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<blockquote data-quote="BAGTIC" data-source="post: 380607" data-attributes="member: 3757"><p>The furor over 'how pure' a breed is is much ado about nothing. </p><p></p><p>Remember that most 'pure breeds' are relatively new, 150 years or so. When these breeds were first established there were not any standards. Every breeder bred cattle the way they, personally, thought they should look. Whether angus, hereford or other 'breed' they were a pretty motley and varied lot.</p><p></p><p>After the registeries were created owners bred to registry standards. It was an early form of marketing/branding. They could say, 'See, ours are purer/holier than their's'. The fringe benefit was that by providing a more hogeneous gene base they were able to provide a more uniform, not necessarily 'better', product so buyers could more accurately anticipate the outcome of breeding.</p><p></p><p>There are some who believe the most important part of maintaining the breed is fixating on some past (original?) characterisics, imagined or real. Good examples of this are Dexter breeders who want to maintain chondrodysplasic dwarfism and breeders who don't want to go polled because it is not traditional. Of course some humans believe that the historical accident of one of their forebearers arrived on the Mayflower makes them special too.</p><p></p><p>What concerns me is that some of the commercial cattlebuyers have fallen in to the trap that appearances are more important than performance. When I read posts that says white cattle with points are discounted over solid whites on appearance alone, that creams sell better than pure black, or minor breeds of otherwise good confirmation and growth are being downgraded , not because of provable inferiority, but because of a buyers personal <u>prejudices</u> it convinces me that cattlebreeding is fast becoming the equivalent of auto body design, interior decorating, and female fashion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BAGTIC, post: 380607, member: 3757"] The furor over 'how pure' a breed is is much ado about nothing. Remember that most 'pure breeds' are relatively new, 150 years or so. When these breeds were first established there were not any standards. Every breeder bred cattle the way they, personally, thought they should look. Whether angus, hereford or other 'breed' they were a pretty motley and varied lot. After the registeries were created owners bred to registry standards. It was an early form of marketing/branding. They could say, 'See, ours are purer/holier than their's'. The fringe benefit was that by providing a more hogeneous gene base they were able to provide a more uniform, not necessarily 'better', product so buyers could more accurately anticipate the outcome of breeding. There are some who believe the most important part of maintaining the breed is fixating on some past (original?) characterisics, imagined or real. Good examples of this are Dexter breeders who want to maintain chondrodysplasic dwarfism and breeders who don't want to go polled because it is not traditional. Of course some humans believe that the historical accident of one of their forebearers arrived on the Mayflower makes them special too. What concerns me is that some of the commercial cattlebuyers have fallen in to the trap that appearances are more important than performance. When I read posts that says white cattle with points are discounted over solid whites on appearance alone, that creams sell better than pure black, or minor breeds of otherwise good confirmation and growth are being downgraded , not because of provable inferiority, but because of a buyers personal [u]prejudices[/u] it convinces me that cattlebreeding is fast becoming the equivalent of auto body design, interior decorating, and female fashion. [/QUOTE]
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