East Texas Rancher helps uncover a genetic mystery

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) – After years and several tests, Texas scientists are getting a better understanding of what caused calves in one East Texas herd to die young.

“What they were seeing was a nervous condition in that those calves, which happened sometimes soon after birth, sometimes they could be a little older,” Dr. Thomas Hairgrove, Texas A&M AgriLife extension cattle veterinary specialist and professor, said.

The afflicted calves would experience unsteady gait and stiffened limbs before collapsing and convulsing. Texas A&M AgriLife answered the call and began ruling out any toxins or viruses that could be to blame.

“We did do DNA testing, there were two bulls in that pasture, and all the calves that were having issues did go back to that to that one bull,” Hairgrove said.

Dr. Hairgrove led a team and conducted seven years of research at Texas A&M University.

“We impregnated 25 cows here at the university, and we were able to reproduce the syndrome, in other words, we had 11 of those 25 calves that were born showing that neurologic lesions,” Hairgrove said.

Hairgrove’s team had been working nonstop to understand what was afflicting the cattle, but answers seemed far away.

“Couple of times we were kind of ready to, ‘maybe we need to go and do something else,’ but Dr. Petersen called me last fall and said, you know, we think we finally found the mutation,” Hairgrove said.

The discovery happened in 2023 and lead to a way to test for the mutation.

“That’s just another tool in our toolbox to help producers with reproductive loss,” Hairgrove said.

Doctor Hairgrove said the mutation was only found in the one East Texas angus herd, which helped them create this scientific tool.

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