LECTURE LXXXVI. 



THE FORMATION OF NEW BREEDS. 



From time to time the student of animal husbandry is at- 

 tracted by some new breed of stock. These have increased 

 so rapidly that at the present time we have in the neighbor- 

 hood of one hundred distinct breeds of live stock belonging to 

 the horse, cattle, sheep and swine kind. The advisability of 

 having so many breeds is a pertinent question for discussion. 

 There are those who claim that the more breeds of live stock 

 we have the better, as each and every additional breed will 

 make the competition that much keener, thus improvement 

 along all lines will inevitably follow. There may be some just 

 ground for such claims. Perhaps these new breeds do in a 

 measure cause the breeders of the old and well established 

 breeds to look to the laurels of their stock and strive to keep 

 them in the foremost rank by improvement. 



There would not be any just reason for the introduction or 

 the creation of something new unless it was to possess in 

 some measure at least qualities of a desirable nature which 

 were not to be found in those which previously existed. This 

 being the case, we would naturally expect that our domestic 

 animals have made wonderful strides along the line of devel- 

 opment during the last century and a half. 



So much for the claims of these new breeds. Many of them 

 have, in a small way at last, made good their claims. Others, 

 on the contrary, have not been able to measure up, thus have 

 never gained any particular prominence or popularity. Merit 

 alone is the test. Where there is just merit there will be a 

 permanency, a growing and lasting popularity. This being 

 the case, we should be justified in assuming that those breeds 

 which made little or no progress since" their initial bow have 

 failed to measure to the standard. It is very doubtful if it is 

 necessary to have so many distinct breeds of stock. Would 

 it not be better for the live stock industry to have fewer 

 breeds, thus stronger associations, higher standards and more 

 complete records of the various animals of the different 

 breeds? Many of our so-called breeds of stock at the present 

 time are in reality sub-breeds of some main or parent breed. 



