PEDIGREE CATTLE BREEDING

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 988, 1 December 1910, Page 8

PEDIGREE CATTLE BREEDING

■ : ;a criticism. The late Duko of Marlborough, writing on the subject of "Pedigree in Cattle Breeding," once stated that when , the brothers "Colling and Bates and Booth and all thff great breeders worked up their tribes of Shorthorns, they produced a class of animal- which later breeders have; treated, as being of indelible excellence which nothing, could destroy so long as the "purity of the pedigree" was carefully preserved. A period of very high prices* ruled in all pedigree cattle. for m'an.y years after the death of these great breeders; and it was. tho fashion' to consider: that tho value of tho . different tribes depended on the preservation of purity in the pedigree to an almost fantastical extent. The idea of crossing out in a pedigree, which represents a high money .value, .was not thought of, added his Grace. 'As in cows, so also in a less degree in horses, and indeed in all domesticated .animals, the,idea seems to prevail that: the more-inbred the pedigree the greater its/money value. Another fallacy had also ■ grown ' up, which was to look simply to the pedigree of the siro rather than'.to the pedigree of the dam as the important factor of descent. A bad bull in a pedigree w;as a thing known to every breeder .who, looked at the catalogue, but a bad cow was hot considered in the question.;. The dam or the grand-dam or the great-grand-dam attained its excellence iii the pedjgree by the name of the siro who produced her, and except where the dam, happened to be some prize-winner; no one.eyer dreamt of-, looking to the pedigree ..oil the dam's side. ■/NELSON 'A. AND P. SHOW. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Nelson, November 30.: ■ The eighteenth -lanhual show of the Nelson A. and P.' ; Association was concluded to-day in good weather. There was a large attendance, and the entries constituted "a>record.---On the whole the stock shown compared more than favourably with previous years, sheep and cat-; tic being, especially creditable. Mr. D.' Bishell, of' Blenheim, was'most successful in JLincolhs. ■'' 1 TARANAKI A. AND'P. SHOW. . CATTLE CLASSES STRONG. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.! .'-' •"' New' Plymouth, November 30. The. .Tarana'ki Agricultural Society's .Metropolitan" Show opened to-day -in glorious-weather. There -was a good attendance and an excellent gathering of stock; .-The strongest section in the show ■was' probably the fat cattle, the judge stating that, he had never seen better in 'the Dominion.' These were exhibited by Mr.-.W. Birdlin'g, of Waitara. Jerseys hvere'also a record section both in point of numbers and of quality, whilst rarely has there been .a better collection of Ayrshires and- Holsteins.- The judges of tho light horses were immensely pleased with the ' carriage and hunters' classes and ponies; tilt- -the draughts were not a strong section, whilst the thoroughbreds were fewy-;The Kap.onga Dairy Company was thei 'principal prize-winner in . the butter classes.