SUGOESriONS ON SELECTION 79 



animal should have not only individuality but a pedigree 

 showing theiii to trace at least for four or five generations 

 to strong and unmistakable parentage. The individuals in the 

 pedigree should possess qualities such as size, constitution, 

 prepotency, and prolificacy. These are the things which 

 make a breeding animal valuable. If the records have been 

 properly kept all of this information can be obtained. The 

 latter type of breeder mentioned, however, does not main- 

 tain such records, and for this reason the better qualified 

 breeder should be sought. 



Lineage of Animals. — Lineage is analogous to the pedigree 

 of an animal. Reference is made here, however, to the 



Fig. 10. — Select breeding sheep as well as all other kinds of live stock 

 under field conditions where the sire, dam, and offspring may be examined. 

 (Photograph by author.) 



immediate ancestry on which the prospective purchaser 

 may make a critical examination to determine their probable 

 desirable or undesirable transmitting qualities. This 

 examination is seldom carried out in practice beyond the 

 sire and dam because the grandsires, grandams, and other 

 ancestors further removed, have usually either died, gone 

 into other herds, or passed their period of active usefulness 

 and have therefore been eliminated from the herd. A large 

 amount of valuable information may be obtained from the 

 immediate sire and dam. Their type can be studied closely, 

 their disposition, quality, constitution, and all other external 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



