The progressive farmer., 1901-11-26
Live Stock.
PRINCIPLES OF STOCK .BREEDINe.
A Thoughtful Discussion of the Practical
Side Of the Whole Subject Presented to
Progressive Farmer Readers.

/
We now see that three great prin-
ciples underlie the breeding of live
stock which to a great extent con
troll it.
If our domesticat ed animals were
purely bred in the same sense as the
deer or buffalo, to which we have
alluded, then would breeding be a
simple problem. Atavism would be
nothing more than heredity itself
and variation would give rise only
to the "sport" Or accidental new
character which would only ocoa
sionally occur because of the absO-
lutte pureness of blood and constanCy
OF environments. The deer and
buffalo are purely bred; there has
been no commingling of other blood,
no new strains added, because all are
alike and the same. These would
then be thoroughbred as we'll as pure
bred. We have the term thorough
bred applied to breeds of horses, Cat
tie, sheep and swine, but this, tech
nically speaking, is not true. The
only thoroughbred animal we have
is the English running horse. Our
Jerseys or Berkshires, or MerinOs
may be ure-breds, but they are not
thoroughbreds. Now, if we had
these conditions 80 as to produce the
thoroughly pure bred - heredity
would be the one factor and like
would always be produced from like.
A potato is always a potato no mat
ter what variety is used. An apple
is an apple, no matter what variety
is planted. But CROSS fertilize once
and use the pollen of the Northern
Spy to fertiHze the Baldwin-will
that seed be then Baldwin or North
ern Spy? All, my friends, it will be
neither, but the seed from such a
union will produce neither one nor
the other, but something new, which
would have characters of both, and
also characters that have cOmming
led from both and producing some
thing different-yet an apple just
the same.
"GRADING UP" OR GRADING DOWN?
So it is with our live stock. We
are endeavoring to breed up our
herds of cattle or sheep or swine.
How are we going about it? AS long
as we are breeding from pure stock,
heredity is the great potent factor,
Very conservative For look in the
thoroughly pure bred deer or buffalo
-heredity there opposes all change,
all progress, all Improvement. So
powerful hold has hered1ty on these
animals, change or improvement is
we'll nigh impossible. You can by
careful selection take the scrubbiest
cow and change her progeny into a
good dairy COW long before you could
take deer and effect a change in
her, however simple. But let Us go
back to our point again. In this
State, in the whole South, in America,
suppose half Of our breeders are
breeding in the same way as we illus
trated by the apple. know there
are breeders in this State who by the
selection and use of good sires, breed
their herds up to fair standard of
stability and profit. When once
they arrived at that point they con-
cluded that such well-bred sires were
too expensive and 80 they resorted
to the use of grade sires. NY friends,
those very men have sounded the
death knell of their own herds. For
let US look at this question seriously
now. Here is a farmer who has
started with poor lot of dairy cows
He loves dairying and wants TO i'm
prove his conditions. So he buys or
borrows a bull of careful breeding
and keeps this up for some years.
He sees that his stock has improved
in a marvellous degree, far TO exceed
his expectations. And then the
price of milk falls down. He may
be little despondent in this respect
and then he concludes, now since he
has to purchase new bull he can
not afford to pay $5Ofor thoroughly
good ure-bred, so he pays half or
quarter that much for good strong
looking GROSS. And then he begins
to improve his herd? All, no-not
that, but, my friends, he has begun
the very thing that has cost the