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hire or buy from them imposes upon them the obligation to pay 
the strictest and most minute attention to the qualities of their male 
animals; more particularly they are bound not to offer to their 
customers any one, of the health of which they have any reason 
whatever to doubt — whether this doubt arises from any weakness of 
constitution which may have appeared in the individual himself, 
or whether it arises from their knowledge of the family from which 
he is descended. They are bound, also, not to keep as males any 
animals who are not perfectly well-bre'd. It does not follow from 
this, that a long pedigree is in all cases necessary, although it is 
generally desirable ; but it sometimes happens that a female of 
whose pedigree the owner is ignorant, will have produced offspring 
which have all possessed extraordinary merit, and which have 
proved themselves good breeders also : a male descended from 
such a female, may be considered perfectly well-bred on her side ; 
and will, very possibly, prove a better sire than many whose pedi- 
gree on paper is much longer. 
In paying this minute attention to their occupation, the breeders 
of male animals have some advantages not possessed by others. 
They have generally the opportunity of knowing accurately what 
are the characteristics of the families of the animals from which 
they breed, an opportunity not possessed by those who breed only 
for grazing purposes. In order to make a proper use of this 
advantage, they ought to keep accurate pedigrees of their cattle 
and of their sheep, and as far as possible, when they put the males 
and females together, recollect what have been the respective 
qualities of the ancestors of each. They have also the opportunity, 
by using a male cautiously at an early age, of knowing by experi- 
ment whether the stock produced from him is good or bad, before 
they run the risk of injuring their stock materially by using him 
largely. This may be ascertained with sufficient accuracy, when 
the produce are very young; for an experienced breeder can judge 
with tolerable certainty what will be the shape of a calf or a lamb 
when it grows up by seeing it soon after it is born, and before it 
has begun to lay on fat. Nor is it necessary to see many of the 
produce for the purpose of deciding what its general characteristics 
will probably be. I admit that in saying this I am speaking more 
from my experience as a breeder of cattle than a breeder of 
sheep, but I believe the same observations will apply to both. It 
is certain, however, that seeing four or five calves from a bull 
ought to be a sufficient guide to the breeder as to whether he will 
be valuable as a sire or not. Unless there is a family likeness 
which generally pervades through the produce from a bull, although 
he may be valuable as the sire of oxen, it will not be safe to use 
him as the sire of bulls. The seeing, therefore, four or five calves 
