38 METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT 



to do with rams whose horns did not curve in front of their ears, 

 while in another community they insisted that if rams did not have 

 horns curving back of the ears they were unfit for breeding. It 

 was Bakewell's good common sense in singling out points of utility 

 for improvement quite as much or even more than his insight into 

 laws of breeding that made him invaluable to livestock improvement. 



As a method, mass breeding possesses a great deal of merit and 

 the amount of selection it invol^s is about all that is practiced at 

 present by those breeders who raise sheep merely for the wool and 

 mutton they produce. 



A Study of Matings. When men became thoroughly absorbed 

 in the problem of sheep breeding, they doubtless began to study the 

 animals to be mated, and this naturally led to attaching a history 

 of the parents or an ancestry to an animal, for men soon learned 

 that the physical make-up of the offspring was not dependent solely 

 upon the appearance of the immediate parents. So far as is known, 

 it was Bakewell who first studied matings closely, and unquestion- 

 ably this study contributed, in no small way, to the far-reaching 

 results of his work. At the present time the most skillful sheep 

 breeders are close students of matings. A few years ago, the writer, 

 while visiting a prominent breeder in England, was shown records 

 which contained both pedigrees and carefully worded descriptions of 

 all the rams that had been used in the flock. In each breeding season 

 these records were brought into use as a help in determining matings. 

 Before time for breeding, each ewe was studied critically, then refer- 

 ence was made to the breeding and appearance of the sire, grand- 

 sire, and perhaps great grandsire. The decision as to the ram with 

 which to mate her was not final until all of this study had been 

 made. The flock bore ample evidence of the value of exercising such 

 care in mating. 



A careful study of mating stimulated the tendency to observe 

 associations which, when correctly noted, became a means of assist- 

 ance in the selection of rams and ewes for breeding purposes. For 

 example, when breeders observed that rams having suitable wool 

 and body conformation, and strong, bold features about the head 

 and neck sired stronger and better offspring than rams having simi- 

 lar wool and body conformation, but lacking in strength and bold- 

 ness of features, an important association in the degree of develop- 

 ment of characters was discovered which has since been a useful 

 guide in breed improvement. It is perhaps erroneous to say that all 



