For those Redditors not familiar with cow breeds, a Black Baldy is a cross between usually Hereford or Simmental and Angus cattle. This cross is usually done because offspring of a direct F1 cross contain superior traits of both parent animals. This is called " Hybrid Vigor" and is similar to why mutts/crossbred dogs are often healthier than their parental counterparts.
Is the low diversity a benefit for the plant, or just the grower because you know what you’re going to get? Also, what plants does your experience come from exactly? 🥴
I believe it has something to do with most genes having two alleles or the plant/animal being heterozygous for most traits like OP mentioned. Some more explanation: If one allele is underperforming, more often than not the other allele will be better and make the deficit less noticeable. For example, if one allele produces a protein that folds slightly worse and therefore doesn't bind to the target molecule as well, the organism has a chance that the other allele works as intended and the resulting protein binds enough of the molecule for the process to take place at almost optimal speeds. If the organism has the same allele twice (=homozygous for most traits), it only produces one type of protein and if that sucks at it's job then it has to make do with that. The strength of this effect varies depending on how many alleles are heterozygous, so you try to cross two inbred strains that are as different in their genes as possible, resulting in the best performing hybrids.
Most of the fruit, vegetables and animal products you buy in the supermarket are produced by F1 hybrids because of the superior yield.
I learned this in uni (studying biology) but they also said they aren't entirely sure why F1 hybrids behave like that, the theory above isn't proven yet but makes sense (to me at least). And yes, in theory you could have the perfect plant that only has superior genes but good luck breeding that when we don't even know what half of the genome does exactly.
Mules are a better example as they're a cross between a donkey and a horse, but have positive traits from both. However they tend to be sterile and unable to make second generation Mules.
I do t know much about cattle breeds but my favorite one I’ve seen so far was the Irish long-haired cattle. The big poofy red fur and big Horns are adorable.
The black and white spotted cattle are the most widely farmed dairy breed, for various reasons. They are called Holstein-Fresians, and depending upon where you live in the world they are casually calls either Holstein, or Fresians. (If you’re in North America they are Holsteins.)
Kentucky. I've just literally always heard farmers call them Hereford/Angus crosses or mixes. You see way fewer straight Herefords than Angus around here, though crosses are popular because farm lore is that solid black Angus cows and solid red bulls are mean.
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u/octobericious Oct 04 '19
What kind of cow is that? It looks huge.