PEDIGREE STOCK BREEDING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 76, 24 December 1918, Page 8

PEDIGREE STOCK BREEDING

IifHBR-JS ENGLAND DRIFTING? I?KS "LiV6;Stock Journal" (London) rentl£ published the following editorial f-Vflio" drift" in pedigrou stock breeding ','Ehgland:—Probably never before has ttigreevStock of all kinds had such an linings" as it is enjoying at. tho mo3iit.' There have been periods in tho «t;.when certain breeds have had a loom,", owing to a sudden foreign deijh'd- or to tho;dictates .of fashion, as, r-'..'instance,' the Shorthorn boom in 3at':,lias .been, called "the Golden Age," len-two arid'three thousand guineas be'Movqiiitß • a common' prica to pay for liffiiiiiTof' c'ertiiiii" lines of blood. Tho tjreford, too, had a good time in tho ivehties and ■'eighties, and, in fact, bst breeds of stock have had their mous flights somo time or other; but p tremendous revival which is now takg place in the wholo pedigree world is Teal eye-opener, and not one breed, but ;ery breed, is getting its share of the salth, which seems to be flowing like : river into the pockets of breeders of gWmss pedigreed stock. No one can ig'rudge one penny of the money they b' making'to those men who for years :ve strived to maintain Britain's pure;'ed stock to a liiprli level, never getting I tho dark days of depression one single ark of help or gratitude succeedi Governments, and precious little supri't or encouragement from the majorrof the farmers of the country. Now, lo and behold, a cow of Priesi.in feeding makes 4500 guineas, which in would have been eousideri well sold at ,£SO twenty years ago. '■course, this will cause the "prniitchmen" over here to crow over and f to take a rise out of the Shornhorii 3n, but, in the immortal words of Mr. iquith, let us "wait and sec." Rower proud the BA">ish stock breeders may id at the value which is now set -on r pure breeds, and at the. fact that at jgth our efforts are reapinc; the reward ey deserve, we must consider whether '"not tho country as a -whole is going derive any nermanent benefit from the bat revival in pedigree stock breeding. After all said and done, what is the Hmate aim and obiect of pedigree stock eeding? Surely its sole aim must be 'e improvement of the commercial stock the country. We ought to see, not jasional bunches of good-backed, wellshed steers in our markets, nor just a liking cow here and there of good shape d with a capacious and eovreetly-form- ;:■■■ udder. To find this class of stock : our fairs and markets slionhl be the le, and not the exception. What is the sition to-day as regards, .our live stock forests? We see pedigree stock of both ilk and beef breeds making prices yer before dreamt of, and this country , acknowledged to be the home, of the st of the various breeds of cattle in b world. And yet, despite the excellence j our pedigree herds, and despite the .ormous demand which is not only just iw-, but ha? for the last few years been Iperienced for all (ho best specimens , our purebred herds', tho fact still renins that, if one nays- a visit to an dinary fair or market in this country i could hardly believe that such things " pedigree herds existed. II: is therere' time to ask, "Is this great boom in idigree cattle going to be for the counv's good, or is all the money just ing. to pass from one breeder's pocket ■'■another, with, most of thu best anials going abroad, .arid- the next best ing into" tho herds of home breeders, id-the'-'Scallywags' left for disposal-to nprove' our commercial stocks? If is is to be the case; ' then it is dead ccrin that the abnormal prices now' being jilised for pedigree cattle will act deinientally and not beneficially towards, e improvement of our commercial bck. How can any ordinary dairy rnier, who has had quite the'worst of compared with his brother farmers iriiig-the-.-last-two or three years of war :ic6B:"'ho-e2jseCted v to'-'gb.to'i£looo for a •e of q sort that is really worth havg, or even to three or four hundred r quite a second niter? He certainly imot afford it, and consequently is iven to give JMfl or ,£SO for an animal at' would not have been worth more an .Cl 2in pre-war days. Thus it is at abnormal prices ore bound to drive certain class of farmer into using bad : ;es, simply because, the good ones are teide his reach. That surely is not ing to help to improvo our' commeril stock. It may be argued that bulls purchased ider the Development Grant and placi attire disposal of the smaller farms will remedy the ugly position we apar to be drifting into, but we. shall on want a much higher grant than i :are getting froni the Government if :r live-stock officers are lo purchase e class of bull required to materially tprove our commercial cattle-be thev ilk or beef. It is, of course, flattering •realise that there is such an apprceiain of British pedigree stock 'as exists fday, and to find so many men of ialth and influence taking up 'the breedg. of high-class stock and spending eir money freely in order to'obtain e best; but it must be remembered at our population is fed with meat [a milk principally from our comiiicr>r herds, and that the majority of r farmers maintain only commercial )ck, also that the quantity and quality ■ : our beef and milk depends entirely ■• the quality and nature of tho stock ey breed and keep. . If inflated prices e going to prevent, the. use of the best iss of sires in our beef and dairy rds, then wo shall, look in vain for that fprovement in ( our commercial stock, iich, with the increase in our pedigree rds that has taken place during recent ars, ono would naturally look for and pect. ;fhe inferiority of our store stock has en largely due to the uso of inferior ills in dairy herds, and to an Ymfortrine opinion, which is still held by many 30 ought to know bettor, .that milk Id flesh cannot be bred together. Tho tome section of our. dairy Shorthorn eeders have carried (heir views too far, 4 many of the bulls bred in herds of trememilk records are worthless to get od grazing stock, and, all the best of ; r. beef -■Shorthorns go abroad. Whilst od prices are essential to the cstabnment of pedigree breeding on a solid sis, yet abnormal and fancy prices o of no real value to any particular eed. J.hey act detrimentally to the st interests of the commercial stoclc ,the country, which is apt to be starved .the best elements, that should go to (•• improvement. There is something •ong in a system which allows a great '," , the ," n,nW of 0 " r P«l'gi'ee •ra» to lake place with no correspondR; , "ipiweinent in our commercial nek. The. wholo structure of our '(ligrees breeding could be sounder if ,rested entirely on the support of the macreial live-stock interest: