Live Stock Breeders' Association. 167 



said, "What are you going to give them ; I have not seen you mak- 

 ing any preparations." And I told him something like this, that 

 I did not want to speak a piece or read a paper, but I wanted to 

 give some of the young men out here a few practical ideas. He 

 said, "If you are not sure what you are doing, it looks like a good 

 way to make a fool of yourself." (Applause.) So you see what 

 some people are expecting, and for that reason I cannot help but 

 feel that I owe you an apology for being here, especially to you older 

 gentlemen, for I cannot hope to say much of any special interest 

 to you, but the man I would like to give some good practical thought 

 is the young man of my own generation, on the side lines here, and 

 I hope they may be able to derive some benefit from what I have 

 to say. And further than that, what I say I do not want to be taken 

 in the way of advice; because of my short years and limited experi- 

 ence I cannot assume that position. 



The subject I have been assigned, that of "Pedigree," is one 

 of most vital importance in the breeding of the highest type of 

 animal life, and it is most useful to the practical breeder of today. 

 While I shall allow due credit to the value of pedigree, it shall be 

 my intention, on the other hand, to show how little pedigree has 

 to do with the success of a breeder. I mean to treat pedigree in its 

 everyday application to successful breeding, and not from the stand- 

 point of a connoisseur or student of fancy crosses. 



First, what is the real meaning of "Pedigree?" We find in 

 the dictionary and treatises on live stock that pedigree is simply a 

 record of an animal's ancestors — in other words, a table of descent; 

 and the early significance of pedigree was that the animal thereby 

 represented was of some peculiar and distinct excellence, and un- 

 less the animal possessed some of these qualities, no record of him 

 was preserved. In other words, it was the ancestry preserved by 

 record of noted animals. The builders of breed foundation in 

 those days were breeders in every sense of. the word. They were 

 men who believed in the fundamental law of nature, that "Like 

 produces like," and that from good animals alone could they pro- 

 duce good animals. 



Sometimes they knew absolutely nothing of the previous gen- 

 erations in an animal's history. Those were days when a pedi- 

 gree would oftentimes consist of nothing more than a number in 

 the record book — in the herd book governing the registration of 

 animals of that breed of live stock — and in many instances I can 

 refer you to certain sires in shorthorn history where they were not 

 -even given entry on their individuality, but years after, when these 



