CHAPTER VI 

 PRACTICE JUDGING 



A THOROUGH study of animal form with full appreci- 

 ation of its bearing on function as concerned in economic 

 production is fundamental to actual judging. 



Judging implies comparison and competition, since 

 selection is impossible when only one individual is pre- 

 sented. It requires, first, an analysis of each individual 

 under consideration. Then a comparison of each, in 

 sum total, and finally competitive consideration, the 

 good points of one being arraigned against the good points 

 of another, the defects against defects, until a final and 

 definite conclusion may be drawn as to their relative merits. 



80. Analysis of the individual. — A study of the indi- 

 vidual should precede any attempt at comparative or 

 competitive judging. The names, ideal features, and 

 possible defects, with their significance, must be known 

 and detected both in so far as the individual parts are 

 concerned, and in their relation with other parts. Score 

 card practice and demonstrations are most useful in acquir- 

 ing this information. 



81. The score card, in this relation, is not to be consid- 

 ered as a standard of measurement or a numerical ex- 

 pression of merit as in the scoring of cows for advanced 

 registration, but as a word picture or descriptive specifica- 

 tion of the ideal animal. For this purpose the detailed, 

 rather than the condensed, score card is most useful. 



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