The Principles of Breeding Part 6

There is yet another style of crossing which when practicable, may, it is believed, be made a means to the highest degree of improvement attainable, and especially in the breeding of horses. The word "breed"

is often used with varying signification. In order to be understood, let me premise that I use it here simply to designate a cla.s.s of animals possessing a good degree of uniformity growing out of the fact of a common origin and of their having been reared under similar conditions. The method proposed is to unite animals _possessing similarity of desirable characteristics, with difference of breed_; that is to say, difference of breed in the sense just specified. From unions based upon this principle, the selections being guided by a skillful judgment and a discriminating tact, we may expect progeny possessing not only a fitting and symmetrical development of the locomotive system, but also an amount and intensity of nervous energy and power unattainable by any other method.

Such was in all probability the origin of the celebrated horse Justin Morgan; an animal which not only did more to stamp excellence and impart value to the roadsters of New England than any other, but was the originator of the only distinct, indigenous breed of animals of which America can boast;--a breed which as fast and durable road horses and for any light harness work, is not equalled by any other, any where. In the present state of our knowledge it is scarcely conceivable how an animal possessing the endowments of Justin Morgan could have originated in any other way than from such a parentage as above indicated. On the other hand it is very certain that _contrast in character_, as well as in breed, has occasioned much of the disappointment of which breeders have had occasion to complain.

The principle here laid down is one of broad application, and should never be lost sight of in attempts at improvement by crossing. Another point worthy special attention is that all crossing, to insure successful results, should be gentle rather than violent; that is, never couple animals possessing marked dissimilarity, but endeavor to remedy faults and to effect improvement by gradual approaches. Harmony of structure and a proper balancing of desirable characteristics, "an equilibrium of good qualities," as it has been happily expressed, can be secured only in this way.

It may not be out of place here to say, that much of the talk about _blood_ in animals, especially horses, is sheer nonsense. When a "blood horse" is spoken of, it means, so far as it means any thing, that his pedigree can be traced to Arabian or Barbary origin, and so is possessed of the peculiar type of structure and great nervous energy which usually attaches to "thorough-bred" horses. When a bull, or cow, or sheep is said to be of "pure blood," it means simply that the animal is of some distinct variety--that it has been bred from an ancestry all of which were marked by the same peculiarities and characteristics.

So long as the term "blood" is used to convey the idea of definite hereditary qualities it may not be objectionable. We frequently use expressions which are not strictly accurate, as when we speak of the sun's rising and setting, and so long as every body knows that we refer to apparent position and not to any motion of the sun, no false ideas are conveyed. But to suppose that the hereditary qualities of an animal attach to the blood more than to any other fluid or to any of the tissues of the body, or that the blood of a high-bred horse is essentially different from that of another, is entirely erroneous. The qualities of an animal depend upon its organization and endowments, and the blood is only the vehicle by which these are nourished and sustained;--moreover the blood varies in quality, composition and amount, according to the food eaten, the air breathed and the exercise taken. If one horse is better than another it is not because the fluid in his veins is of superior quality, but rather because his structure is more perfect mechanically, and because nervous energy is present in fitting amount and intensity.

For ill.u.s.tration, take two horses--one so built and endowed that he can draw two tons or more, three miles in an hour; the other so that he can trot a mile in three minutes or less. Let us suppose the blood coursing in the veins of each to be transferred to the other; would the draft horse acquire speed thereby, or the trotter acquire power?

Just as much and no more as if you fed each for a month with the hay, oats and water intended for the other.

It is well to attend to pedigree, for thus only can we know what are the hereditary qualities, but it is not well to lay too much stress upon "blood," What matters it that my horse was sired by such a one or such a one, if he be himself defective? In breeding horses, _structure_ is first, and endowment with nervous energy is next to be seen to, and then pedigree--afterwards that these be fittingly united, by proper selection for coupling, in order to secure the highest degree of probability which the nature of the case admits, that the offspring may prove a perfect machine and be suitably endowed with motive power.

"The body of an animal is a piece of mechanism, the moving power of which is the vital principle, which like fire to the steam engine sets the whole in motion; but whatever quant.i.ty of fire or vital energy may be applied, neither the animal machine nor the engine will work with regularity and effect, unless the individual parts of which the machine is composed are properly adjusted and fitted for the purposes for which they are intended; or if it is found that the machine does move by the increase of moving power, still the motion is irregular and imperfect; the bolts and joints are continually giving way, there is a continued straining of the various parts, and the machine becomes worn out and useless in half the time it might have lasted if the proportions had been just and accurate. Such is the case with the animal machine. It is not enough that it is put in motion by the n.o.blest spirit or that it is nourished by the highest blood; every bone must have its just proportion; every muscle or tendon its proper pulley; every lever its proper length and fulcrum; every joint its most accurate adjustment and proper lubrication; all must have their relative proportions and strength, before the motions of the machine can be accurate, vigorous and durable. In every machine modifications are required according as the purposes vary to which it is applied.

The heavy dray horse is far from having the arrangement necessary for the purposes of the turf, while the thorough-bred is as ill adapted for the dray. Animals are therefore to be selected for the individual purposes for which they are intended, with the modifications of form proper for the different uses to which they are to be applied; but for whatever purpose they may be intended, there are some points which are common to all, in the adjustment of the individual parts. If the bones want their due proportions, or are imperfectly placed--if the muscles or tendons want their proper levers--if the flexions of the joints be interrupted by the defectiveness of their mechanism, the animal must either be defective in motion or strength; the bones have irregular pressure, and if they do not break, become diseased; if the muscles or tendons do not become sprained or ruptured, they are defective in their action; if friction or inflammation does not take place in the joints, the motions are awkward and grotesque. As in every other machine, the beauty of the animate, whether in motion or at rest, depends upon the arrangement of the individual parts."

CHAPTER IX.

BREEDING IN THE LINE.

The preferable style of breeding for the great majority of farmers to adopt, is neither to cross, nor to breed from close affinities, (except in rare instances and for some specific and clearly understood purpose,) but to _breed in the line_, that is, select the breed or race best adapted to fulfill the requirements demanded, whether it be for the dairy, for labor or for beef in cattle, or for such combination of these as can be had without too great sacrifice of the princ.i.p.al requisite; whether for fine wool as a primary object and for meat as a secondary one, or for mutton as a primary and wool for a secondary object, and then procure a _pure bred_ male of the kind determined on, and breed him to the females of the herd or of the flock; and if these be not such as are calculated to develop his qualities, endeavor by purchase or exchange to procure such as will.

Let the progeny of these be bred to another _pure bred_ male of the same breed, but as distantly related to the first as may be. Let this plan be steadily pursued, and although we cannot, without the intervention of well bred females, obtain stock purely of kind desired, yet in several generations, if proper care be given in the selection of males, that each one be such as to retain and improve upon the points gained by his predecessor, the stock for most practical purposes will be as good as if thorough-bred. Were this plan generally adopted, and a system of letting or exchange of males established, the cost might be brought within the means of most persons, and the advantages which would accrue would be almost beyond belief.

The writer on Cattle in the Library of Useful Knowledge well remarks:--"At the outset of his career, the farmer should have a clear and determined conception of the object that he wishes to accomplish.

He should consider the nature of his farm; the quality, abundance or deficiency of his pasturage, the character of the soil, the seasons of the year when he will have plenty or deficiency of food, the locality of his farm, the market to which he has access and the produce which can be disposed of with greatest profit, and these things will at once point to him the breed he should be solicitous to obtain. The man of wealth and patriotism may have more extensive views, and n.o.bly look to the general improvement of cattle; but the farmer, with his limited means and with the claims that press upon him, regards his cattle as a valuable portion of his own little property, and on which every thing should appear to be in natural keeping, and be turned to the best advantage. The best beast for him is that which suits his farm the best, and with a view to this, he studies, or ought to study, the points and qualities of his own cattle, and those of others. The dairyman will regard the quant.i.ty of milk--the quality--its value for the production of b.u.t.ter and cheese--the time that the cow continues in milk--the character of the breed for quietness, or as being good nurses--the predisposition to garget or other disease, or dropping after calving--the natural tendency to turn every thing to nutriment--the ease with which she is fattened when given up as a milker, and the proportion of food requisite to keep her in full milk or to fatten her when dry. The grazier will consider the kind of beast which his land will bear--the kind of meat most in demand in his neighborhood--the early maturity--the quickness of fattening at any age--the quality of the meat--the parts on which the flesh and fat are princ.i.p.ally laid--and more than all the hardihood and the adaptation to the climate and soil.

In order to obtain these valuable properties the good farmer will make himself perfectly master of the characters and qualities of his own stock. He will trace the connection of certain good qualities and certain bad ones, with an almost invariable peculiarity of shape and structure; and at length he will arrive at a clear conception, not so much of beauty of form (although that is a pleasing object to contemplate) as of that outline and proportion of parts with which _utility_ is oftenest combined. Then carefully viewing his stock he will consider where they approach to, and how far they wander from, this utility of form; and he will be anxious to preserve or to increase the one and to supply the deficiency of the other. He will endeavor to select from his own stock those animals that excel in the most valuable points, and particularly those which possess the greatest number of these points, and he will unhesitatingly condemn every beast that manifests deficiency in any one important point. He will not, however, too long confine himself to his own stock, unless it be a very numerous one. The breeding from close affinities has many advantages to a certain extent. It was the source whence sprung the cattle and sheep of Bakewell and the superior cattle of Colling; and to it must also be traced the speedy degeneracy, the absolute disappearance of the New Leicester cattle, and, in the hands of many agriculturists, the impairment of const.i.tution and decreased value of the New Leicester sheep and of the Short-horns. He will therefore seek some change in his stock every second or third year, and that change is most conveniently effected by introducing a new bull. This bull should be of the same breed, and pure, coming from a similar pasturage and climate, but possessing no relations.h.i.+p--or, at most, a very distant one--to the stock to which he is introduced. He should bring with him every good point which the breeder has labored to produce in his stock, and if possible, some improvement, and especially in the points where the old stock may have been somewhat deficient, and most certainly he should have no manifest defect of form; and that most essential of all qualifications, a hardy const.i.tution, should not be wanting.

There is one circ.u.mstance, however, which the breeder occasionally forgets, but which is of as much importance to the permanent value of his stock as any careful selection of animals can be--and that is, good keeping. It has been well said that all good stock must be both bred with attention and well fed. It is necessary that these two essentials in this species of improvement should always accompany each other; for without good resources of keeping, it would be vain to attempt supporting a valuable stock. This is true with regard to the original stock. It is yet more evident when animals are absurdly brought from a better to a poorer soil. The original stock will deteriorate if neglected and half-starved, and the improved breed will lose ground even more rapidly, and to a far greater extent."

A very brief resume of the preceding remarks may be expressed as follows:

The Law of Similarity teaches us to select animals for breeding which possess the desired forms and qualities in the greatest perfection and best combination.

Regard should be had not only to the more obvious characteristics, but also to such hereditary traits and tendencies as may be hidden from cursory observation and demand careful and thorough investigation.

From the hereditary nature of all characteristics, whether good or bad, we learn the importance of having all desirable qualities and properties _thoroughly inbred_; or, in other words, so firmly fixed in each generation, that the next is warrantably certain to present nothing worse,--that no ill results follow from breeding back towards some inferior ancestor,--that all undesirable traits or points be, so far as possible, _bred out_.

So important is this consideration, that in practice, it is decidedly preferable to employ a male of ordinary external appearance, provided his ancestry be all which is desired, rather than a grade or cross-bred animal, although the latter be greatly his superior in personal beauty.

A knowledge of the Law of Divergence teaches us to avoid, for breeding purposes, such animals as exhibit variations unfavorable to the purpose in view; and to endeavor to perpetuate every real improvement gained; also to secure as far as practicable, the conditions necessary to induce or to perpetuate any improvement, such as general treatment, food, climate, habit, &c.

Where the parents do not possess the perfection desired, selections for coupling should be made with critical reference to correcting the faults or deficiencies of one by corresponding excellence in the other.

But to correct defects too much must not be attempted at once. Pairing those very unlike, oftener results in loss than in gain. Mating a horse for speed with a draft mare, will more likely beget progeny good for neither, than for both. Avoid all extremes, and endeavor by moderate degrees to obtain the object desired.

Crossing, between different breeds, for the purpose of obtaining animals for the shambles, may be advantageously practiced to considerable extent, but not for the production of breeding animals.

As a general rule cross-bred males should not be employed for propagation, and cross-bred females should be served by thorough-bred males.

In ordinary practice, breeding from near relations.h.i.+ps is to be _scrupulously avoided_; for certain purposes, under certain conditions and circ.u.mstances, and in the hands of a skillful breeder, it may be practiced with advantage, but not otherwise.

In a large majority of cases (other things being equal) we may expect in progeny the outward form and general structure of the sire, together with the internal qualities, const.i.tution and nutritive system of the dam; each, however, modified by the other.

Particular care should always be taken that the male by which the dam first becomes pregnant is the best which can be obtained; also, that at the time of s.e.xual congress both are in vigorous health.

Breeding animals should not be allowed to become fat, but always kept in thrifty condition; and such as are intended for the butcher should never be fat but once.

In deciding with what breeds to stock a farm, endeavor to select those best adapted to its surface, climate, and degree of fertility; also with reference to probable demand and proximity to markets.

No expense incurred in procuring choice animals for propagation, or any amount of skill in breeding, can supersede, or compensate for, a lack of liberal feeding and good treatment. The better the stock, the better care they deserve.

CHAPTER X.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS BREEDS.

The inquiry is frequently made, what is the best breed of cattle, sheep, &c., for general use. In reply it may be said that no breed can by any possibility fulfill all requirements in the best possible manner; one is better for meat and early maturity, another for milk, another for wool, and so on. Because under certain circ.u.mstances it may be necessary or advisable for a man to serve as his own builder, tailor, tanner and blacksmith, it by no means follows that all which is required will be as well, or as easily done, as by a division of labor. So it is better for many reasons, and more profit can be made, by employing different breeds for different purposes, than by using one for all, and towards such profitable employment we should constantly aim. At the same time there is a large cla.s.s of farmers so situated that they cannot keep distinct breeds, and yet wish to employ them for different uses, and whose requirements will best be met by a kind of cattle, which, without possessing remarkable excellence in any one direction, shall be sufficiently hardy, the oxen proving docile and efficient laborers for a while, and then turn quickly into good beef upon such food as their farms will produce, the cows giving a fair quant.i.ty and quality of milk for the needs of the family and perhaps to furnish a little b.u.t.ter and cheese for market.

Before proceeding to answer the inquiry more definitely, it may be well to remark further, that among the facts of experience regarding cattle, sheep and horses, nothing is better established than that no breed can be transferred from the place where it originated, and to which it was suited, to another of unlike surface, climate and fertility, and retain equal adaptation to its new situation, nor can it continue to be what it was before. It must and will vary. The influence of climate alone, aside from food and other agencies in causing variation, is so great that the utmost skill in breeding, and care in all other respects, cannot wholly control its modifying effects.

It is also pretty well established that no breed brought in from abroad can be fully as good, _other things being equal_, as one indigenous to the locality, or what approximates the same thing, as one, which by being reared through repeated generations on the spot has become thoroughly acclimated; so that the presumption is strongly in favor of _natives_.

When we look about us however, we find, if we except the Morgan horses, nothing which deserves the name of indigenous breeds or races.

The cattle and sheep known as "natives" are of mixed foreign origin, and have been bred with no care in selection, but crossed in every possible way. They possess no fixed hereditary traits, and although among them are many of very respectable qualities, and which possess desirable characteristics, they cannot be relied upon _as breeders, to produce progeny of like excellence_. Instead of constancy, there is continual variation, and frequent "breeding back," exhibiting the undesirable traits of inferior ancestors. That a breed might be established from them, by careful selection continued during repeated generations, aided perhaps by judicious crossing with more recent importations, fully as good as any now existing, is not to be doubted.

Very probably, a breed for dairy purposes might be thus created which should excel any now existing in Europe, for some of our so called native cows, carelessly as they have been bred, are not surpa.s.sed by any of foreign origin upon which great care has been expended. To accomplish this is an object worthy the ambition of those who possess the skill, enthusiasm, ample means and indomitable perseverance requisite to success. But except the single attempt of Col. Jaques, of the Ten Hills Farm, to establish the Creampot breed,[24] of which, as little has been heard since his death, it is fair to presume that it has dropped into the level of common grade cattle, no systematic and continued effort has come to our knowledge. Consequently such as may be deemed absolutely the best is a thing of the future; they do not yet exist--and there is no probability that the desideratum will soon be attained. We Yankees are an impatient people; we dislike to wait, for any thing, or to invest where five, ten, twenty or fifty years may be expected to elapse before satisfactory dividends may be safely antic.i.p.ated.

Still, if all would begin to-day, to use what skill and judgment they have, or can acquire, in breeding only from the best of such as they have, coupling with reference to their peculiarities, and consigning to the butcher as fast as possible every inferior animal, and if, in addition, they would do what is equally necessary, namely, improve their general treatment as much as lies in their power, there would result an immediate, a marked and a steadily progressive improvement in stock. To the acclimation or Americanization already acquired, would be added increased symmetry of form and greater value in many other respects. This is within the power of every man, and whatever else he may be obliged to leave undone, for want of ability, none should be content to fall short of this. Those who have the command of ample means will of course desire that improvement should be as rapid as possible. They will endeavor at once to procure well bred animals, or in other words, such as already possess the desired qualities so thoroughly inwrought into their organization that they can rely with a good degree of confidence on their imparting them to their progeny.

It may be well to allude here to a distinction between breeds and races. By _breeds_, are understood such varieties as were originally produced by a cross or mixture, like the Leicester sheep for example, and subsequently established by selecting for breeding purposes only the best specimens and rejecting all others. In process of time deviations become less frequent and greater uniformity is secured; but there remains a tendency, greater or less in proportion to the time which elapses and the skill employed in selection, to resolve itself into its original elements, to breed back toward one or other of the kinds of which it was at first composed.

By _races_, are understood such varieties as were moulded to their peculiar type by natural causes, with no interference of man, no intermixture of other varieties, and have continued substantially the same for a period beyond which the memory and knowledge of man does not reach. Such are the North Devon cattle, and it is fortunate that attention was drawn to the merits of this variety before facilities for inter-communication had so greatly increased as of late, and while yet the race in some districts remained pure. All that breeders have done to better it, is by selections and rejections from within itself; and so, much improvement has been effected without any adulteration.

Consequently we may antic.i.p.ate that so long as no crossing takes place, there will be little variation.

Among the established breeds of cattle the IMPROVED SHORT-HORNS are the most fas.h.i.+onable, and the most widely diffused; and where the fertility of the soil, and the climate, are such as to allow the development of their peculiar excellencies, they occupy the highest rank as a meat-producing breed. Their beef is hardly equal in quality to that of the Devons, Herefords or Scots, the fat and lean being not so well mixed together and the flesh of coa.r.s.er grain. But they possess a remarkable tendency to lay on fat and flesh, attaining greater size and weight, and coming earlier to maturity than any other breed. These properties, together with their symmetry and stately beauty, make them very popular in those counties of England, where they originated, and wherever else they have been carried, provided their surroundings are such as to meet their wants. In the rich pastures of Kentucky and in some other parts of the west, they seem as much at home as on the banks of the Tees, and are highly and deservedly esteemed. The Short-horns have also been widely and successfully used to cross with most other breeds, and with inferior mixed cattle, as they are found to impress strongly upon them their own characteristics.

Without entering into the question of its original composition, or of its antiquity, regarding both of which much doubt exists, it may suffice here to say, that about a hundred years ago, Charles Colling and others entered zealously and successfully into an attempt to improve them by careful breeding, in whose hands they soon acquired a wide spread fame and brought enormous prices; and the sums realized for choice specimens of this breed from that time to the present, have been greater than for those of any other. Much of their early notoriety was due to the exhibition of an ox reared by Charles Colling from a common cow by his famous bull "Favorite," and known as the "Durham" ox, and also as the "Ketton" ox, (both which names have since then been more or less applied to the breed, but which are now mostly superceded by the original and more appropriate one of Short-horn,) which was shown in most parts of England and Scotland from 1801 to 1807, and whose live weight was nearly four thousand pounds, and which was at one time valued for purposes of exhibition as high as $10,000.

The old Teeswater cattle were remarkably deep milkers, and although it does not appear that good grazing points necessarily conflict with excellence for the dairy, the fact is, that as improvement in feeding qualities was gained, the production of milk in most cases fell off; and although some families at the present time embrace many excellent milkers, the majority of them have deteriorated in this respect about in proportion to the improvement effected as meat-producing animals.

The earlier Short-horns introduced into this country were from the very best milking families, and their descendants have usually proved valuable for dairy purposes--but many of those more recently imported are unlike them in this respect. By crossing the males upon the common cows of the country the progeny inherited increased size and symmetry of form, more quiet dispositions, greater apt.i.tude to feed and earlier maturity. Notwithstanding the prejudices with which they were at first received, they gradually rose in estimation, more of them have been introduced than of any other breed, and probably more of the improvement which has taken place in cattle for the last forty years is due to them than to any other; yet _as a pure breed they are not adapted to New England wants_. Their size is beyond the ability of most farms to support profitably: crossed upon such as through neglect in breeding, scanty fare and exposure were bad feeders, too small in size, and too slow in growth, they effected great improvement in all these respects; and this improvement demanded and encouraged the bestowal of more food and better treatment, and so they prospered;--inheriting their const.i.tutions chiefly from the hardy and acclimated dams, the grades were by no means so delicate and sensitive as the pure bred animals to the cold and changes of a climate very unlike that of the mild and fertile region where they originated.