Large sums of money have, from time to time, been expended with a view
of improving stock, and many superior cattle have been introduced into
this country; yet, after a few generations, the beautiful form and
superior qualities of the originals are nearly lost, and the importer
finds to his cost that the produce is no better than that of his
neighbors. What are the causes of this deterioration? We are told--and
experience confirms the fact--that "like produces like." Good qualities
and perfect organization are perpetuated by a union of animals
possessing those properties: of course it follows, that malformation,
hereditary taints, and vices are transmitted and aggravated.
The destructive practice of breeding "in and in," or, in other words,
selecting animals of the same family, is one of the first causes of
degeneracy; and this destructive practice has proved equally unfortunate
in the human family. Physical defects are the result of the
intermarriage of near relatives. In Spain, the deformed and feeble state
of the aristocracy arises from their alliances being confined to the
same class of relatives through successive generations. But we need not
go to Spain to verify such facts. Go into our churchyards, and read on
the tombstones the names of thousands of infants,--gems withered in the
bud,--young men, and maidens, cut down and consigned to a premature
grave; and then prove, if you can, that early marriages and near
alliances are not the chief causes of this great mortality.
Mr. Colman, in an article on live stock, says, "There seems to be a
limit beyond which no person can go. The particular breed may be altered
and improved, but an entirely new breed cannot be produced; and in every
departure from the original there is a constant tendency to revert back
to it. The stock of the improved Durham cattle seems to establish this
fact. If we have the true history of it, it is a cross of a Teeswater
bull with a Galloway cow. The Teeswater or Yorkshire stock are a large,
coarse-boned animal: the object of this cross was to get a smaller bone
and greater compactness. By attempting to carry this improvement, if I
may so call it, still further by breeding continually in and in, that
is, with members of the same family, in a close degree of affinity, the
power of continuing the species seems to become extinct; at least it
approximates to such a result. On the other hand, by wholly neglecting
all selection, and without an occasional good cross with an animal of
some foreign blood, there appears a tendency to revert back to the
large-boned, long-legged animal, from which the _improvement_ began.
"There are, however, several instances of superior animals bred in the
closest affinity; whilst, in a very great majority of cases, the failure
has been excessive."
Overtaxing the generative powers of the male is another cause of
deterioration. The reader is probably aware of the woful results
attending too frequent sexual intercourse. If he has not given this
subject the attention it demands, then let him read the records of our
lunatic asylums: they tell a sad tale of woe, and prove to demonstration
that, before the blast of this dire tornado, _sexual excess_, lofty
minds, the suns and stars of our intellectual world, are suddenly
blotted out. It spares neither age, sex, profession, nor kind. Dr. White
relates a case which substantiates the truth of our position. "The
Prince of Wales, who afterwards became George the Fourth, had a stud
horse of very superior qualities. His highness caused a few of his own
mares to be bred to this stallion, and the produce proved every way
worthy of the sire. This horse was kept at Windsor for public covering
without charge, except the customary groom's fee of half a guinea. The
groom, anxious to pocket as many half guineas as possible, persuaded all
he could to avail themselves of the prince's liberality. The result was,
that, being kept in a stable without sufficient exercise, and covering
nearly one hundred mares yearly, the stock, although tolerably promising
in their early age, shot up into lank, weakly, awkward, good-for-nothing
creatures, to the entire ruin of the horse's character and sire. Some
gentlemen, aware of the cause, took pains to explain it, proving the
correctness of their statement by reference to the first of the horses
got, which were among the best horses in England."
There is no doubt but that brutes are often endowed with extraordinary
powers for sexual indulgence; yet, when kept for the purpose alluded to,
without sufficient muscular exercise,--breathing impure air, and living
on the fat of the farm,--his services in constant requisition,--then it
is no wonder, that if, under these circumstances, the offspring are weak
and inefficient.
Professor Youatt recommends that "valuable qualities once established,
which it is desirable to keep up, should thereafter be preserved by
occasional crosses with the best animals to be had of the same breed,
but of a different family. This is the great secret which has maintained
the blood horse in his great superiority."
The live stock of our farmers frequently degenerates in a very short
space of time. The why and the wherefore is not generally understood;
neither will it be, until animal physiology shall be better understood
than it is at the present time. Men are daily violating the laws of
animal organization in more ways than one, in the breeding, rearing, and
general management of all kinds of domestic animals,--until the
different breeds are so amalgamated, that, in many cases, it is a
difficult task to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, their
pedigree. If a farmer has in his possession a bull of a favorite breed,
the neighboring stock-raisers avail themselves of his bullship's
services by sending as many cows to him as possible: the consequence is,
that the offspring got in the latter part of the season are good for
nothing. The cow also, at the time of impregnation, may be in a state of
debility, owing to some derangement in the organs of digestion; if so,
impregnation is very likely to make the matter worse; for great sympathy
exists between the organs of generation and those of digestion, and
females of every order suffer more or less from a disturbed state of the
stomach during the early months of pregnancy. In fact, during the whole
stage they should be considered far from a state of health. Add to this
the fact that impregnated cows are milked, (not generally, yet we know
of such cases:) the foetus is thus deprived of its due share of
nourishment, and the extra nutrimental agents, necessary for its growth
and development, must be furnished at the expense of the mother. She, in
her turn, soon shows unmistakable evidences of this "robbing Peter to
pay Paul" system, by her sunken eye, loss of flesh, &c., and often,
before she has seen her sixth month of pregnancy, liberates the foetus
by a premature birth--in short, pays the penalty of disobedience to the
immutable law of nature. On the other hand, should such a cow go safely
through the whole period of gestation and parturition, the offspring
will not be worth keeping, and the milk of the former will lack, in some
measure, those constituents which go to make good milk, and without
which it is almost worthless for making butter or cheese. A cow should
never be bred from unless she shall be in good health and flesh. If she
cannot be fatted, then she may be spayed. (See article _Spaying Cows_.)
By that means, her health will improve, and she will be made a permanent
milker. Degeneracy may arise from physical defects on the part of the
bull. It is well known that infirmities, faults, and defects are
communicated by the sexual congress to the parties as well as their
offspring. Hence a bull should never be bred to unless he possesses the
requisite qualifications of soundness, form, size, and color. There are
a great number of good-for-nothing bulls about the country, whose
services can be had for a trifle; under these circumstances, and when
they can be procured without the trouble of sending the cow even a short
distance, it will be difficult to effect a change.
If the farming community desire to put a stop to this growing evil, let
them instruct their representatives to advocate the enactment of a law
prohibiting the breeding to bulls or stallions unless they shall possess
the necessary qualifications.
[Illustration: A First Prize Short Horned Bull]