ANGUS breeders will soon learn if cattle known to be carriers of the lethal curly calf syndrome gene can be registered.
Angus Australia breed development committee and board members will meet this week to discuss guidelines for the registration of carriers of the syndrome, which can cause stillborn or deformed calves.
The committee will hear from the Agricultural Business Research Institute on managing genetic defects and draft a position on the registration of carrier animals.
If Angus Australia follows the lead of its American counterparts, breeders will be forced to test all calves from carrier females and bulls born after January 1 next year, and only those found to be free would be eligible for registration.
But, if the society allows the registration of carrier animals, guidelines for the transfer of such animals will be developed.
Already, users of Angus genetics are steering away from proven carriers and sales have dried up.
Angus Australia board member and breed development committee member Mark Gubbins, of Coolana stud at Chatsworth, Victoria said the board was collecting information to work out the best way to manage the gene with a view to eradication over a reasonable time-frame.
"We will aim to introduce a system that doesn't cause great financial harm to members now or in the future," he said.
Angus Australia, with ABRI, will test 1.17 million Angus and Angus-infused cattle on the breed's inventory to determine the probability for each animal to carry the gene, and which herds are at the highest risk.
The results will be published on the society's website as a percentage and revised as new test results are found.
More than 300 bulls used in Australia have been tested for the gene, with 29 found to be carriers.
A DNA test should be commercially available in time for the autumn bull selling season. It will cost about $100.
