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II. — On the Selection of Male Animals in the Breeding of Cattle 

 and Sheep, by the Right Hon. Earl Spencer^ President of 

 the Society. Read February 20th, 1839. 



More from wishing to set an example to others, than from any 

 hope that what I myself can suggest will be practically useful, I sub- 

 mit to the English Agricultural Society the results of my expe- 

 rience in an important part of that division of farming, to which 

 my own attention has been particularly applied,— I mean the 

 breeding of stock. The part to which the following observations 

 apply is the selection of male animals. A large proportion of 

 farmers breed sheep and several breed cattle ; to all who breed 

 either this subject is one of great importance. 



The object of a certain number is to breed bulls or rams for the 

 purpose of selling or letting them, but that of the majority is to 

 breed oxen or wethers for the purpose of grazing. The first of 

 these classes is very well aware of the importance of selecting good 

 male animals, and profess to spare no trouble and to be very indif- 

 ferent as to the expense which they incur in obtaining them ; but 

 with respect to those whose object it is only to breed oxen or 

 wethers, I am afraid the case is generally very different, and they 

 take very little trouble and expend as little money as possible in 

 procuring the male animals to which they put their females ; that 

 is, they consider as a matter of indifference that on which the pro- 

 fitable or unprofitable nature of their occupation mainly depends. 



It is admitted by every one that the bodily and constitutional 

 qualities of the offspring are usually similar to those of the parents, 

 either combining in various proportions the qualities of both 

 parents, or taking entirely after one. I should say, as respects 

 cattle and sheep, that, in most cases, the qualities of the male parent 

 predominate in the offspring. I have also observed that the worse- 

 bred the female is, the more will this be the case when she is put 

 to a well-bred male. This observation was first made, I believe, 

 by the late Mr. Berry, in an essay, for which he received a prize 

 from the Highland Society. He accounted for it thus : a well-bred 

 animal means one whose ancestors for several successive genera- 

 tions have all been good, that is, have all possessed the peculiari- 

 ties in constitution and shape which it is the object of experienced 

 graziers to obtain in their stock. The characteristic, therefore, of the 

 family of such an animal will be such peculiarities ; but the ances- 

 tors of a badly-bred animal will probably have varied in every 

 possible way, and therefore there will be no distinguishing charac- 

 teristic in its family ; it is consequently most probable that the off- 

 spring produced from a cross between two animals so circumstanced 

 will be more like the one in whose family there is a distinguishing 

 characteristic, than the one in whose family no such characteristic 



