BREEDING AND TYPE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3449, 24 November 1932, Page 3

BREEDING AND TYPE.

So careful of the type she seems, So careless of the single life. The Laureate who wrote those lines regarded "type" in the broad sense. The sheep and cattle on a thousand hills came into his wide generalisation simply as sheep and cattle. The "type" aimed at or strenuously maintained by the breeder is an elaborate modification of or development from the relatively simple base which the poet had in his eye. The ideas which dominate the mind of the breeder when he is working towards a type or striving with all his might to maintain it, can only be fully appreciated by the individual who has the breeder's instinct. Many a true breeder would feel at a disadvantage if he were asked to put his aims in simple and compre-

j hensive terms before a small audience which did not have the elements of his art; and his difficulty would hot vanish if he were asked to explain his likes and dislikes point by point, and in general from the living forms of the animals in his possession. His "type" is a highly developed creature with special characteristics which have been carefully and painfully evolved through long years of thought and action, and which may in part or in whole be lost by bungling or unthinking ease. ; In the words of Kingsley, the type ever in the eye of the practical breeder is not usually "understanded of the people," if by people we mean the large group which does not take a lively concern in the affairs of the breeder. If it be true that the highest developments in the live stock of the farm have never taken place during periods of acute national restlessness and strife, it is equally true that results attained by long-continued, patient, upward endeavour are often in danger of being partially dissipated during times of extreme prosperity. A quaint Scripture phrase bids us beware of the days when all men speak well of us. At least, it is to be assumed that the warning sounded in the olden days is still applicable. It is difficult for us to be persistently on our guard after we have gone a long way without slip or accident. There is such a tendency to feel that a sequence of unbroken successes will not come to an abrupt finish, or lead without warning into a chapter of accidents or general failures. It is during his days of supreme success that the breeder should be specially "careful of .the type." He has worked towards it most likely with all the resources at his command. He has been a very Jacob in missing no opportunity, but has done all things manfully. Results of a high order have come to him in type, prizes, and cash. How easy and how natural it is then to relax just a little —to rest for a time from care and labour. But in the history of every stud, herd, and flock there are almost unaccountable periods of comparative failure. Sleepless watchfulness, if one can use that term, has apparently been maintained all along. Mating has received every attention, and has resulted in a break in the run of success. Respectable mediocrity, or something a little better, has for a time ruled in place of brilliant success. The type is temporarily obscured. There are periods again when a breeder knows that he is working a vein which is almost bound to be followed by one with "breaks" and "faults" in it. Di-opping metaphoric language, the breeder has males at command which suit his females almost to perfection. He is "in luck," but if he be a man of experience he is apt to fear the the "something after," for he knows that similar combinations do not by any means produce similar results. A phenomenally successful sire may be followed by a full brother who does nothing extraordinary with the same chances at his command. But granting that the exceptional sire has a full brother or an animal practically bred on the same lines to succeed him, there must be a "fresh deal" for the younger females which are the result of the bygone mating. It is here that the disturbing factor may occur. Careful of the type and of all that is meant by it, the breeder may just miss the front rank with the progeny of the younger females. There can be no unbroken lease of success.