Breeding station

“ But we must bear in mind that so long as conditions are favourable during the period of reproduction, which is of short duration, the breeding range can continue to expand, and that therefore, in the course of centuries, regions will come to be occupied wherein, owing to alternations of climate or physical changes in the surface of the earth,292 food will be impossible, or at any rate difficult to obtain at certain seasons. Hence there will come a time when the area of association ceases to follow in the wake of the expansion, and the breeding area begins to diverge from the subsistence area. ”

“ This early arrival of males on the breeding grounds is associated with territorial possession whereby the male selects the area where it intends to breed and each individual attempts to protect a definite territory from trespass by other males of his own kind, while announcing his presence to rival males and later arriving females by song or other display. The female then selects the site where she wishes to nest. The long-billed marsh wren is a noteworthy example; the males may enthusiastically build several nests before the females arrive. ”

“ Migratory habit unquestionably has considerable influence on index values in some species. It is not, however, as important as other matters, such as the condition of the food substratum or sensitivity of the pituitary-gonadal mechanism, in determining timing and mode of breeding activity. The schedule of the Purple Martin is the extreme example showing that time of spring arrival on breeding grounds is not necessarily related to time of inception of breeding. ”

“ A great part of the art of breeding lies in the principle of judicious crossing; for it is only by attending properly to this that success is to be attained, and animals produced that shall yield the greatest amount of profit for the food they consume. All eminent breeders know full well that ill-bred animals are unprofitable both to the breeder and feeder. To carry out the system of crossing judiciously, certain breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs, &c., must be kept pure of their kind—males especially ”

“ The obvious alternative to wild source populations is captive breeding. Captive breeding can be difficult due to taxon-specific genetic, behavioral, or health challenges and postrelease success is often limited unless animals are specifically selected or adequately prepared for release (Todd & Lintermans 2015) . ”

“ Until, however, certain mooted questions connected with breeding are definitively settled, it is the safest plan, in breeding for the dairy, to adhere to the rule of selecting only animals whose progenitors on both sides have been distinguished for their milking qualities. ”

“ Great care should be exercised in the selection of the males for breeding stock. Only the large and healthy animals of good color should be used and all others should be killed and their skins marketed while they are in good condition.
While the animals do not always breed strictly true to color, the white markings may be greatly reduced and the general stock improved by selected breeding. One should, each year secure fresh breeding stock from other localities and related animals should not be allowed to breed together or in a few years the result will be disastrous. ”

“ The succeeding records of sows of the same families afforded the best possible confirmation of the belief which was becoming general that prolificacy like many other qualities was most certainly hereditary. This recorded proof that pure bred animals and especially pigs were not necessarily slow breeders, helped vastly to increase the demand for pedigree animals for crossing purposes in the breeding of commercial stock. ”

“ So far as can be seen, however, the impulse to seek isolation with its correlative territory, leads to constant modification in the breeding range of most species. The occupation of the small space of ground which each individual requires, the extent of which has been gradually adjusted to suit the needs of different species, results in expansion not only in one direction but in every direction, and not only in one season but in every season. ”

“ Attention to the matter is imperative, and planters would be wise in their own interests to devote a little time and trouble to disseminating sound ideas about the selection of breeding stock, and the principles of rearing and raising stock among their ryots and dependants. Every factory should be able to breed its own cattle, and supply its own requirements for plough and cart-bullocks. ”

“ The breeder who wishes to combine fancy and utility properties in any kind of live stock must breed only from specimens that are meritorious in both directions, selecting much more carefully than when breeding for one class of properties. ”

“ Among stock-breeders generally there is a very strong aversion to in-breeding, although it was the method of the great pioneers and is still the method in a modified form, called line breeding, among breeders of the highest class. ”

“ It is calculated that if all survived, after ten breeding seasons, the progeny of an original female might have increased to a population of more than 97,000, under the climatic conditions of eastern Kansas, permitting attainment of breeding maturity late in the second year of life. ”

“ They are especially valuable on a farm, where it is desired to locate a flock of half-grown chicks out in the stubble of a newly-cut grain field, or colonies of chicks along the border of a cornfield, or on a poultry farm where extra room is needed for surplus stock and cockerels which are to be sold for breeding purposes. A solid board floor enables shutting the birds in at night and keeping them in until the team has drawn them to the new location in the morning ”

“ It needs no penetration to see that, by an exact knowledge of the processes of maturation and fertilization, a vigorous stock is being reared, upon which some day the experience of the breeder will be firmly grafted, to our mutual profit. We, who are engaged in experimental breeding, are watching with keenest interest the researches of Strasburger, Boveri, Wilson, Farmer and their many fellow-workers and associates in this difficult field, sure that in the near future we shall be operating in common. ”

“ But the case would be quite different if the winning sire and dam came from the same old established herd in which the animals had been bred for generations on similar lines. It is this concentration of certain qualities in generation after generation which renders the pedigree animal so intensely prepotent, particularly when mated with animals of an ordinary character or not possessing concentrated breeding. ”

“ By line breeding you can get almost any color you want. If you wanted to get solid red, say, out of a mixed lot, you should breed your reddest male to your reddest female. Then breed the father to his reddest daughter and the reddest son to his mother. Continue in this way and eventually you will get solid reds.
For commercial purposes, however, we think it is best to get new males every now and then. If you have only one male at the start, you should get a new one when the young ones of your first litter are old enough to breed. ”

“ If there were nothing in the inherited nature beyond an impulse to seek the breeding ground, if, that is to say, when the appropriate locality were reached, the bird took no further interest in the developing situation, the attainment of reproduction would become largely a matter of chance. A male in a congested district, having no incentive to seek fresh ground, would remain inactive until a female happened to cross its path and stimulate its sexual impulse, when its activity would take another form. ”

“ Many breed with a certain success, and even rush to the top for a time in the show-yard, but it is only those described by Darwin who will finally succeed. In laying the foundation of a breeding stock there is generally one of two objects in view: either, first, to raise up a herd the best of its race, with a view to competition in the show-yard and to improve it to the utmost; or, second, to breed commercial cattle for commercial purposes with the greatest possible profit. ”

“ Crossing, between different breeds, for the purpose of obtaining animals for the shambles, may be advantageously practised to a considerable extent, but not for the production of breeding animals. As a general rule, cross-bred males should not be employed for propagation, and cross-bred females should be served by thorough-bred males. ”

“ It is right and proper to breed a registered sire to his daughter, who is the offspring of a grade cow. The first cross is all right and the offspring ought to be physically perfect. This is a first step in what we call line breeding, but in line breeding proper, both animals must be pure bloods and registered, having ancestors on both sides which have a long line of good individuals with strong constitutions and true to type. ”

“ Sanitation in the breeding yards must not be neglected. Either the fences and shelters should be made portable and moved each year to clean ground, or double yards should be constructed for use only in the breeding season, during which time one yard is occupied for 2 successive weeks and then the other, which in the meantime has been kept free of all poultry. ”

“ The far too common practice is to purchase each boar required from a totally different herd, or from one of quite dissimilar breeding, with the result that there is not the slightest uniformity in the appearance or character of the herd, or of the mature animals when ready for market.
It is far too frequently forgotten that the chief value of a record of the pedigree is that by it one can trace the breeding of the animal's progenitors, and thus one is enabled to form some opinion of the probable produce—providing it is possible to learn the chief characteristics of the progenitors. ”

“ Any migrant tends to arrive on breeding grounds relatively late, hence migrants ordinarily have higher index values than do residents.
2. Colonial breeding. The strong synchrony of colonially-breeding species tends to move the modal egg-date toward the time of inception of breeding; as a result colonially-breeding species probably have lower index values than they would have if not colonial.
3. Single-broodedness. Species having only one brood per season tend to have shorter seasons than double-brooded species, and their index values tend to be lower than those of double-brooded species. ”

“ If even in such minute particulars as these, hereditary transmission may be distinctly seen, it becomes the breeder to look closely to the "like" which he wishes to see reproduced. Judicious selection is indispensable to success in breeding, and this should have regard to every particular—general appearance, length of limb, shape of carcass, development of chest; if in cattle, the size, shape and position of udder, thickness of skin, "touch," length and texture of hair, docility, &c., &c. ”

“ Such patterns of breeding chronology support the idea that seasonal response to the necessities of breeding is conservative more often than plastic. Most students of breeding schedules believe that since these are highly adaptive, they must also be capable of flexibility to meet variable environments within the range of the species. ”

“ Having done my best to explain how I think the foundation of a breeding stock should be laid, I shall now give my opinion and experience how the herd should be treated, and how it should be kept up. The cows, heifers, and bulls should be kept fresh, not fat, nor too lean. The calves should have a different treatment. All breeding cattle tied to the stall should be let out every day for two or three hours, or at least every second day, unless the weather be very wet or stormy. The finer the quality of the stock the less rich will be the food they require. ”

“ For the show room breeder the new science of breeding is too undeveloped to be of immediate service, or I had better say, the show room requisites are too complicated for theoretical breeding to promise results. ”

“ Nevertheless, if the battles between males of the same species are directly related to the occupation of a position suitable for breeding purposes, if those which occur between males of closely related forms can be traced to a similar source, if the females take their share in the defence of the ground that is occupied, if, in short, the competition is as severe as I believe it to be, and is wholly responsible for the strife which is prevalent at the commencement of the breeding season—then such competition must have introduced profound modifications in the distribution of species ”

“ By reference to the habit of the fur-seal, which I have discussed at length, it is now plain and beyond doubt that two-thirds of all the males which are born, and they are equal in numbers to the females born, are never permitted by the remaining third, strongest by natural selection, to land upon the same breeding-ground with the females, which always herd thereupon en masse. ”

“ Long experience has shown that very close breeding of the same variety for a long time fixes the kind but weakens the stock, especially in fertility, while judicious crossing of varieties strengthens the stock, increasing its fertility, and especially producing plasticity or variability. Therefore breeders, if they wish to preserve a valuable variety, breed close; but, if they wish to make new varieties, cross-breed. But we have already seen that species are usually cross-sterile. ”

“ In summer, when many females that are only a few weeks old become pregnant, the average litter declines to less than three young. The small average litter of 3.0 young for 1950 probably resulted from the fact that the population on the Reservation was then expanding rapidly in the newly favorable habitat created by one year's crop of vegetation after discontinuance of grazing, and had an unusually high percentage of breeding females that were not fully adult. ”