OVER-BRED STOCK.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 74, 9 December 1875, Page 7

OVER-BRED STOCK.

Ppp-arding " over-bred . and over-fed-stock," the fi Saturday Review' says: — Doubts begin, to be expressed .'. pretty freely as to whether high breeding has t- „not already been cultivated to excess. < It appears to be admitted on all haLds that shorthorn • cattle, for instance, have decrease in &ze t while it'seems certjain that the fecundity of. these highly^hred animals js notr so great as it was, for it is said that certain tribes have become-

celebratedtfpr;. the^pyarjrdriiiess of their j females, 1 while at tlie same time adeli- ! cacy/pf constitution has been, developed j which unfits them for "roiighirig it,"! and requires luxurious arrangements to] preserve 1 them in' health; As -in our j race-horses, we .haye, according to somej authorities sacrificed, stoutness of con- i stitution and capacity, of endur^neej over long courses for the sake of obtain- i ing high speed over a short distance: so , in our cattle, the desire, for fineness of bone and rapid development of meat 1 has ; brought info fashion, animals : which have lost many of the valuable properties, of their ancestors. Such breeds cannot efcistwhen snbjsc'].edto. the rough j weather Which prevails on the exposed j hill-sides and moors so valuable as breeding grounds and nurseries' for stock ; and perhaps it is for this reason that Ireland, which is prolific in cattle reared without shelter,, failed to send us anything which can obtain a place in our exhipitipns. Without doubt Ireland possesses, first-class cattle, but these are bred, sheltered, and fed under the same conditions as those to be seen at Islington (London). And the consumers .haye. something to say also in the matter, as there is beef and beef. They prefer, and justly prefer, the meat; of the Devon or the Scot whose young^ days are spent in cropping the scanty herbage of the moor or. mountain, because the meat has more flavor than that of the rapidly-forced stall-fed ox, who, has been crammed with corn and linseed cake from its calf-hood. So that even if it be true, as the breeders of the delicate animal contend, .that their meac can be produced more econoridcally,. because more rapidly,|ban that of other races, let them remember that in losing stamina they restrict the area upon which the beast can 'be -reared, and that

we want flavor in our meat even if we have to pay a high price for it.