Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-03-02
STOCK RAISIN G..
CROSSING DISTINCT BREEDS.

whether such a course would not be advisa-
BILE. One of our acquaintance asks us
whether we would advise crossing a thor
%oughbred Jersey bull on a thoroughbred
Durham or shorthorn cow, and what the eff
feet would be on the offspring. To this We
can only reply that such a cross is not to be
thought OF, for the precise reason that no
one could guess what the progeny would be.
Both Jersey and shorthorn breeds have
been perfected in their special chara cteris-
tics by a long course of in-and-in breeding
the Jerseys for milk and butter and the
shorthorns for beet and early maturity.
Pure bred shorthorns and pure bred Jerseys
are far too valuable to be used for breeding
animals whose value could not be estimated,
and which very likely would have scarcely
any value whatever. Suppose, for example,
that the calf from a Jersey-shorthorh cross
should take after the shorthorn for fat and
the Jersey for richness Of milk and yellow
butter, where would the breeder be? If the
animal happened to reproduce the better
traits of both parents, the distinctness and
purity Of it's breed would be so broken up
by crossing that it would be absolutely
worthless as a specimen from which to
breed.
On the other hand, a cross of a pure bred
animal with a native, is pretty sure to i'm
press on the progeny the better character
istics Of the thoroughbred. Our native
stock is generally q mixture of strains with
many accidental individual characteristics,
but very few of which belong to a family.
Hence, these Individual characters are apt to
be obliterated by the stronger potency of the
thoroughbred progenitor. A second cross
with the same thoroughbred or one of the
same strain, still further !" fixes" the pure
blood and obliterates the native. By the
third or fourth cross the progeny may be
depended upon as breeders whenever bred
to the same strain to produce animals
scarcely inferior, possibly in some cases SUI
perior to thoroughbreds. Such crosses will
not do to breed from to native or mixed
stock, because only in he thoroughbred are
the distinctive qualities SO fixed as to ensure
reproduction of the best type with tolerable
certainty. A cross OF two thoroughbred
animals combining two strong potencies,
each impressing widely different character
istics, leads tono definite or good result, and
should be r%eprobated by all good breeders.
1t is found quite profitable to use a Cots
void or Leicester buck OH common grade
Merino ewes. The lambs from this cross
bring a much higher price from the butcher
than they would with native blood on both
sides. But there would be no advantage in
crossing thoroughbred coarse wool bucks on
high-priced and thoroughbred Merino ewes.
Their progeny ought to be worth far more
for breeding than for the butcher, and
would, if blood were kept pure. 1t may be
almost stated as an axiom, that thorough
bred animals of any kind are, or ought to
be too valuable to use for any purpose
which would subordinate their value us
breeders Of pure stock. So long as a full
blood shorthorn will breed, he Or she ought
to be worth far more than for beet, and a
Jersey COW is worth more for stock breed
ing than for milk and butter. If not, then
they are not worth breeding at all. We
have not yet a tenth part of the pure blood
ed animals Of any variety needed to I'M
prove our common stock. So long as this
scarcity remains, crossing t~horoughbreds is
a wicked waste of good breeding animals.
For many years to come the best use of
full blood stock will be found in improving
common and native strains of animals as
nearly as possible like the thoroughbreds
they are crossed with. If your native cattle
fatten easily and mature quickly, improve
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