Genotyping results of Sweetiebelle are in!

This is the portrait of the foundation of the future Hake family herd...

Many years ago Steve and I began dreaming of owning our own family milk cow.  Over the years we slowly refined our dream as we sifted through new information and decided what we, personally, preferred.  We had narrowed it down to Jerseys due to their being smaller and generally more gentle and their high butterfat content.  When we learned of the theory of A2 milk versus A1 milk, I immediately became curious.  Both Steve and I have family health histories of heart disease, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, etc., that make us concerned not only for our own future health, but of the combined genetic effect of bringing both of those family histories into our children's genetics and future risk factors.  While we both firmly believe that God is sovereign over the number of our days, we also both firmly believe that we are responsible for being good stewards of the bodies that He has entrusted to us.

We decided that since Jersey cows make A2 milk, we would, of course, get a Jersey cow for our family milk cow.  When we came across a Miniature Jersey, we were thrilled.  Miniature Jerseys are even more milk efficient, putting out more pounds of milk per pounds of body weight than full sized Jerseys.  They are also more heat tolerant, a bonus here in the Midwest.  Then we learned that each cow carries two copies of the gene encoding beta-casein.  A cow could be A2/A2 or A1/A2 or A1/A1.  We decided it was important enough to our family's health to at least find out what Sweetiebelle is carrying.  

We ordered the genotyping test kit and followed the instructions, those being to acquire 20-40 tail hairs with the root balls attached.  Woohoo!  Was that fun!  I graciously let Steve have most of the fun while I positioned myself with a helpful bucket of grain.  I held that bucket of grain with the utmost diligence and sobriety while he dutifully pulled the hairs out of her tail.  He figured he had one good shot at it and then she probably wouldn't tolerate more messing around back there, so he wrapped his finger around a good number of hairs, hoping it would be at least 20, but not wasting the time to count because she was inhaling the grain and would soon be done.  He gave a solid yank and I could hear the audible sound of the hairs coming out (ouch!) and we were done.  Mission accomplished!  Sweetiebelle lifted her head in irritation and then went right back to chasing around those last elusive grains at the bottom of the bucket.  

We taped her hairs in the appropriate area and mailed them back to the lab.  Then we began the anxious wait.  What if she comes back A1/A1?  Would we still keep her?  We've all grown attached to her and it made us sad to think of selling her.  We finally decided that we would keep her and keep looking for an A2/A2 cow and test before buying any other cows in the future.  We reasoned that fresh, raw milk from a healthy cow leading a happy, healthy life would be good milk in the meantime.  She is small enough that the younger children can work with her without being intimidated by her.  We really appreciate the confidence they are developing while working with a real cow, but one that is a size they can manage. 

We got the results back and were happy to learn that she is A1/A2.  That means that if she is bred to a bull with A2/A2 semen she has a 50% chance of throwing a calf that is A2/A2.  In the meantime, her milk will be half A1 and half A2, since neither is dominant.

This is good news and we'll take it!