LIVE STOCK BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 3 



There are many inbred animals which have become much noted for their excel- 

 lence in quality, prepotency and production. There are also many sad disappoint- 

 ments that have been experienced. Over-refined, under size, non-breeding, 

 malformed and idiotic animals are evil results which may accompany too close 

 breeding. Inbreeding tends to intensify both good and bad characters and it 

 is a safe rule never to inbreed when defects and characters that are not desirable 

 appear in the makeup of the animals to be mated. One must be prepared to 

 rigidly select or cull from the herd the undesirable types that follow this practice. 



Out-Crossing. Inbreeding and line breeding confine animals to one 

 family or strain. When there is a tendency on the part of a herd thus developed 

 to show indications of weakness, it is well to select from some other strain or 

 family of the same breed, a sire that will overcome the weakness and instill into 

 the family the character that is lacking. Such a practice is termed "out-crossing." 



Grade and High Grade Animals. A grade animal is usually by a pure 

 bred sire and out of a grade or native female. It, therefore, has 50 or more per- 

 cent of the blood of a pure bred class of animals. A high grade animal carries 

 a relatively high percent of the blood of a pure bred. Grade animals are not 

 eligible to registry in the herd books that record the names of pure bred animals. 



Pure Bred Animals. The term "pure bred" applies to animals having 

 one hundred percent of the blood of a distinct breed. They are usually from 

 registered animals and are eligible to registration in the herd books of the 

 Association that promotes and preserves the records of animals of the breed 

 in question. 



Cross-Bred Animals. Technically a cross-bred animal is the progeny re- 

 sulting from the mating of pure bred animals of two distinct breeds. The type 

 may be the same or different, for example, two breeds of cattle like the Short- 

 horn and Aberdeen Angus, or breeds representing beef and dairy cattle like the 

 Shorthorn and Guernsey. 



Mongrel and Scrub Animals. Where animals have been promiscuously 

 produced by more or less crossing or inbreeding and have been poorly managed 

 or neglected, they are commonly known and termed mongrels or scrubs. They 

 may represent a survival of the fittest, but at best are unprofitable and a poor 

 foundation upon which to build for anything better. Time and money will be 

 gained by selling such animals and purchasing grades or pure breds to serve as a 

 foundation for breeding. 



Factors that Insure Success in Animal Breeding. Select the best founda- 

 tion animals it is possible to secure, keeping in mind animals of the most useful 

 and desirable types. 



Use only sires of pure breeding and as far as possible sires old enough to 

 have proved their prepotency. 



Feed and manage the breeding stock to keep them in a healthy and thrifty 

 condition. 



Avoid unsanitary conditions and all possibility of introducing contagious 

 and infectious diseases. 



Keep young animals growing from birth to maturity. 



