CHAPTER IV. 



METHODS AND PRACTICES IN JUDGING AND 

 SELECTION. 



Definition. — Live stock judging, strictly defined, refers to 

 a determination of tfie value of a single animal or the com- 

 parative value of a class of animals for a specialized purpose. 

 The individual animal may be judged in a similar manner 

 to a class of animals, yet the student in so doing must have 

 learned to attain, either through practical experience or 

 college training, a fixed mental picture of an animal which 

 conforms to the established ideal of the type in question. 

 In reality, therefore, one animal may form a class as the 

 ideal animal, or a standard of comparison must always be 

 clearly fixed in the mind before judging or fixation of value 

 logically begins. In judging or ranking animals, the problem 

 is to establish a rating or rank according to the conformity 

 to the ideal, and from this affix a productive or market 

 value, the latter being the final test of block animals. 

 Whether the animal is considered from the standpoint of 

 breed, show, work, or for the block, there is a fixed value 

 which depends on the breeding, individuality and the 

 environment to which the animal has been subjected. 

 These are the main points or factors of development with 

 which the student must familiarize himself before judging, 

 in its strictest sense or selection, based on ancestry and per- 

 formance records, may be accurately performed. 



Live stock judging, broadly defined, may be considered 

 from the standpoint of comparative show yard placing, where 

 exterior qualifications or characteristics are the only guides, 

 or from the standpoint of individual herd or flock merit 

 based both on indi\'idual characteristics and performance 

 records. The work of the student, in making comparative 



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