The Portland daily press., 1868-10-10
St0ek.Rreeding.
An ADDRESS DELIVERED By COL. t, 9. LANG AT
THE FARMERS MEETING, WEDNESDAY
EVENING.

EVENING.
We give the greater portion of Col. Lang
address, feeling sure that the results ol LIS
careful and philosophical research cannot fali
to interest every one who has any acqualht-
ance with the important subject ne discusses:
In order to breed stock with success We
must he goyerued by general laws OF repro
duction II is an aphorism that "like produces
like" and this expression is in the mind OF eV-
erv farmers boy a tacit acknowledgment OF
the law OF compensation OF return n wh.cn 1aa gov
AS the child is taught, so will be the man.
WHATSOEVER a man soweth that shall he al
so reap" .o,:,,
Asyou breed, such will you produce.
Tho onestion NAV arise, is this strictly true?
T haIieye it and if wrong desire to be set right
Some of you who are stock-breeders may say
that this rule of "like producing like" is not
absolute. l am aware that it is not in detail,
and one often finds circumstances quite puz-
zling in his experience. Shall l mention as
an example, case under my notice? black
mare, the sire and grandsire of which were
black, the dam and grandam also being black,
was bred to the black horse, BLACK Hawk Tel
egraph." whose sire and dam Were black. She
produced chestnut colt with wall eyes, four
white legs and striped face. was led TO be-
lieve that the dam had been bred to colt OF
"Trotting Childers" then on my place, wnlcn
had exactly the odd marks OF TINS ioai. buS
my groom proved that tins colt was eastrated
heIora the mare came to my yard, but that
while in heat in which she became pregnant
she stood in the yard next to the Childers geld
ing and was i'll communication with him across
the fence. Careful observation since that time
has led us to endeavor TO favorabiy control the
influences upon the female, while in heat and
dur ng the period of conception. And we
nope to be able TO place before the public the
result of like chances and experiments. .
hat similar results are often produced in
less marked manner doubt not. But what
staggers one is to find two fine animals bred
together producing marked qualifications OF
preceding sres or dams with scarcely trait
Of their own sire or dam. These facts
which no breeder doubts who has gven atten-
| ton to his business. Those who are conver-
| SAINT with Mr.. GoOdale's excellent work upon
| the Breeding of Domestic Animals" Ia ,oork
| ohich should be IN the hands Of every farmer
| and 6reeder) will remember the examples men
tipned in his chapter upon the Lars Of SINH
ldrity" Mr. Goodale, with all accepted aU-
thoritIes upon this subject. urges that to breed
successfully you must breed in the line.
First, the breeder ought to know what he
desires to accomplish before he takes the first
step towards breeding. What are ths natural
advantages of the location in which you are
placed is the first question for you to decide
| Is it better adapted Tor breeding CATTLE sheep
| or horses? Ii you select cattle, which breed
is best adapted to your farm or location? Ii
u
| beef IN the shortest time is the one. If, how
| ever. you de>ire to make profit from the dairy,
| different class must be selected. If your
lands are high and rocky, they would be better
| adapted to sheep and the more hardy breeds OF
| cattle The Short Horn and Dutch cattle
| could not be as proftably raised upon such
| lands. t.H jag. ...-.#. -t
This matter of adaptation is an important
| one, and not studied with sufficient care by
those farmers who breed stock beyond the ne
| cessities of home.
Having selected the locality, now comes the
selection of animals of the breed desirable. II
| for beef, there can be no question that the
breed that natures earliest is TIE best
Time is an important point. Suppose we as.
| sumo that an average amount of food given al
animal up to three years Of age yields 150t
| pounds of beef,-how much is gained over thai
| animal which requires from four to five years
to arrive at the same weight? Here comes the
idyant1ge OF breeding TO given qualification
IL is question of vital importance.
| have spoken of time as important to b.
considered; and this may lead you 10 remem
Der the law of compensation" referred TO, anc
to suppose that the 1900 pounds in three year,
would take corresponding amount of food a;
il fed to an animal IN four or five years. Thi,
IS not true. What wish % convey is simply
that the three years old has a capability for as.
similatng more food 10 beef in less time
| You find certain times OF conditions in an,
irnals when it seems almost impossible to lay
on hesh, II you feed ever so well. Then why
not find a class Of animals that with a giveI
amount of food lay on a double amount o.
nearly So, from constitutional habit, health
vigor and potoer of dssimildtion' -.N.
| II you work your animals YOU draw upor
'ninal economy, and extra feed must pay fo
| labor. I........
A combination of milking. labor and bee
| qualities seems TO be the aim of the maorit
| of farmers. That we cannot shave the breal
and eat it," is an adage. Therefore he VIII
breeds to milk capabilities, must to a certain
| -xtent lay aside others esse ntial. Again, i
is well known that stock bred to milking prop
critics admits of different classes. For In
| stance, Jersey cow gives you milk. the cream
of which, in some instances, is fifty per cent
butter, while the cream from some cows will
not make butter without much effort, and 9th
| rs not at all. l have several instances OF thi
| in my mind. Yet these cows raised the fines
calves. The Dutch stock, for instance, hav,
| been mostly bred to cheese making. They d,
| not excel in butter making, but excel all 9th
ers in the excellence of their calves. The bes
milk for butter is poor milk to grow stock.
| A point worthy of discussion in this connec
| tion, which my own small experience confirms
is that what forcing calf or other young ami
| NAL has the first six months, especially tn,
first three months, determines his subsequep
| value L know that what is not done for a cal
| in the first eight months cannot be remediet
afterwards. Aud on this point would urg,
breeders to spare no pains or extra expense il
| feed or care of the dam for four months befor,
ealing and Tor six months after, if she feed
the colt so long. While the bone is forming il
| he colt, give it all that will be OF benefit to it
| To such the bone attachments become more
positive aDd they are less likely to meet with
| troubles incident to weak uuderfed animals
ringbones, spavins. curbs, &c.
l do not presume to urge this point u on yor
| as nOtiona idea of my own, but as the expe
| rience of better observers than myself While
in Europe in 1867, l visited several times :
large breeding establishment where twelve diff
erent breeds of cattle were represented, an(
in conversation with the herdsman this pon
was dwelt upon as very important, especial,
the breeding of a representative animal of
| stock, as, for instance, q bull or COW The
herdsman said, "ieed the calf well; if he will
take the milk of two or three cows give it,
You will be paid. In other words" said he
"hoe and weed and water the plant while it is
growing, if you care for its perfection"
| A few weeks since letter received from
Keene Richards, Esq of Kentucky. who has
expended so much in bringing to this country
rom England and Arabia the finest horses o.
the world, urges the necessity of feeding the
mare and foal that the growth of the colt NAV
be as great as possible while the bone is form
ing. is..4 ..
Having selected the class of animals which
one wishes to breed, the selection of the ami
NAL is of first Importance; for in the fines
herds or f1ocks of carefully bred animals are tt
he found those which do not represent tbei
class and are incapable of transmitting the
| characterlStlcS desired. The safe way is to Sc
lect representative animals that do breed in
line. A defective animal NAV breed fine pro
geny, but the progeny may breed the defective
sire or dams qualifications. Therefore the
breeder should be sure of a sire as nearly per.
feet as possible In physical qualifications, an6
also one that has proved his progeny to be so
The more generations of fine animals, the more
certain of snccess in bre ading them However
good sire or dam may be selected from mixed
st ,ck, if you bred out of line, the chances will
often be against your breeding like sire OF
dam. speak more particularly of horses, but
the rule is equally applicable to other stock
| Were to select horses to breed as close tn
perfection possible, would select only sucb
sires as were bred in a long line of careful in
diclous breeding to the qualifications desira.
BILE, either for sneed, the 16 hands carrirpe
horse, or the horse for work, endeavoring, al
the same time, to select color, style, move
| ments and temper in each generation as far
as possible; then / should feel quite sure Of
success. L would go further and never accent
a dam who had been judiciously tried to a de-
| fective horse. as his defects often crops out in
the subsequent progeny although by good
sire in the line desired
| i have at nv stable a chestnut geldinp sired
of Gen. Knox, who is black. The oelding's
dam is white and the grand sres on both sides
are white and black: yet the gelding has the
| color, marks, temper, appearance gait, &c. of
the sire ofa colt dropped by the mother prior
| to her being bred to the black horse, and has a
| very close resemblance to that colt of the first
sire. L have seen repeated instances of like
results in the course of my breeding
Another point desirable in the sire or dam.
if we wish to reproduce him, is thorough
health and nervous energy. Let his consti-