ANIMAL BREEDING

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 99, 17 December 1943, Page 2

ANIMAL BREEDING

FUTURE AIMS DISCUSSED

NEW SET OF STANDARDS SUGGESTED

' The animal breeding methods of the past have been responsible for I the evolution and consolidation of 'the breeds of farm live stock and they gave us the great herds and flocks we have today. During the past twenty years, however, accumulating evidence shows that these methods have taken us nearly as far as they can and that by continuing along them we can hope fior little more than the maintenance of our present position. Rapid advance must be preceded by the acceptance of a new set of aims and standards and it is the purpose of thjs bulletin to place these before breeders. Subsequent bulletins in this series will deal with the application of these principles. Usefulness The Aim The main justification for farm live stock is their "usefulness" as efficient producers of milk, wool, meat or eggs. In addition, it may be developed into an object of beauty, provided this does not interfere with the attainment of maximum usefulness. The Difficulty of Selection

It is important to have a clear cut aim in the breeding of any kind .ot animal. Unless we know what we want in definite terms we cannot hope to produce a true breeding group of stock in which every animal is valuable. A noted American animal geneticist states the main object very well when he says, "The aim in animal breeding should not be to produce better animals than we have today but to be able- to produce the most useful that we have got, uniformly, and at will." To the major aim of "usefulness" we must add therefore, "uniformity" meaning by this stock that will breed true for the useful characters required. Gambling on the oit chance of occasionally breeding an outstanding individual will never secure a uniform true breeding line of animals. Such a gamble is characteristic of our present day aims and methods and involves continuous "(Outcrossing" or the mating of "extremes" within family groups in such a way as to increase the mixed nature of the inheritance of such stock. Rather must we set out to obtain animals which consistently reproduce their kind; with variation reduced to a minimum, fluctuating only with differences in environmental conditions and with a uniformly high standard of "usefulness" as the end in view.

It is equally important that animals should be bred to suit the environment in which they are placed. If they are not adapted to the environment then failure results or increased costs must be incurred to adjust the environment to suit the animal. Appreciation of this fact by breeders of the past has led to the development of breeds and types specially fitted to suit almost every sort of environmental conditions, but present day breeding methods far too often ignore this principle completely.

Our aim of usefulness must be now extended to include .adaptability or suitability to . environment and we can summarise our "aims" in stock-breeding in the terms "usefulness," "uniformity" and "suitability to environment."

Progeny Testing the Method To improve the present level of performance of our stock it is essential that serious consideration be given to breeding methods which have their ability to bring about improvement. Methods based on straight selection always result in, a new generation differing but little from their parents in productive efficiency. Selection based on a "progeny test" is the only method by which the aims mentioned "above can be obtained and further progress assured. In this connexion, Hagedoorn states, "It is really very curious to see how slowly the importance of progeny testing is recognised. It seems obvious that as the only real object of a bull is to | produce daughters, the only really

Important factors connected with ideals and standards to be aimed at in animal breeding and suggestions for new objectives for the future are contained in the December Agricultural Bulletin, issued by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. The new aims have been embodied in the terms "usefulness," "uniformity," and "suitability to environment," and are discussed by the officers of the Canterbury Agricultural College, who prepared the bulletin in the following terms:—

important question to ask when buying a bull is whether he is likely to produce good daughters. The only safe way to answer this question is to see how he has actually bred."

Observation of the methods of breeders shows that there are many to be converted to the principle of selecting sires according to how they breed rather than how they look or perform. The method is not new and it was extensively used by the breed founders but in recent years it has been allowed to fall into disuse. The modern breeder claims, with some justification, that there are difficulties which place the method beyond the means of the average breeder. These difficulties include: — (1) The number of females which must be used for testing purposes; (2) The time required to test a male, which makes it necessary to keep on hand many males under test or run the risk of losing valuable sires by death or sale; (3) The cost of keeping a lot of sires, many of which eventually prove to be inferior breeders. These are real difficulties where flocks or herds are small and to them must be added the technical difficulties of carrying out a progeny test in any flock or herd so that the results obtained are reliable.

However, these objections are no longer valid in respect to dairy cattle breeding, as the dairy industry has organised for itself a "Sire Survey," by which an increasing number ;of "Proven bulls" — bulls that have demonstrated their ability to leave daughters of particular production standards — are becoming available to the industry. There is now no reason for the breeder of stud dairy cattle tb continue using untried dairy sires, yet the number of pedigree dairy herds using "Sire Surveyed" bulls is very

small. Similarly in pig breeding the above objections cannot be sustained. The prolificacy of sows enables boars to be tested in a short time and the industry has an [organisation which could permit the development of a national progeny testing scheme involving accurate measurement of productive qualities from birth to bacon. Yet little, if .anything, is being done along these lines. Boars are still selected on appearance backed by show ring records and pedigrees and stud breeders are merely the propagators of existing types, the standard of which remains almost stationary.

The sheepman has a more legitimate grievance in that he has not been provided with any clear cut method of progeny testing, although work along these lines has been in progress at Agricultural Colleges and Research centres for some years. Even so he has not yet demanded a scheme, as has the dairy farmer. Most sheepmen have large flocks and most of our important studs are sufficiently large so that the scope for progeny testing by the individual breeder is greater than in the case of the dairyman or the pigman who have to work with smaller numbers of animals, and in the case of the dairyman, a much slower developing animal.

i Rams, mated as lambs to about twenty ewes, can be tested and their breeding capabilities known by the time they would be normally used as two-tooths. Simplified methods of evaluation designed to suit the breed and the breeder but with usefulness as their aim, are easily designed. Such a method would add little to the task of i looking after the §jtud flock but would remove the great gamble of attending the ram fair and purchasing a ram that "looks right," is "bred right," .and costs three figures, in the hope that he will "breed right." It is important to stress here that any method of progeny testing must keep in mind the three

aims of usefulness, uniformity and adaptability. The measure of excellence of a bull, boar or ram must be its ability to leave efficient producing stock—not merely good looking stock. If thfey are good looking, so much the better, but the real test must be their ability to produce at a high level for a long productive lifetime.

The second —uniformity— means that we must aim at a sire which leaves uniformly "high quality" average progeny rather than one which sires a few good ones, a few very bad ones, and a majority of mediocre ones. The "average get" must be the criterion of the worth of the sire.

The third — adaptability — means that the progeny test selection must be carried out in the environment in which the animals are going to be used. By this is meant that dairy cattle in New Zealand should be bred, progeny tested and selected under grassland dairying conditions and not under conditions which involve housing and the feeding of concentrates; that sheep to be used in light rainfall inferior grassland areas should be bred, progeny tested, and selected in these areas and not in heavy rainfall rich grassland areas where nutrition alone may be so different that similar performance could not be expected; that pigs intended for use on the average dairy farm where they are expected to perform efficiently on a diet consisting chiefly of skim milk and under rigorous management conditions, should be bred, progeny tested and selected under these conditions.

Most stud flocks and herds ,are situated ion the very best farm lands and consequently most stud animals are reared under the very best environmental conditions. Such conditions permit a full expression of inherited tendencies and provided they remain the best conditions economically possible of attainment in the environment where the stock are to be used they are of real assistance in the selection of superior animals. It is only when conditions quite artificial to the best commercial farms are employed that there is a likelihood of animals unsuited to commercial conditions being evolved.

If we are to accept "progeny testing" based on the measurement of "usefulness" as the foundation for further improvement in our live stock, we must be prepared to review critically the factors which dominate our present methods of selection.

Selection om Type "Type" has long been the foundation stone of selection. Where it provides some index of "usefulness" it can be a valuable basis. This is the case where animals are bred for their carcase and where "hoof" judgment is likely to have some agreement with "on the hooks" judgment. Thus, selecting Southdown sheep at an early age for shortness and thickness of bone is sound, as it has been shown that these characters are good indications .of shortness of bone throughout the carcase, blockiness of form, amount of muscle and rate of maturity.

"Type," however, can be a * real bar to progress when it places stress on characters of no "useful" import or when type characters that have some association with productive qualities replace more reliable methods of evaluation. The former is well illustrated by the importance attached to the face and leg colour in Southdown sheep although no one has shown any relationship between these characters and carcase quality. The latter is seen in dairy cattle breeding where the aim is milk and butterfat production but where less than twenty per cent of the commercial dairy cows (and an even smaller proportion of pedigree cows) are under test, breeders preferring to guess at productive capacity on "type" rather than submit the animals to the test of accurate measurement. In this connexion it has been suggested that if there is an association between type and production then selection for production will automatically result in stock of the right type. This statement is well worth serious consideration.

The Influence of the Show Ring The show ring has played a helpful and important part in bringing our livestock to ; its present day standard. It has .allowed comparisons which have given a standardisation of ideals; has stimulated interest in the breeding of good stock; and it has been valuable educationally in demonstrating the qualities— at least in appearance—of the different breeds and types of farm animals. The main disadvantage of the present-day system of showing is the rigid adherence to judgment on "type" and in particular, of the stress placed on type "beauty points" rather than on "usefulness." That this weakness is already re-

cognised in some quarters is shown by the provision of "Type and Production" classes. The wider use'cf such classes together with progeny classes for males would serve to make the show ring a potent force in future stock improvement, although in some cases it would change the venue of judging from, the ring to the bucket, the scales and the hooks,

"A bureaucracy which looks after its own interests and aggrandisement is the worst form of government. The luxuries and high salaries of bureaucrats and their multiplication are of no advantage to a country, but the reverse. In a Government ofiice which undertakes the management of an industry all employees know they can work at a loss and 'take it easy' without fear of dismissal, while promotion depends either on seniority or upon the favour of those higher up in the hierarchy. That helps to explain why a Government department cannot run a trade under competitive conditions."—From "Pressing Problems and Fashionable Fallacies of Political Economy," by Francis W; Hirst. '. ■ . mm