PRINCIPLES OF LIVESTOCK BREEDING. 53 



It is evident from what has been said that it is an exceedingly diffi- 

 cult thing to be able to judge quickly and accurately the amount which 

 a certain pedigree adds to or subtracts from the value of an animal 

 as an individual. A very detailed knowledge of breed history, recent 

 and past, is necessary, as well as good judgment. The past history 

 can be learned in part from standard books on the breeds, while the 

 recent history, which is more important, can be best acquired by 

 following the results at the great shows and sales for a few years and 

 keeping in touch with the current breed journals. The pedigree of 

 any purebred can easily be obtained from the herd, flock, or studbook. 



The best method of writing a pedigree for the purpose of study is 

 that given for Amos Cruikshank's famous Shorthorn bull, Roan 

 Gauntlet, in the tabulation shown. All the ancestors for a number of 

 generations are shown in their proper relations to each other. Any 

 line breeding in the pedigree is at once brought out. In the case of 

 Roan Gauntlet the accompanying form shows that he traces in every 

 line to a mating of Mr. Cruikshank's great bull, Champion of England, 

 with a daughter or granddaughter of Lord Raglan. 



The other common method of writing pedigrees is given for Roan 

 Gauntlet below the full tabulation. The dam, her dam, and so on 

 in the straight female line, are named in the first column. Opposite 

 each female is written the name of her sire. It is very common in 

 this form to add the name of the breeder after each animal, a practice 

 which, as already noted, is often of value in giving significance to 

 otherwise unknown names. To the breeder who is thoroughly 

 acquainted with the leading sires in his breed, their own merit and 

 that of their progeny, the names of the three or four males at the top 

 of the column may be sufficient for a very satisfactory estimate of the 

 value of the pedigree. Unfortunately, this form of pedigree is likely 

 to lead to undue weight being placed on the female line of ancestry. 

 Owing to their smaller numbers, the sires are in general superior to 

 the dams both in breeding and as individuals. Thus the straight 

 female line is apt to be the weakest in the whole pedigree. Direction 

 of attention to this line has merely the somewhat negative justifica- 

 tion that if it is good the whole pedigree is likely to be good. 



The amount of information necessary for weighing properly the 

 value of a pedigree is so great that a large number of men arrive at 

 their conclusions by some short cut. The usual short cut in this case 

 is the basing of values on family names, assigned to animals in a 

 more or less arbitrary way. If the families really represented closely 

 bred lines — breeds within breeds — this would be satisfactory, but that 

 is seldom the case. In some breeds, the family name applies to all 

 the descendants through the straight female line from some particular 

 female. The second form of pedigree described above has the unfor- 

 tunate effect of appearing to sanction this system. After a few gen- 



