PEDIGREE AND UTILITY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 6

PEDIGREE AND UTILITY.

"The registration system has been long enough in vogue in this country," says London Field, "for its merits and demerits to be fully understood. The former, at all events, have been so widely and so emphatically marked that it is scarcely conceivable there can be any stock owner co ignorant of, although some are blind to, the incalculable benefits that have resulted to stock-breeding pursuits from the extensive operation of the registration system."' It may be argued that many ofL the British breeds had assumed their distinctive features and characteristics- before tne breed registers were thought of ; bufc although this is literally correct, the same principle that, underlies the elaborate system of registration of the present time was in force in the days of the pioneer breeders, though, of course, in a primitive sort of way. It is not too much to saythat it is 'to registration that the fixity ot type and impressiveness of influence that "constitute such notable features of the principal British breeds are to be traced. There were no general registers a century ago, and comparatively few half a century later, while private herd, flock, or stud books were lot very plentiful ; yet the irresistible woik of " the early improvers of the several breeds was based upon and rendered effectual by a strict observance of the pedigree principle. A consultation of the written records of the operations of such pioneers in stock-breeding as the brothers Collings, for instance, leuvt-s no room for doubt as to their firm belief in the virtue and power of heredity. They had no breed register to guide them, bufc it is clear that heredity was the agent; by which the characteristics of the cosmopolitan breed ~of cattle have been moulded and fixed ; and so it is with all the other vaiieties.

While the' vital forces of conserved heredity are indispensable 1:1 the I: reeding of high-class live stock, it i* important to

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"bear in mind that they are fraught -with danger to the ultimate welfare of the "breed if -they are not prudently utilised .and controlled. Many of the distinguished older breeds bear traces of the evil effects !of pedigrcs run .wild, and in many cases it is not- an easy matter to rectify the sniseaief, for the reason that the field for selection is too limited. The source of danger is excessive inbreeding, and the forms in which it manifests itself are impaired constitutions and fecundity and inability to respond to liberal treatment — in other words, as a result of over trust in pedigree we get greater certainty in adjierence to type, but at the cost of general utility. Benefiting by past experience, British stock breeders of to-day are not likely to repeat the errors of former generations in concentrating their attention upon pedigree, and, according to the Field, in the United Kingdom, at least, "in the case of such popular and ■widely-distributed breeds as shorthorn cattle and Shire horses there is remote danger of, and no excuse for, a recurrence of the indiscretions of a quarter of a century ago. The choice of fresh blood ■within the wide limits of the breed registers is ample to enable breeders to preserve constitutional vigour and utility in prudent harmony with fixity of type. It is not so easy ior owners of the less extensively-bred varieties to avoid the error referred to, however, for even if they are fully cognisant of tbs evils of excessive inbreeding, tTiey sometimes find themsekres helpless in preventing tiem owing to the limited choice in the "way of fresH" strains that is available. They perceive, the need of fresh blood, but they have no .means of procuring it withtout transgressing the rules^ of the breed register, and in- 'consequence the breed is in grave danger of decay accordingly. In caSes^of this, kind the question" arises as to "whether '_ it rspuld not be expedient and •wise to preserve a certain degree of freedom in introducing fresh strains from unregistered sources. >T It is significant that the Cheviot Sheep Society has decided v to entrust its council with the discretionary powers in this- respect, on the*ground that the field of choice within registered circles is too restricted to ensure the preservation of utility properties ; and it might be a good thing for several ohter breeds if this example were considerably extended.