Dwarfism in beef cattle: Diagnosis and control

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Abstract
Extract The hereditary disease known as dwarfism (bovine achondroplasia) has been recognized in several breeds of cattle for many years. These include the Dexter (Crew, 1923 Crewe, F. A. E. 1923. The significance of an achondroplasia-like condition met with in cattle. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. B., 95: 228–256. [Google Scholar] ), Shorthorn (Stonaker and Tom, 1944 Stonaker, H. H. and Tom, R. C. 1944. Compact Shorthorns. J. Hered., 35: 247–250. [Google Scholar] ; Baker et al, 1950 Baker, M. L. , Blunn, C. T. and Oloufa, M. 1950. Stumpy: A recessive achondroplasia in Shorthorn cattle. J. Hered., 41: 243–245. [Google Scholar] ), Jersey (Mead et al., 1946 Mead, S. W. , Gregory, P. W. and Regan, W. M. 1946. A recurrent mutation of dominant achondroplasia cattle. J. Hered., 37: 574–588. [Google Scholar] ), Friesian (Berger and Innes, 1948 Berger, J. and Innes, J. R. M. 1948. Bulldog calves (chondrodystrophy, achondroplasia) in a Friesian herd. Vet. Rec., 60: 57–58. [Google Scholar] ), Hereford (Johnson et al., 1950 Johnson, L. E. , Harshfield, G. S. and McCone, W. 1950. An hereditary defect in beef cattle. J.Hered., 41: 177–181. [Google Scholar] ), Aberdeen Angus (Baker et at, 1951 Baker, M. L. , Blunn, C. T. and Plum, M. 1951. Dwarfism in Aberdeen Angus cattle. J. Hered., 42: 141–143. [Google Scholar] ; Bovard and Priode, 1965 Bovard, K. P. and Priode, B. M. 1965. Snorter dwarfism in an Angus inbred line. J. Hered., 56: 243–246. [Google Scholar] ) and Florida native cattle (Dollahon et al., 1957 Dollahon, J. C , Koger, M. , Hentges, J. F. and Warnick, A. C. 1957. The expression of various forms of dwarfism in certain crosses and heterogeneous genetic background in beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 16: 1029–1029. [Google Scholar] ; Dollahon and Koger, 1960 Dollahon, J. C. and Koger, M. 1960. Inheritance of the Guinea trait in descendants of Florida native cattle. J. Hered., 51: 32–34. [Google Scholar] ). The dwarfs associated with these different breeds have been variously classified as long headed dwarfs, bull dogs, short headed dwarfs, compacts, comprests and various other achondroplastic forms. A careful study of these by Gregory et al., (1966) Gregory, P. W. , Tyler, W. S. and Julian, L. M. 1966. Bovine achondroplasia: The reconstitution of the Dexter components from non-Dexter stock. Growth, 30: 393–418. [Google Scholar] indicated that all achondroplastic mutants in cattle are probably inter-related and components of the same genetic complex. Confirmatory evidence of this has been reported previously by crossmating experiments between Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle (Chambers et al., 1954 Chambers, D. , Whatley, J. A. and Stephens, D. F. 1954. The inheritance of dwarfism in a comprest Hereford herd. J. Anim. Sci., 13: 956–956. [Google Scholar] ; Burris and Priode, 1956 Burris, M. J. and Priode, B. M. 1956. Crossbred dwarfs in beef cattle. J. Hered., 47: 245–248. [Google Scholar] ; Gregory and Carroll, 1956 Gregory, P. W. and Carroll, F. D. 1956. Evidence for the same dwarf gene in Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and certain other breeds of cattle. J. Hered., 47: 106–111. [Google Scholar] ).