The cow

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 Excerpt: ...unconsciously in response to new surroundings, partly because her master and owner has encouraged and preserved these new developments by keeping and rearing especially the calves of those cows that, judged by his standards, seemed to him best or most desirable. In discussing the theory of breeding and the results that have been attained, we have always assumed that these changes have come about almost wholly through the conscious selection and agency of man. It is altogether probable, however, that a very large part of the modification of our domestic animals has resulted from a natural biologic selection rather than from the deliberate methods and plans of the breeder. An excellent example of how Nature works (and sometimes contrariwise) with man in his breeding operations is the little Kerry cow or the tiny Shetland pony. These animals are practically dwarfs, not because their owners have systematically selected the offspring of the smallest mothers, but rather because of a law that runs true throughout all life. The law may be stated thus: "Where the food supply is scanty and uncertain, the size of organisms tends to decrease." In any case, there are on our American farms today about twenty different breeds of cattle which are distinguished from each other not only by size, form, or color markings, but more remarkably by functions as well, and yet all of them must-acknowledge the wild cow of Europe as a common ancestress. The larger part of the story of the breeding of the cow is lost in the unwritten past. Certain it is that in the days when man was still a nomad with his herds and long before he had any advanced civilization or written records or even traditions of his work, the cow had already been greatly modified from the wild form and ve...