CHAPTER VIII. 



LIVE-STOCK AND DAIRYING, 



SECTION LIII. PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL BREEDING 

 AND GRADING. 



By PROF. E. S. GOOD, 

 Department of Animal Husbandry, Kentucky State University. 



All domestic animals were at one time wild, and only 

 those survived which were fitted by nature to endure 

 climatic, food, and other conditions of the country in 

 which they lived. This process of the survival of the 

 fittest is known as " natural selection." 



Variation and Artificial Selection. As man pro- 

 gressed these wild animals were domesticated, and find- 

 ing that they did not fully meet his wants, he took ad- 

 vantage of the law of " variation," which is, briefly 

 that the offspring will present certain characteristics of 

 size, color, quality, etc., not possessed by either parent. 

 By selecting those animals that varied to suit his needs 

 and taste, he has developed our present types of do- 

 mestic animals. This process is known as "artificial 

 selection." 



Heredity. While there is a tendency for the off- 

 spring to vary from the parents in some particular or 

 particulars, yet in the main they will resemble them, 

 or near relatives, and this is known as the " law of 

 heredity." Reversion. If an animal is born with 

 some characteristic common to its distant ancestors, it 

 is known as a case of "reversion" which is illustrated, 

 for instance, by a Devon cow (a breed red in color) 

 giving birth to a white calf resembling its ancestors, the 

 " Wild White Cattle of the Park." It must not be 

 understood that variation and selection alone have 



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