78 MANUAL OF FARM ANIMALS 



sirable individuals, and to encourage the production of those 

 individuals that meet the demand. In choosing farm animals 

 for breeding purposes, there are at least three factors to be taken 

 into consideration : First, the perfection of the individual as a 

 representative of its race or type, or the individual merit of the 

 animal as a specimen; second, the capacity of the individual 

 to reproduce itself or to show improvement, or the pedigree of 

 the animal ; and third, the suitability of the two individuals 

 to be mated. 



Individual merit. — It is often a question as to whether we 

 should pay more attention to the individual merit of the animal 

 or to its pedigree. It cannot be said that they are equal, or that 

 one is more important than the other. There are two general 

 principles in this connection that should always be borne in 

 mind : the offspring of an inferior individual with a good pedi- 

 gree is very likely to possess merit ; many of the offspring of a 

 superior individual with a poor pedigree will, in all probability, 

 be distinctly inferior in merit. In other words, no matter 

 what the individual merits of an animal may be, unless he has 

 inherited these qualities equally from his ancestors, we can- 

 not expect him to transmit them with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. 



Pedigree. — The capacity of the individual to reproduce itself 

 or to show improvement depends much upon his ancestors; that 

 is, upon his pedigree. Pedigree is a record of the ancestry 

 of an animal ; it furnishes, therefore, a guaranty of the purity 

 of the stock. The book in which such records are kept is 

 called a herd-book. The mere fact that the lineage of an animal 

 is known, is a certain indication of the quality of the animal, 

 but this fact does not indicate the capacity of the individual to 

 reproduce itself. The knowledge of the individual quality of 

 the animals making up a pedigree is an important factor. Char- 

 acters will be transmitted in proportion to the degree with which 

 they have become fixed in the parents. We are accustomed to 



