ON BREEDING WITHOUT FURTHER IMPORTATION OF NEW BLOOD.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 143, 6 April 1877, Page 7

ON BREEDING WITHOUT FURTHER IMPORTATION OF NEW BLOOD.

The following paper was read at a recent meeting of the National Agricultural Society of Victoria, by Mr B. M. Curr:—

" There seems to me to be a fueling amongst people who have not made the laws of breeding 1 a study, that English cattle, and perhaps horses., are of a quality which not only has not been, but cannot be, produced out of Great Britain. On this subject I have to state that such can only be the fact if the conditions -of aature are superior to those of other countries. Now I think it may be safely stated that such is not the case ; that the conditions of nature in Great Britain are of themselves rather adverse than favourable, and that it is only through a constant struggle with nature that the great results of breeding in England have been

realised ;. and that nature has done far more for Australia than England in this respect, and that superior cattle can be produced at far less cost here than in Great Britain. I also hold it to be an axiom, which I think those who have made the laws of breeding- their stud y will bear me out in, that when a country, thoroughly suited to the. production of any particular animal, is well supplied wiDh the best; strains of blood, in the hands of competent breeders, the tima has arrived when further importation becomes no.fc only unnecessary, but; a positive evil as such importation stands in the way of the stock thoroughly accommodating' itself' to the particular circumstances of nature amidst which it exists. As regards our Hacks and herds, I believe that the stage at which importation'becomes an evil, 'instead of a benefit., has been reached. Assuming, however, that, it could be shown that certain benefits would be secured by the introduction of, say, English bulls and German rams, it remains to be considered whether the risk in their introduction does not outweigh the advantages expected.' Un this subject I would wish to :point out that there -will probably .never be a time in which coutagiwus and infections diseases of one sort or others will not find a place in every European country. Those who are in favour of importation urge that the risk of- infection can effectually be set rtt nought by quarantine. With this view, however, T am unable to concur, when I find leading veterinaries like Fleming and Gamgee making statements like the following, Which occurs in a report on the Texan diseases made to the .'Government of the, United States:

— ' During- the early part of <our investigations we could "mot fail to be forcibly struck by -the apparently healthy conditions of the vast Texan, steers which had scattered a most deadly poison on the pastures of Illinois and In-, diaua, and even our dissections, limited as they necessarily were,, failed to elicit the truth.' Ibis is, what Gamgee. said on the subject, and I believe it to be a fact, that- disease :of an infectious -character occasionally exists in animals in such a state as to defy -detection. As this Continent enjoys .perhaps unrivalled 'capacities for rearing stock of the first quality,.." iind as stock breeding- must always be a greatindustry here, it seems to me>: that wo 'have* no greater public interest than to keep out disease, which, onc.e -introduced, caii never" be eradicated, and -that thi? can onl} r be effected by, the exclusion ,-of. foreign -.stock. In considering this, subject, it seems most important to bear in mind that, practically, the. ,de'ci?ion .as.:to any animal imported' being free from disease or otherwise may not only rest with a veterinary "unworthy of trust, but that opinions on .subjects- oMisease are • 'often as numerous as those offering them, arid consequently afford but a very insecure basic! on which to act."