FARMER'S 

 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



HISTORY AND BREEDING OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



THE DOMESTICATION OF ANI- 

 MALS is the most important factor in 

 the development and civilization of man. 

 Before man had animal associates he was 

 a savage, without a home, without culti- 

 vated fields and without sympathetic 

 instincts. Animals, however, have pro- 

 duced more profound changes in man's 

 mental and moral equipment and in his 

 social and domestic affairs than any- 

 other feature of his environment. Ani- 

 mals not only furnished the power to 

 subdue nature, cultivate the soil and in- 

 augurate an agricultural system, but 

 they also supplied food, clothing and 

 many necessary utensils. The para- 

 mount influence of domestic animals 

 upon our civilization cannot be elimi- 

 nated by assuming that man naturally 

 had the impetus toward a higher form 

 of civilization. The races which have 

 few domesticated animals have Temained 

 far behind in point of power, commer- 

 cial progress and mental development. 



A human being without a fondness for 

 animals is a rare and strange creature. 

 A bond of sympathy exists between us 

 and our animal associates and this sym- 

 pathy has led to the establishment of 

 various forms of association between 

 man and animals. Many species of an- 

 imals have found how to profit from as- 

 sociation with man. We in turn have 

 found it necessary as well as a source of 

 satisfaction to utilize animals for our 

 own purposes. 



From the thousands of species of ani- 

 mals on the globe only a few have been 

 domesticated. At first thought this may 

 seem strange but practically all of the 

 really promising species have been 

 domesticated — most of them before the 

 dawn of history. Man requires certain 

 characters in his farm animals. These 

 are not mysterious characters, however, 

 but simply the same qualities which he 

 requires in his farm workmen — the abil- 

 ity to understand and willingness to do 

 his desires. Farm animals are useful to 



the extent to which they fulfill these re- 

 quirements and the wages of farm work- 

 men are rated on the same basis. A 

 balky horse or one with vicious habits is 

 of little or no value although his strength 

 and speed may be of the highest stand- 

 ard. 



Animal characteristics—Perhaps we 

 have not all realized how necessary it 

 is to have an understanding between 

 ourselves and our animal servants. 

 But everyone has noticed differences in 

 attachment. The cat becomes attached 

 to the place but there is little or no per- 

 sonal affection. When you move to a 

 new home your cat remains at the 

 former place, or if taken away goes 

 back at the first opportunity. With the 

 dog, on the other hand, home is at his 

 master's side. The dog's sense of local- 

 ity is as well developed as in the cat but 

 his attachment or affection is a personal 

 matter. The dog, moreover, makes great 

 progress in understanding his master's 

 business and desires. We have all seen 

 dogs which knew just where the pigs and 

 chickens were allowed to range and 

 where they were not permitted. Such 

 dogs will learn to protect their master's 

 interests in a hundred other respects. 

 All of us who have seen trained sheep 

 dogs work know how attentive they are 

 to their business. The coyotes and 

 other enemies must be driven away. 

 None of the sheep can be permitted to 

 stray away from the herd. Sleeping 

 lambs must be roused and driven into 

 the herd when it moves away from the 

 bed-ground. These and a hundred other 

 details are attended to without any ad- 

 monition from the shepherd. The dog 

 learns how to frighten stubborn sheep 

 without injuring them — by threatening 

 to bite and otherwise. All this requires 

 a high order of intelligence — more than 

 some of our human servants manifest. 



Cattle show less of the personal ele- 

 ment in their association with man. 

 Usually they are perfectly content when 



