THE IN-BREEDING OF STOCK.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 814, 11 May 1910, Page 8

THE IN-BREEDING OF STOCK.

"OUT OP FASHION." •' Kightly ,or wrongly, says■ Mr. William Parlourin the "Live Stock Journal," .clo&e in-breodiug is out of fashion. Years ago the mating of close relations - was a - recognised feature of Shorthorn breeding; 1 now it is done in a lame, halting, : hesitating, apologetic way. It is quite possible, Mr. Parlour thinks that half ■. .the number ot recent cases of in-breed-ing in Shorthorns in England can bo ascribed'to necessity rather than choice. It is true, he admits, that the Tosults obtained by the old breeders _justified ' their methods, but they had little choice < . of material, and if in the first instance they acted under compulsion they subsequently seem to have acted under' thfe , conviction that it was better to mato . closely-related cattle of a settled and /approved- type than to introduce, a ■ stranger in blood and character. How- ■ ©vet, there is no necessity now to try these old systems. There is abundant choice, and a man may buy good animals of. almost any typo of Shorthorn he fancies.. - In-breeding in -early days was carried 'to an extreme. The best known case' is that of the famous 1000-guinea bull Comet 155., He was. "by Favourite, dam by Favourite, out of Favourite's dam. 31 This, ■ at first sight, is - difficult to grasp, but the plain English of it resolves itself thus: favourite's dam- was .■ Phoenix 1 ; Favourite'was matedwith'his dam, and the produce was Young Phoenix; mated again with Young Phoenix, the produce was Cornet, the'best bull of his.times. Nor. is this' all; 'for,' to begin/with;. Favourite was closely'in-bred; his sire and . dam were by the same bull, Foljambe, and out of mother and daughter. Closer '• relationships could scarcely be imagined. ■ ; There was some very close' in-brceding : in the Booth herds. Their aim was.to ' (get cattle "surcharged with the blood jof. Favourite." Thus, according to' the ißev. J. Storer, of Hellidon, Mussulman jwas sixty-four times descended. from Lord' Lieutenant 106. times,. jMatchem 52 times,' Crown Prince-1055 times, and Eed Eoso by Harbinger 1311 'times. ' ' 1 ■ While the tendency nowadays is to condemn' in-breeding, many experienced breeders, Mr. Parlour, adds, conimend iline breeding. Line breeding may be : defined as breeding from the 6amo strains, of blood, but not -from such .closo affini--ties. Violent out-crosses are avoided by the majority of thbse 'whose herds have, reached a standard of uniformity. A rather different view is taken by Mr. E. Davenport in the/American "Breeders' Gazette." Mr. Davenport writes in . answer to, a correspondent who asks: — ' "When a person has a sire .that suits 'him and-.his daughters please, him,",how Boon'in your opinion would it do to •breed hack to him; that is, would it do to breed grand-daughters or great granddaughters back to him ?" In his reply, Mr. Davenport says:— "From the fact that «>me evil'tendencies, are not easily detected under - in T breeding 1 and from the further fact that'certain strains prosper less under ,it,_ we are, .warranted in avoiding the practice where ■ : we have an open-choice,-but-from-the. further fact that :it'- (institutes.the: ; strongest known means' of "iinpr6vemeiit ; and from . the " further' fact' that strains are stimulated, by .close breeding, ■we are fully warranted in practicing the closest breeding whenever strong reasons exist for it, and-marked defects are-not knWn. It ,is time unreasoning horror of close breeding ceased.,>., If we.were ■ half 'as thought® about certain; other matters as we have been of this we Should have been much further along in our breeding operations. To answer - specifically voor correspondent's ques.Stion, I should,sas 1 that if no l pronoun.c?4, Ulefect is knoini'in the stock I should "not only breed daughters and granddaughters back , to the sire,. but: should not hesitate to breed even closer than this, if in doing, so I could get better combinations' of blood than-could be. gotten in other ways."'