FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF ZIVE STOCK 



from enemies. Then too the production 

 of more milk than is used would put an 

 unnecessary strain on the cow and 

 would be speedily corrected. In nature, 

 therefore, while the species tends to vary 

 in several directions from the average, 

 the average individual has best chance 

 in the struggle for existence. 



Fig. 25 — OLD-FASHIONED GAME COCK 



To the breeder, however, the average 

 is not good enough. He seeks to secure 

 variation to the extreme in large pro 

 duction of milk, beef, wool, speed or 

 other qualities. Individual merit is the 

 basis upon which the breeder must 

 build. According to this system if any 

 advantage is to be gained by occasional 

 inbreeding, the breeder avails himself of 

 it. If just the right breeding animal 

 cannot be obtained inside the line or 

 family, then outside blood is mixed with 

 the family, provided the outside animal 

 has the right qualities. As has been so 

 well stated by Warfield, in natural breed- 

 ing the breeder seeks to prevent the im- 

 pairment of the constitution of his stock 

 or any decrease in fecundity. Moreover, 

 he breeds for quality, practical value 

 and usefulness rather than for pedigree 

 or exhibition standards. In working 

 toward these ends he does not disregard 

 the achievements of his predecessors^ but 

 strives to save all the advantages gained 

 by them while he forges somewhat ahead. 

 The purpose of the breeder should be not 



to devise methods of breeding, but to 

 achieve results. The method is only a 

 means to an end. The breeder therefore 

 takes whatever there is of good from all 

 known methods. 



Inbreeding and outcrossing have been 

 very aptly compared as follows: "There 

 is no one point on which practical breed- 

 ers as well as scientists are more perfectly 

 agreed than that the ultimate tendency 

 of breeding in-and-in is injurious; that 

 when carried to excess it will always re- 

 sult in a loss of constitutional vigor in 

 the produce ; that while its tendency may 

 be in the direction of fineness of texture 

 lightness of bone, smoothness, evenness, 

 and polish, it is invariably at the ex- 

 pense of robustness, strength, vigor and 

 power. On the other hand scientists as 

 well as practical breeders, with perhaps 

 equal unanimity, concur in the belief 

 that a cross in the blood usually gives 

 increased size and vigor to the produce, 

 and that cross breeding or pairing of an- 

 imals of distinct varieties usually re- 



Fig. 26 — MODERN GAME COCK 



suits in increased fertility." Again, pre- 

 potency, which is often claimed as a 

 characteristic result of inbreeding, is fre- 

 quently secured by outcrosses to just as 

 great a degree. 



Cross breeding means mating animals 

 of two distinct breeds. A common modi- 



