58 LIVE-STOCK JUDGING 



The Law of Correlation 



The law of correlation is one of the principles upon 

 which the practice of judging is based — the correlation 

 of form or structure and function, and the correlation of 

 parts, one to the other. 



74. The correlation of form and function. — Actual 

 determination of functional capacity, as in the horse race 

 or pulling contest, the dairy or slaughter test, affords the 

 most accurate and, in some instances, the only means of 

 judging the relative merits of individuals. No one would 

 consider settling a matter of speed supremacy in the show 

 ring, for instance, but would send the contestants away 

 in a race. It even happens that the awarding of the rib- 

 bons in dairy and beef cattle rings may be somewhat 

 reversed when the same classes are subjected to the real 

 test in the dairy or the abattoir. However, it is not al- 

 ways practicable to await the results of a try-out of relative 

 merits in performance or production; the judge must 

 estimate functional possibilities from an analysis of struc- 

 ture and, if correct standards of measuring structure are 

 employed, reasonably accurate results may be expected. 

 The more complicated the fimction, of course, the greater 

 the factor of possible error. 



Function is the end, structure the means. Function 

 has its limitations. In the case of the finished block ani- 

 mal, it consists simply of being a carcass of beef, mutton or 

 pork, while in the case of the feeder, function implies 

 doing something, and with the horse and the dairy cow 

 doing may become a still more complicated performance. 

 It is manifestly a simpler proposition to determine how 

 a hog will cut up or a steer hang up by seeing them on foot 

 than to estimate, from an inspection, how many pounds of 



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