Part 2: Evaluating the Genealogy of Orison of Canela

Written by: Randall Arms

The following is a translation of a previous article due to the fact I was given a copy of the translation of Spanish to English received by English speaking followers of FB and it truly left a lot to be desired. Hopefully, duplicating the effort to provide this information more accurately, will be appreciated by some.

Evaluating Genealogy of Orison of Canela

Part 2

I hereby continue my commentary regarding the pedigree of Orison of Canela, where I emphasized the virtue of having three crosses to the great matriarch of Shat Acre, the impressive foundation cow Cinnamon. This cow was responsable for two daughters that accumulated four Cow/Calf National Championships in the prestigious NWSS in Denver, Colorado. Moreover, she also produced the excellent bull, Lance’s Lucky, whose life terminated prematurely due to a fatal accident. That being said, the influence he propagated in the Shat Acre fold has contributed to its national fame.

Initially, when Ray Shatney and Janet Steward decided to continue their father Carroll Shatney’s life long project, they did not realize what a treasure Shat Acre Cinnamon would turn out to be. However, when they decided to pound the pavements pursuing the show circuit, it did not take long for them to realize what an important impact this tremendous cow had on their breeding program. The question now becomes: Why was this cow capable of being such a prepotent breeder?

I think the response is found in various concentrations of bloodlines in her genealogy, and the fact is that none was more important than LC King’s Pride. Ironically, this bull that was recognized as one of best in his era, didn’t even belong to Carroll Shatney. Nevertheless, as Mr. Shatney’s reputation had long confirmed, he had the innate talent of quickly evaluating quality when he saw it. Thus, he reaffirmed the reputation that LC King’s Pride had obtained as being one of the best Scottish Highland bulls in North America. He was so convinced of this bull’s virtues, that he did something rarely implemented in the Shat Acre fold. Mr. Shatney proceeded to cross four of his best cows with this privileged bovine.

The result was an inconsequential number of progeny compared to the numbers produced by his own bulls, but the difference in quality of the offspring could be noted at a distance. In keeping the resulting bull calves that matured into Shat-Acre Billie (1971) and Shat-Acre Herman, this breeding farm took important initial steps to develop what would become a fold of national and international fame, not often seen in the breed. The daughters of these bulls, and thus grand daughters of LC King’s Pride, began to form the foundation of reproductive excellence that until then, had not been that well recognized outside its own state of Vermont.

The show circuit of livestock expositions was never of much interest to this progressive breeder that was completely convinced of the caliber his fold was producing. Carroll had no use for the opinions coming from unfamiliar judges that he was not assured had his innate sixth-sense for evaluating cattle. As a result, he only partook in local fairs in his state in order to cooperate with a spectacle that introduced a little know breed to the general public. It was not until his son and daughter-in-law, Ray and Janet, decided to start showing Shat Acre cattle nationwide, that the notable achievements of Carroll Shatney became vastly known.

So what role did LC King’s Pride play in the extraordinary results of this unique cow, Shatney-Acre Cinnamon? To start with she is the product of two individuals that are inbred to LC King’s Pride. Her sire, Shat-Acre Billie 89 has the following inbreeding:

1Sx3Dx4D to Billie (1971)

2Sx3Dx4Dx5D to LC King’s Pride

As if this was not enough, the dam of Cinnamon, Shat-Acre Beautina, contributed more of this valuable bloodline in having the following inbreeding:

2Sx4Sx3D to LC King’s Pride

In fact, if we analyze the seven generations behind Shat-Acre Cinnamon, we can find that along with the inbreeding stipulated above, there is also line-breeding that is reflected in the following manner:

3Sx4Sx5Sx6Sx3Dx4Dx5d to LC King’s Pride

With seven occurrences of a common ancestor in the family tree of this cow, we can begin to realize why she proved to be so dominant in transmitting excellence. But you‘ve yet to know “the rest story”, because the prepotency of LC King’s Pride is enhanced by a high degree of homozygocity in his genes, due to the fact he is the progeny of a son of the grand cow LS Loretta 2nd, named Loretta’s King, which was crossed with his own mother.

Yes, you’ve read this correctly. LC King’s Pride is a product of a mother-son cross. It’s important to realize this is no ordinary cross, as LS Loretta 2nd is the daughter of an imported bull, Iain Ruadh of New Hall, crossed with an elite cow, XX Loretta, whose prestigious name continued to be propagated in future generations.

This close inbreeding without a doubt increases the occurrence of like genes. Still, one must always take into account that it can unite excellent like genes, as well as inferior ones, and even abnormal ones in a small percentage of cases. Like in all crosses, the most common genes found are those that are the average of the breed and thus are associated with mediocre productivity. However, the higher the caliber of the individuals bred together, the more exceptional genes will be present and as a result, there is greater opportunity of a homozygocity of outstanding genes being present. These homozygous higher quality genes will stamp their exceptional qualities on the progeny in a more consistent manner.

The proven record of the Shat-Acre fold that was brilliantly commenced by the animal breeder par excellence, Carroll Shatney, indicates to me that LC King’s Pride was one of those fortunate products of inbreeding that united similar dominant genes of a higher echelon. By incorporating them into Shat Acre, they were projected into the future of a good breeding farm that already had been accumulating other desirable bloodlines as well.

Which are these other bloodlines and what role did they play in the lineage of the great cow, Shat-Acre Cinnamon, is what we will be discussing in writings to come. For now, let us understand that Orison of Canela has three important crosses of Shat-Acre Cinnamon. One is obtained from the excellent bull Lance’s Lucky (full brother to two national champion cows) and the other two are contributed by the National Champion, Shat Acre Cinnamon Swirl. This means that there are 21 places in the pedigree of Orison of Canela that correspond to LC King’s Pride and 42 spots that correspond to FS Loretta 2nd !!!

Note: the photos are of Shat Acre Cinnamon Úrsula, who is twice the great grandaughter of Shat-Acre Cinnamon.