Home - August 2006 News
RanchBoss Cortez - Colour Genetics: EE Aa nCr
We felt it was important to have Cortez's colour genetics in certificate form, for those interested in colour. We sent hair samples to the States for testing for three factors - Red/Black, Agouti and Cream.
Even though Cortez is a buckskin and we know he carries one cream gene and a bay gene, we had him tested for the Red Factor, Cream gene and also for the Agouti (bay) gene (the one that turns a black horse into a bay horse). We had results within 10 days.
The results are very pleasing for us. Cortez is homozygous black (EE), which means he will never produce a chestnut foal, no matter what the colour of the mare!
He is heterozygous for Agouti or, in simple terms, has one dominant agouti gene (Aa), which means he can turn a black foal into a bay foal if he passes it (A) on. If he passes the (a) on instead, that black foal will stay black.
We included the test for the cream gene so that we have the full detail on a certificate produced by Animal Genetics.
So in a nutshell, Cortez can produce only black, smokey black, bay or buckskin foals with black, chestnut and bay mares.
We are very, very happy with that combination of colour genetics.
Preparation for the Breeding Season
With the breeding season soon upon us, we decided we should have Cortez collected for testing in differing extenders for shipping chilled semen. The results were impressive.
Our wonderful Vet, at Equivet Australia, warned us that August was not an optimum time to be collecting for the testing of semen, as the stallion would not yet be producing as he would in, say, October and the results may be not so promising.
With the warnings well in mind, we went ahead anyway. Cortez collected well, and within moments we were looking at the little 'swimmers' ripping around on the slide under a microscope. The comment from the Vet was that there were at least 300 billion little wrigglers and that if she was doing AI with that dose, she would split it for three different mares. That was excellent news!! Then she extended it in three differing extenders and put it in the chiller for testing over the next 48 hours.
When we spoke with her to obtain the results, you could hear the smile in her voice. She was so pleased and impressed with this Stallion's breeding potential.
Cortez proved to be Champion of Champions in the chilled semen stakes. The decision was that he would chill well for at least 48 hours and all extenders suited him. All those important things like progressive motility and the live/dead count were all in the excellent category! Can't ask for any more than that.
We may turn out thoughts to collection for overseas if the cost is not too prohibitive. We have already had initial enquiries and an order for some doses if we go ahead and do it. This boy is a Wonder Horse to us!