36 A STUDY OF FARM ANIMALS 



medium on fancy points without detriment to his herd, and 

 at the same time preserve the desirable qualities, thereby 

 attracting buyers. But what could be more unwise than to 

 neglect constitution in order to maintain some special color 

 character? Yet more than one breeder has been guilty in 

 this respect, to the positive injury of his herd. 



A knowledge of breed character is requisite if one is to 

 become an intelligent breeder. All our farm animals may 

 be grouped into breeds, crosses, grades, or scrubs. Any 

 improvement made must come through the breed, or pure- 

 bred line. Our breeds are the outcome of systematic selection 

 and improvement. Present-day standards are undoubt- 

 edly higher than ever, and breeders demand more and more 



Figure 9. Shropshire ewes heavily covered with wool. 1st prize pen 

 Royal Society Show, England. Photograph from Sir William Cooper. 



merit in breed representatives. Thus it is highly important 

 that the stockman should be quite familiar with the scale of 

 points, moulding all the desirable qualities into an ideal 

 worthy of the breed, and then endeavor to produce animals 

 that come nearest to that ideal. Such knowledge also calls 

 for a keen discrimination in selecting the breeding stock by 

 which the herd is maintained. 



The selection of the pedigree. One can not practice 

 selection and ignore pedigree. Persons familiar with lines 

 of family breeding recognize that more merit exists in some 



