STOCK BREEDING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4806, 4 February 1925, Page 4

STOCK BREEDING.

CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH. WEIGHTY MATTERS DISCUSSED. A most valuable Cattle Breeding Conference was held at Edinburgh recently, during the course of which of intimate concern to stock breeders everywhere were discussed from many aspects. The conference opened with a paper by Professor J. Cossar Ewart, of the University, Edinburgh, upon the origin of cattle. The oldest known ox, we were told, was the ancient Etruscan ox that spread from Central Italy through Europe, and appeared in England during the Bronze Age. From that stock the Celtic shorthorn arose. The horned cattle of Scotland came from Norway in the ninth century. Professor J, Wilison, of the College of Science for Ireland, spoke upon the formation of breeds, and said that all breeds of cattle had their origin in crossing varieties which weret hemselves crosses. The production of pure breeds had been attempted only during the last four centuries. Purity could only be sustained by breeding among members of the same herd. In referring to herd and (stud books, and to .the fact that these only preserved external character, he drew attention to the serious omission of any record being kept of the physiological or economic characters of the animal.

A paper on practical breeding follower, in which Major Wentwood (Chicago) emphasised the fact that an individual animal was not a simple unit, but a combination of units di awn from the common stack of cattle depended upon variations in shape, er was attempting to control, At present the commercial value of cattle depended upon variations in shope,

colour, vigour, aud other eye characters, but one of the many desirable points awaiting solution was the inheritance of quantitive qualities.

The meaning and scope of the science of genetics was dealt with in a paper by Mr M. K. Campbell, of the University of Illinois, which he defined as the organised knowledge of reproductive succession of animals and plants. Genetics dealt with definite heredity units of an individual which could be intelligently manipulated in the act of cross-breeding, thus enabling the breeder to know the path he was following and to predict the result of his action. For example. colour in hair was a hereditary character, and in the case, say, of Highland cattle, black and red formed a simple Mendelian pair, in which black predominated red, so that the offspring of a black bull by a red heifer would be predominantly black in colour. Sexual characters also were conditioned on a Mendelian basis, and Dr. Drew, the director of the Animal Breeding. Research Department, Edinburgh, stated his belief that within the next ten years sufficient information would be, forthcoming concrening the process of sex determination and sex differentiation that it was not at all impossible that means of controlling the sex of future offspring would be available to practical breeders

Most breeders believe that masculinity or feminity in the breeding animal has a great deal to do with the ability of the animal to transmit its characters. Major Wentworth (Chicago) held that prepotence was a property of the character of the strain rather than of the individual, and a bull was prepotent in so far as he possessed those dominant characters which could be transmitted to his progeny.

A discussion on “Vigour in Cattle was opened by a practical breeder who insisted upon its importance eu

the ground that high-vigoured stock grew well and thrived well, producing la’ge quantities of milk and flesh, while the character of low-vigo.urel stock was the very reverse. The chief object in using a pedigree sire on commercial stock was to increase tlie vigour of the offspring. Referring to the statement made that the “scrub” bull had a relatively low vigour, Mr Gordon, the Minister for Agriculture for Northern Ireland, remarked that.breeders in Ireland regarden the scrub bull as probably one of the most vigorous of nulls if they measured its vigour by its power to produce. They also regarded it as prepotent because he left a class of stock they did not want! Tnereofre, he thought for that reason all breeders wanted to get rid of the scrub animal.

On tlie subject of in-breeding and out-breeding Dr. Cole, of the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, pointed out that within a well-defined breed there was a constant conflict between these two processes. Different types within the breed possessed different Mendelian characters, and when two types were crossed the offspring would inherit a mixture of thru character of both parents. In a restricted sense this was out-breeding. When the breeder got what-he wanted he then adopted in-breeding in order to hold the desired character he had succeeded in getting. In-breeding, therefore, did not produce any new genetic characters. If undesirable characters arose among tlie offspring their appearance was not due to any new genetic deficiencies, but to faults that happened to be already present in the type. It was pointed out by another speaker that animals which looked much alike often bred very differently, and no breeder now. maintained that mere appearance was a good index of breeding quality. To discover the definite terms by wliica a breeder could measure the physiological limits of capacity of the animal was an urgent problem that awaited inquiry by methods of scientific research.

Mr McClanish (West of Scotland College of Agriculture) gave three essential conditions for the building up of a dairy herd—feeding, breeding, and selection. The cattle must be well fed from their birth. Use must be made* of a good bull, otherwise no good producing herd' could be expected, and, furthermore, no general progress would be made unless the scrub that occasionally arose were weedec; out.

Speaking on the subject of pedigree Mr McLaren, of the Naemoor Estates, said that the really great breeders in the country laid much greater stress upon good top crosses and general excellence of breeding than upon family name. Type in general was of vastly greatei importance than super-excel-lence in the particular. It was the type which told in the long run, and the breeder who conformed to this axiom and. bred, for type—the right type—would have more real and permanent success than, the breeder who accidentally produced something of outstanding merit, but who had otheiwise disregarded type in his cattle. A bull was of enormously greater value in a herd than any cow. The influence of the cow was as an individual only, and a strictly limited one, whereas the influence of the bull was diffused throughout the whole herd, and might eventually have results in region? undreamt of by his breedei. The speaker drew the attention of the scientific men present to the very large field of investigation in relation to the nature and control of disease that was so urgently needed by stock owners, mentioning, in particulai, contagions abortion, foot-and-mouth disease, and tuberculosis.

Speaking as a breeder of Shorthorns, Mr McLaren'declared that the Shorthorn was the dual purpose animal of the world. His experience was that the best milking cows were most often the best breeding cows. He admitted that breeding for milk was, perhaps, hitherto neglected. The ideal of the breeder should be the production of a cow that could convert food into flesh when ii was required and into milk when it was required. He had no hesitation in saying that with due discrimination and selection they could obtain that end.