FANCY POINTS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2040, 7 September 1880, Page 4

FANCY POINTS.

If wo trace the history of any breed of domestic animals we will find that much importance is attached to what are called “ fancy points,” some of which apparently have nothing whatever in common with the essential points. It is true that if these points are uniformly transmitted to the offspring they •re an indication that the truly valuable points will also be transmitted. There is a tendency, I think, to carry the question of "fancy points ” in some cases too far. For instance, breeders of Clydesdale horses will sometimes not exhibit their horses at certain seasons of the year, simply because the horses are “ bare of hair,” so much importance do they attach to the long hair on the legs. They also object if the hair is a little coarse or curly. In certain breeds of cattle white noses are prized, and if a black nose appear the animal is rejected, and for no other reason. These are extreme and perhaps exceptional cases, but there is a tendency in that direction.

In forming a standard, to which an animal must come before it is entitled to merit, very often unimportant points are valued as highly as the essential ones. Milk-giving and beefproducing qualities in cattle often receive less attention than the shape of the ear, shape of nostril, length of tail, &c. With some the most important questions are : Is the animal an imported one ? Does it belong to a certain family, or to a certain importation P and if these questions are answered satisfactorily, nothing more is wanted.

The “seventeen ” cattle are a good illustration. It is not enough to know that an animal is imported, or that it is of a certain family to decide on its merits, for it may he hoth, and still be a poor animal. It is acknowledged by all that great excellence can not be secured in many in the same animal, and that if undue attention is given to one point, it is at the expense of the others. If this be true, it would be easy to injure or retard the development of a breed in the more essential points, by developing “ fancy points.” It seems to me more important to know, for example, that a cow is a good milk-giver ; that a horse is a good roadster, or that he has a good disposition, than to know that an animal possesses some non-essential point which happens to be popular. After this is known, the most vital question is, are these qualities uniformly transmitted to the offspring ? If they are, the animal is valuable, and deserves merit, whether it possesses “ fancy points " or not.