# Aurochs



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It's whats for dinner? Ah yes, mankind....always looking for away to bring about their demise.

Regards, Mike

http://growingtennessee.com/features/2016/08/wild-cattle-back-prairie-it-could-happen/?utm_source=Growing+Tennessee&utm_campaign=7670b4a5c0-growingtennessee-daily_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d75710df8e-7670b4a5c0-296641129


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Very cool. However, it lends the same question Ian Malcolm posed to John Hammond in the original Jurassic Park, " you got so worried about if you could, you never bothered to stop and ask if you should"

These creatures are extinct for a reason. I say let the poor beasts rest in history books.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

The History Channel ran a show about the German Heck cattle and Hitler's experiment. It was interesting.

The cattle were large and aggressive.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

It reminds me of the Chiffon Margarine commercials of yesteryear...."it's not nice to fool mother nature"

73, Mark


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Our modern cattle are the product of countless generations of selective breeding for specific traits, among them gentleness and other beneficial qualities that are only expressed randomly (and may indeed prove to be a drawback or vulnerability) in wild or natural populations.

IOW, if these critters existed in the world of the saber-tooth cat and dire wolf and other large predators common during the last ice age, it stands to reason they're going to be aggressive and large. It also stands to reason that they are NOT a good fit in our modern world.

I'm all for conserving rare or endangered species (to a point anyway, but it shouldn't put the individual farmer in an untenable position) but the simple fact is that usually endangered or extinct species are in the situation they're in for a reason... IOW they simply cannot adapt or aren't well suited to the environment in which they now live.

It's possible that, like wild predecessors to modern field corn, that disease or pest resistance traits exist in their wild forebears that can then be "grafted in" to modern varieties via selective breeding or genetic engineering. Who knows what disease or pest resistance or other valuable traits might be present in these animals that doesn't currently exist in the cattle genome, that could be cross-bred in or genetically engineered into todays' cattle...

BUT, I DO agree with the idea stated above, that it's more of an EXPERIMENT that should be done and handled AS an experiment in isolated and controlled circumstances, not just "turned loose on the world".

Genetic power is the most awesome power nature has ever produced-- All other forms of power, from chemical reactions to nuclear reactions, are ultimately self-limiting-- they are of a finite size and duration and when the fuel source is exhausted or as the process continues, they are ultimately self-limiting and cease. Genetic power, on the other hand, is SELF-REPLICATING. Once somethings "out of the bag" or Pandora's box is opened, it's difficult if not impossible to put it back.

Later! OL J R


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

These folks have too much time and money.

From wiki a Heck Bull:








And mine:

If they want to part with a pile of the latter this teddy bear could breed some calm into them. Unless the cows are already completely wild. No helping then. See Chicago's record violent crime last month?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Yep, that pic of a Heck bull looks deadly to me. Maybe a double fence along the border with Heck bulls grazing in between?

Regards, Mike


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Vol said:


> Yep, that pic of a Heck bull looks deadly to me. Maybe a double fence along the border with Heck bulls grazing in between?
> 
> Regards, Mike


You're more brave than I am! I've had some mad cows come after me, and these are docile Hereford/Simmental. I think they'd called Heck bulls cuz people say "To Heck with them!"


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