CHAPTER II. 

 IN-BREEDING. 



From time to time it has been a disputed point among our coastal 

 stockowners whether the system of in-breeding or the opposite one 

 of frequent crossing has the greater tendency to maintain or improve 

 the character of stock. The advocates of both systems, however, do 

 not seem to argue with that fulness of knowledge required 'for such 

 an important contest. The truth probably is, as in some other similar 

 disputes, that to a certain extent or within certain limits the con- 

 testants can see a certain amount of right and wrong on either side, 

 owing to the fact that in-breeding and cross-breeding are terms so 

 carelessly used. Those who argue against in-breeding generally quote 

 such writers as confine the phrase to the coupling or mating of 

 those animals of exactly the same blood namely, brothers and sisters, 

 while others include in it breeding from parents and offspring- ; and 

 others still employ the term to embrace those of a more distant re- 

 lationship. For the term " in-breeding" the latter is probably the 

 more fitting, as the prevalent opinion is decidedly against the prac- 

 tice of breeding from any near relationship, as it is considered that 

 few aniiruls in a state of domestication are wholly free from hereditary 

 defects and diseases. 



Cross-breeding, as w r ell as in-breeding, has its strong and weak 

 points. Some define cross-breeding as mating a thoroughbred and a 

 half-bred animal, as in horses. But the more suitable definition of 

 cross-breeding for our purpose is the crossing of two distinct breeds 

 that have been bred for generations for the same purpose namely, 

 the cross of the Jersey bull with the Ayrshire cow a cross which 

 has been proven to be important to those who combine dairying with 

 stock raising as a livelihood. 



To return to the subject of in-breeding, it may be interesting to 

 many of our critics who have been clamouring for the introduction 

 of new blood into the 3airy herds of Illawarra and Shoalhaven for 

 years past to study the fo. lowing article, written by the editor of the 

 Irish " Agricultural Gazette" in 1860, on a cow bred by Mr. Charles 

 Colling, named *' Charmer" : 



" Probably few who have not critically examined the facts regard- 

 ing close breeding in the improved Shorthorns are aware of the ex- 

 tent to which it has been car'ried. Mr. Colling after he procured the 

 historic bull ' Hubback,' selected cows most likely to develop his 

 special excellences, and from the progeny of these he bred very 

 closely. From that day to this the Shorthorns have been closety bred. 

 ' Charmer,' bred by Mr. Colling, sold for 600. It is unquestionable 

 that the ability of a cow or bull to transmit the merit either may pos- 

 sess does in a great degree depend upon its having been inherited by 

 them through a long line of ancestry. Nothing is more remarkab e 

 than the way in which the earlier improvers of the Shorthorn breed 

 carried out their belief in this. They were indeed driven, by the few 

 comparative well bred animals at their command, to use the same sire 

 on successive generations of his own begetting, while breeders now- 

 adays have the advantage of fifty different strains and families from 

 which to choose the materials of their herds. 



" But whether it was necessity or choice that compelled the earlier 

 breeder to in-breed, it is certain that the pedigree of no pure bred 

 Shorthorn can be traced without many illustrations of the way in- 

 breeding has influenced its character, deepened it, made it permanent, 

 so that it is handed down unimpaired and even strengthened in the 



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