DNA

[Sandridge Whitetails]

I have never had and deer DNA'd. Could someone inform me of the how to, where to send, and the approx. cost. I have heard that it is best to use hair from the tail. If tail hair is best, could hair from any place work, and must you have the hair follicle included with the hair no matter where it comes from. I am looking to DNA a fawn and a mom ASAP
Thanks
Mark
Sandridge Whitetails

[Droptine]

Mark, I use DNA solutions (www.dnasolutionsusa.com). You can set up an account with them and just send them samples and they'll DNA register them and send you a certificate. Get the hair sample from white hair on the butt and make sure you get plenty of it and have good amount of roots. Put it in a paper envelope, NOT a plastic bag. Send it in and it will take a few weeks maybe longer. The cost will be $75 / deer.

[Wooden acres]

I've used Wildlife Genetic's . It's been awhile but the number then was 205- 352-3563 and just ask for Renee Prive .

[jroy7642]

Mark, I use DNA solutions (www.dnasolutionsusa.com). You can set up an account with them and just send them samples and they'll DNA register them and send you a certificate. Get the hair sample from white hair on the butt and make sure you get plenty of it and have good amount of roots. Put it in a paper envelope, NOT a plastic bag. Send it in and it will take a few weeks maybe longer. The cost will be $75 / deer.


May I ask, why not plastic bag?

[Droptine]

May I ask, why not plastic bag?

I'm not sure, apparently it does something to the hair that prevents them from being able to get a good reading off it. All I know is that they make sure to tell you to NOT use a plasitc bag. I used them the first time I took samples without knowing and had to throw about 15 samples away and start over. Maybe someone else will know what the exact reason you can't use plastic bags.

[ikoff]

Might be a moisture problem with the plastic or even mold? Just a guess.

[stevel]

Plastic bags encourage moisture which degrades the sample. You can get small envelopes from whoever you are sending your samples to. We use Wildlife Genetics and have been very pleased with their work. They have a toll-free number 877-352-3563 ext. 223.

[Renee]

Hi Mark

The DNA process is pretty simple. All you need to do is collect a hair sample from all the animals you need to compare to. Hairs from the tail region tend to have nice big roots which makes for a better sample but you call pull hairs from anywhere as long as the root bulbs are attached. Never use shed hairs, they don't make great samples and they could be from a different animal. Place those samples in a paper envelope and label it with the animals unique ID, sex and year of birth. Do not use plastic as any moisture trapped within the bag can cause the sample to rot. Mail the samples along with the project submission form (see our website) or any reasonable description of what you are submitting and what you who you would like compared to who to:
Wildlife Genetics International
PO Box 274
Nelson BC
Canada
V1L5P9

We charge $60 per sample and that fee covers everything-no extra charges for more searches, change of ownership, re-print certificates, rush jobs or anything else. I would recommend you send a cheque with your samples as we will not release results until payment is made. Nearly every animal in our database is available for anyone to use in parentage searches, we designed it to be as open as possible, so if there are any AI sires you need or anything like that you can give me a call or email and I will check to see that we have them on file-our database has nearly 10,000 animals in it to date so there is a good chance that anything you need will already be here. Our turnaround time right now is about 3-4 days though that could get longer once all the fawns start rolling in. Any more questions at all just let me know.

Renee
Gamefarming Specialist
Wildlife Genetics
rprive@wildlifegenetics.ca
www.wildlifegenetics.ca/gamefarm.htm

[iadeer]

For you people south of the boarder, Cheque = check. I think.

[IndependenceRanch]

Renee are you guys still looking into having an on-line directory for clients to use?
Also is it true that there are works underway to make it so we can compare animals at your place and that other place DNA Solutions? And that this would allow the NADR to be good for everyone using either place?
Fred do you know anything about this? Anyone from NADEFA know how much of what I heard is accurate?

[Renee]

We are still looking into an online directory. I was in talks with a company to set one up for us, they needed some time to do some research and what-not so I am waiting to hear back from them. Personally I don't know what is involved in doing that but as long as we can do it without having to significantly raise costs I am certain it will happen.

The process of comparing animals between the 2 labs is more complicated than people realize. There are a lot of variables involved and I believe that it makes the whole process less accurate. If we only have the data to go off we cannot double check any suspicious results. We also use a 21 marker system which includes all 14 of DNA Solutions markers plus an additional 7 of our own so when I have to convert from their data you are also losing the power of those 7 extra (and highly variable) markers. I can convert DNA Solutions data to our standards as long as it is their most recent set of markers however, I only do it as a last resort. We re-analyze samples done at DNA Solutions for free (within reason) so if we can get our hands on a sample we would much rather do it that way.

As far as the NADR goes you can have your DNA work done here and have the results placed in the NADR. You still have to pay DNA Solutions the registry fee ($25 I believe) and if you supply them with a sample they will also be able to use your animal in comparisons with all other animals in the NADR for no extra charge. What a lot of my clients have been doing is getting their herds done here and then only submitting their 'best' deer to the NADR after the fact. It ends up costing you $10 more per head for every deer you enter into the NADR (Our fee of $60+$25 reg fee to DNA Solutions) but you save $15 on every deer that you don't need entered into the NADR.

What I think would be the most useful would be to have a 3rd party that runs the website. You pick the DNA company you want to work with and the results are submitted to the 3rd party to compile and make available to anyone who wants to see them. That way the pedigrees would be as complete as possible. Perhaps that isn't practical in reality, I don't know?

And yes cheque=check:D

[IndependenceRanch]

Renee, thanks much for your reply.
Maybe NADEFA can look into this idea of a 3rd party to house all the pedigree info with.