Members List - NZ RED DEVON CATTLE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION

An A2 issue with the Red Devon’s
As one of the Red Devon breeders has asked me about
the A2 issue (or that lack of A2) he had heard we were
dealing within the Devon breed I thought I would put pen
to paper so all those in the Red Devon Association can
have some information at their fingertips and then they
can decide what they want to do with it – if anything!
Some of you may have heard through the grape vine we
have been steadily converting our dairy herd to carry just
the A2 gene since starting after the year 2000. At that
time we thought there might be a niche market for A2
milk so we decided to gene screen each year’s crop of
calves. So from the year 2000 onwards we have only
used bulls that are listed as A2A2. Over time, as cows
(that were either A1A1 or A1A2) left the replacements
entering the herd were only A2A2 as we sold the A1A2
and A1A1 heifers. Any Jersey bulls that we reared were
also only A2A2. Each year there was less testing to do
and eventually you get a herd that is totally A2. The
trouble with our herd is that we have cows that make it to
teenagers (unlike the modern dairy herd operator that
doesn’t like anything over 6 years old - in fact with the
empty rates these days most of the herds are very young
in age). Due to the lack of niche market to sell pure A2
milk (our herd is too small and the company that markets
A2A2 milk would only have been interested to pick up
the milk if it was a 300 cow farm back then) - there has
been no reason for us to cull the last handful of good
producing cows that carry the A1 genes any quicker. So
we have been using natural attrition for these cows - as
they age and have to be replaced they leave the herd. We
do however just drink A2 milk as we know the A2 cows
and just milk one into a test bucket for our own
consumption during the dry period.
However, as it seems that few people in NZ have wised
up about the A2 issue - this little niche market hasn’t
fired up here but has in Australia and there is growing
interest in Canada, the USA and also the UK. This is a
great pity as it is a lost opportunity here in NZ and there
are certainly consumers with a particular genetic make-up
who cannot “handle” A1 contaminated milk. I feel it was
a grave mistake that Fonterra decided not to encourage
farmers to switch to using only A2 bulls which would
have quietly and gradually moved the New Zealand
genetics to predominantly A2 so that most milk would be
A2 milk. I fear that ignoring the health issues that can
result from consuming A1 milk will come back to haunt
the industry in the years to come and no doubt ultimately
this will be to the dairy farmer’s cost not only in lost
market access but to likely court costs.
I digress. Back to A2 and Devon’s – what is the issue?
Well I am going to stick my neck out and say the news is
not good. The limited testing I have done on Devon
cattle has revealed to my consternation that the breed has
the undesirable A1 gene. I have done sampling in three
herds and find A1 very prevalent – in fact in one herd all
the cattle I tested that day didn’t have a single A2 allele.
This is not good as if word gets out around the world
about this A1 gene being very prevalent in the Devon
cattle breed. In my view it is another undesirable or real
potential problem with the breed as those countries
around the world that have taken or are taking the trouble
to clean up their genetics will not want to purchase
products (and that includes semen) from countries that
still have the A1 gene present in their stock.
OK, so I hear you say, “So what”? “You don’t drink
Devon milk”! Well, I am sure some people do in some
parts of the world as they were once a dual purpose
breed. The problem is if the Devon animal has the A1
gene present then ALL the cells in its body have the A1
gene present – this means the MEAT! Have I got your
attention now?
I have a sister whose child could not handle standard milk
brought from the local corner dairy which was being fed
when she returned to the work force. I kept telling her
that she must try A2 milk. I even offered to freeze some
of our milk and send it by courier from Thames to
Palmerston North! In the end she did ask her local dairy
to get a bottle of A2 milk in for her. What a revelation!
She was expecting the normal screams soon after feeding
this milk to her child and nothing happened! There were
other mothers in her pre-natal group that had similar
problems with their children and they switched to A2
milk and found the problems disappeared when fed A2
milk. The issue wasn’t lactose intolerance but intolerance
to the A1 or type of casein in the milk. Suddenly the
corner dairy store had to stock another line of milk
especially for these mothers. So the health issues from
A1 contaminated milk are real as these infants cannot
fake these adverse reactions. Human breast milk is all
A2 and so is goat milk.
Now let’s take this thought along a bit further. You feed
an infant milk and it gets colic -there is a clear association
between giving the infant milk and an adverse reaction
therefore you have this gut feeling that it was highly
likely that the milk was the cause of the problem.
Another unknown at this stage is whether the A1 gene
content of meat could also cause adverse effects on
consumers like the A1 milk. Obviously, to date there is
no evidence that there could be an intolerance to eating
meat from A1 cattle – it is just a hypothesis I put forward.
I discussed this issue with Professor Woodford he says to
his knowledge no one is trialing or even looking at this
issue at this time. However, new research from Poland
has found that the molecule bovine BCM7 that causes
adverse reactions that comes from the digestion of A1
milk has been found in human milk and these researchers
now believe this gets there by the lymph system so the
latest guidelines for those mothers who have children
who are intolerant of A1 milk is to:
• feed A2 milk or keep the child on breast milk
• if possible get A2 goat or bovine baby formula
and
• the mothers should only drink A2 milk.
It will be interesting to see in the future if another
guideline is added to the list to avoid A1 meat as well.
Now, what about meat tenderness and A2? I have come
across a posting on the internet of some trial work done
by an Australian based researcher – Gerald Wyatt from
Classic Livestock Management Services who links meat