DISTURBING INFLUENCES IN BREEDING FAR LIVE STOCK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 6

DISTURBING INFLUENCES IN BREEDING FAR LIVE STOCK.

It frequently occurs that horses, cattle, sheep, and swine breed back, not to the sire and dam, but to some remote parent of the stock, by which occurrence some old defect that was supposed to have been got rid of is unexpectedly revived. This reproduction of defects or blemishes — technically termed "atavism"— is more commonly observable in breeds that have been crossed than in those in which the original blood has been preserved pure. It is unnecessary to repeat that which has been so frequently said of the principles of greeding generally, that in every species of 'animal, and including both the male and the female, "like produces like." If they arc not incompatible the form and the qualities of both the parents will descend to the offspring, and it is essential, where it is the intention of the breeder to establish and perpetuate certain desirable characteristics, for him to bear in mind that it is from the care with which animals of different sexes are selected, generation after generation, possessing certain excellences and certain predispositions, that these results, in process of time, become Ihe distinguishing characteristic of certain breeds. In reference to this very point, Mr Grove, an experienced breeder of shorthorns in the early days, says : — "An animal has certain qualities apparent to the hand and eye ; it has also hidden qualities that neither the hand nor the eye can detect, but which hidden or latent qualities descend to the offspring, and when an animal has been crossed with another animal of different blood will produce new combinations palpable and unexpected. The above maxim [i.e., that "like begets like"'] is true, then, in this sense, that though the offspring may appear unlike either parent, yet the peculiar properties of trie parents are not lost in the c^ffspring — they are inherited, but in combination may have produced effects that probably had not, and could not with any-degree of certainty have, been foreseen. That these qualities are not lost would appear evident, as it is found that peculiarities of even remote ancestors will from time to time, more or less frequently, according to the skill and perseverance of the breeder, show themselves, or cror> out, to use a geological expression." Peculiarities of even remote ancestors will frequently reappear in the progeny; pure white ewes served by pure white rams occasionally produce black lambs ; and in such cases, although two or three generations or more may have been quite free from the objectionable colour, yet it will be found, when the case is traced back, that there existed in the same family a black ancestor, generally a female. The same peculiarity is observable in swine ; and thus we sometimes find black Berkshire sows producing pigs which have the yellow colour with black spots which marked some of the remote ancestors of the present improved breed. Breeding back is not, however, the sole disturbing cause which has been experienced by breeders, and there is one which merits a larger share of attention than it has received from breeders in general. It is this, that the sire first used, and to which the mare, heifer, or other female produces offspring, may "so influence her future offspring begotten by other males as, to a greater ox- less extent, ingraft upon them his own distinctive features." In support of this view, Pringle, in his work on "The Live Stock of the Farm." quotes Dr Harvey, of Aberdeen. Dr Harvey stated, among other things, that in several foals in the Royal Stud at Hampton Court, got by the horse Actason, there were unequivocal marks of the horse Colonel, by which the dams of these foals were covered the previous year. Again, a colt, the property of the Earl of Suffield, got by Tjaurel, so resembled another horse (Camel) that it was whispered, nay, even asserted, at Newmarket that it must have been got by Camel. It was ascertained, however, that the only relation which the colt bore to Camel was that the latter had served his dam the previous season. The case of the Earl of Morton's mare has often been quoted. She had been served by a quagga, and the offspring bore distinct marks of the sire, both in the crossbars which distinguish that species, and also in the formation of different parts of the body. This was, of course, to be expected ; but when the same mare was afterwards put to a stallion of her own kind, the progeny still bore the distinctive marks of the quagga. Evidence of a somewhat similar case came under Pringle's personal notice. A superior Clydesdale was served two years successively by a large Spanish ass. and in the third year ov a Clydesdale stallion, The progeny by the latter resembled a mule in every respect, having very long ears, long and narrow hoofs, and a thin and scanty tail, exactly like that of a mule.

In Prinze's work the occurrence of many cases in Scotland is quoted in which hlfickpolled cows, which had, when heifers, heen put to shorthorn bulls, and in after years

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to bulls, of their own breed, produced calves from the latter similar in colour and otherwise to ihe offspring of the shorthorn bulls. One notable instance af the kind came tinder Pringle's observation. A black-poled cow, descended by sire and dam "from a herd well known in Angusshire, had been crossed when a heifer by a_jsell-hred shorthorn bull. She subsequently became the property of a gentleman who -exhibited her successfully on various occasions, and, being desirous of having a black-poled calf from her, she* was sent- to a prize polled Angus bull. Tho -produce, however, was a nice roan, iorned calf, exactly resembling a, crossbred calf. The owner of the cow was very ' indignant, believing that some fraud had heen practised upon him ; but it was fully ascertained 'that the owner of the blackpolled bull to which the cow had been sent had no other bull aboat his place, and as the cow had travelled by rail between the two places, it was at least improbable she could, have been served in the interval by any other than, the polled bull. After the matter was jliseussed with the owner of the cow, he became satisfied that the peculiar appearance of the calf was due to that singular featuro in ihe physiology of breeding to which attention has been drawn. As regards sheep, Dr Harvey stated, on the authority of Mr William M'Combie, of polled Angus fame, that sis very superioT purebred black-faced horned ewes were tupped, some of them by a Leicester and others by a Southdown ram. Next year -the same ewes were put to a very fine pure . black-faced* horned . ram of the same breed as the ewes themselves, and the lambs thus begotten were all, without exception, polled, and brownish in the face. 'The same occurred the year following, the ram used being another of their own breed. 'Cheviot ewes which have previously produced lambs two or three years successively j to pure Cheviot tups, when put to pure J liiecester rams, produced lambs possessing j many 'of the characteristics of the sires, ' but numbers of them bore a closer resemblance to the pure Cheviot — so much so, indeed, as scarcely to mark .them as distinct in any form from the pure breed. Cm the other hand, a lot of pure Cheviot ginurers put to pure Leicester rams produced lambs in which tha characteristics of the sires prevailed almost without exception. It is evident that, although such results as those which are detailed m the foregoing cases do not, perhaps, occur in so regular a manner as to enable any general rule to be laid down, nevertheless they do occur in such a way as to afford a good reason why we should be exceedingly cautious with respect to the character of ' the sires we employ, more especially when*i such are used for the first time yith , females of any class of stock. Since it is j the case that the female system at least j occasionally "imbibas certain influences I from the male which modify her future ! progeny with other males," it will be seen'! that the use of crossbred of impure sires i yith purelybred females has an injurious effect, not only in the case of the imanediate offspring, but may also extend its influence to the produce of pure sires •wrlnch are afterwards used. Hence mischief produced by the use of impure sires is not confined to one generation, or even to their own produce, but is spread over and affects other generations, and the breeder's expectations are defeated in what usually appears to be a very mysterious manner. Nay, more, the character of the pure sires ■ used afterwards may be seriously impaired if the breeder is ignorant of the effects produced by the impurely-bred sires that were first used, and had magnified their own distinctive features on the future offspring of the female.