need someway to provide documentation to the buyer of the ancestry, rather than just saying it is a SUPER SON out of SMITH DONOR 101 by SUPER BULL.  What does that tell anyone?

Everyone has there own goals, purpose and idea for registering their animals.  This holds true no matter what breed(s), crosses they have or what registry they use.