Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-06-10
BREEDING and Line Breeding.


In breeding you readily under
stand. is mating together animals oil
near akin, sucl. as a sire with his get
dam with her produce, and so on. we
have never experimental with this
from the impression we had of Its ten
dency TO weaken the constitution OF
animals and thus invite disease. which
is now too prevalent among swine
Line breeding is breeding within the
same families, but far enough away sc
that the tendency to weakness OF con-
stitution, above referred to, will not be
in evidence.
There is some difference of opinion
where this line shall be drawn; but this
is not so important, to our mind, as
some other features pertaining to line
breeding. One thing Is fully and deii-
nitely established in our minds, after a
good deal of experimenting, namely
that line breed ng is far preferable and
certain toward establishing uniformity
In our herds t1an the system of con
tinually making, outcrosses. or using as
sires animals from different families
frequently.
To illustrate the above position: 1t
is pretty we'll understood at this time,
among farmers, what the ultimate re-
suits are from mating together two
distinct breeds of hogs, and breeding
the produce of that mating again ana
again They run out to the little end
Of nothing. That is to say, when you
mate together 6. Poland China to Du-
roc Jersey the result of the first mating
is. YOU get good even market animal
But you make a fatal mistake If you
use the produce of this mating for
breeding purposes. All the undesirable
features that ever were known to either
breed begin olcrop out In successive
matings, and the good ones disappear.
This same thing Is ldrgely true In
making your outcrosses in the same
breed. BY jumping out of one family
into another you get all the peculiar
and undesirable features belonging to
the breed. and fail, In a large degree, in
establishing the desired uniformity SO
pleasing to observe.
In my own Poland China herd, for
the past few years, the animals that
won at the fairs and brought the top
price at our sales were line-bred ami
mails. To get the best results in any
mating YOU. of course. want to use the
very best animals known to the breed
to start from, and to establish an I'M
broken line of good ancestors.
In one case we bred Maud Wilkes Sd
by Chief Tecumseh 81 by Chief Tecum-
sch I'd to Governor j.. whose dam was
by Chief Tecumseh Sd by Chief Tecum-
sch I'd. From this mating we had far
rowed the litter Of pigs that developed
into the best Poland China hogs we
ever raised. four boars from this litter
winning. first second, third and fourth
at Nebraska state fair of 1903 in a ring
of fifteen shown. The most gratifying
incident in my life. as a breeder of pure
bred hogs, reaching over a period of
about quarter Of a century, was to
see a neighbor top my recent sale by
buying the first premium boar out of
this litter, although he had to pay
s20750. Another neighbor bought the
second premium boar out of this litter
at good figure, showing two things to
be true: First, that good, pure bred
animals are appreciated; and. second,
and the more gratifying to me, my
neighbors We're the buyers, showing by
tHelr aceloHS. lldt speak stronger 1HdIi
words. that my life work. that of breed
ing pure bred stock, is appreciated by
my home people
Let me give this one caution in clos
ing: While you are studying pedigrees
and individuality, both of which are
necessary, YOU must not get your herds
too large. Remember, small herd well
bred and well fed is better than large
herd from which you never hear a
word.-Sam McKelvie. before Ne
braska Farmers Institute.