The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-03-28
Breeding Ideal Type.

Breeding Ideal Type.
1t seems to us that there is great |
deal of false doctrine going the rounds
OF the press and institutes on the SUBJ
]ect OF breeding, and the explanation
Is evidently to be found in lack of
familiarity with the laws of breeding
as set down by scientists who have
studied the matter properly. We are
lea TO make the above remarks by see
ing such statements as the following:
II you want to breed good hogs of
'deal type then pick big, slabsided
cow and breed her to short. stub
and-tWist boar" Anon: "If your sows
are plainly deficient in one respect go
OUT and find boar that is abnormally
good in the point where the SOW is de-
Hclent and he will counteract the bad
lault of the SOW" That means that
ne VIII beget pigs that are unlike him
sen and at the same time unlike the
SOW or in other words prove to be
the sire Of pigs that are sort of com
promise between the two abnormal
types of the sire and dam. Now this
Is utter foolishness. Like produces
like In as much as nature through the
law OF heredity transmits to progeny
the type and characteristics of the par
ent which have become fixed charac-
ters OF the parents family. This hered-
ity is possessed equally by the sire
ana dam if each has been as long bred
IN line hence the mating of the two
put ble2ds too s-milar tendencies and
the product is but repetition of the
characters of the two or a composite
OF both. The big, slabsided SOW re-
Ierred to is no more a perfect ideal of
what hog should be in appearance
than is the short, stub-and-twist boar.
<Two bad factors joined do not make
a tthird good quantity. The bad
shaped soT and the bad shaped boar
will impresS ilpef .ts 11sqsseE$% rShen
mated the character of that parent
which is bred with most prepotence.
1t nay be that the boar is more pre-
potent then the sow in which case the
progeny would take most after him
and so be short and of the stub and
twist character, or if the SOW was most
prepotent the pigs would take after
her peculiarities. There would at least
be no certainty that the blending of the
Two different types would effect the
creation of a third entity of superior
type to that of either SOW or boar
l MS pelng the case what is the good
OF trying such experiments? Given
the fact that there is an ideal hog.
and each breeder has his ideas as TO
IDEAL, the way to perpetuate that ideal
or TO build up towards it's creation
and permanence is not to mix two diff
ferent types hoping to establish third
oetter one but to select an ideal type
as pattern then mate sows and boars
That have each the most perfect de-
Velopment of the various points en-
terlng into the formation of that gwen
type. The SOW and boar should be of
tne same type; both should be az per-
tHct as possible in every point of the
type but neither should be abnormal
III any respect, for abnormalities are
apt to be sports Of nature, hence not
transmissfble, while known family
characteristics, fixed in the family by
long breeding in the same line. will
repeat themselves in the progeny so
long as they are kept pure and nm
Taking what has been said
into consideration it is then seen that
IN seeking out boar to counterac,
the bad type and characteristics Of
nome soWs the boar chosen should be
OF as perfect shape as possible with
a pedigree behind that shape which
promises that the said shape is not
accidental but fixed and likely to be
prepotently transmitted to his pro-
geny. Such boar should be bred to
sows that are as like him as possible
II his type is the ideal one of the
breeder. If The sows do not suit the
breeder then it is better to get rid of
them than to damage the breeding eff
fects and values of the ideal boar by
insulting him with such mates. We
assert boldly that if it be necessary
to blend two different types of any ami
mails every breeding season to get a
third and more desirable one the
breeding operations will perpetuate a
tribe of animals lacking prepotencv
and fixed type.