Line Breeding Pros And Cons

Throughout the world, cattle breeders use a number of methods to manage the breeding of livestock. These methods are used to retain desired qualities in both beef and dairy cattle. One of the most prominent methods is known as line breeding. This practice is used over a large span of time, in order to insure desired qualities are retained over a number of generations. When used properly over a great number of years, qualities can be maintained indefinitely. The process involves keeping a genetic strain pure, without inbreeding, though many critics claim that line breeding is nothing more than inbreeding at a lesser extent. Clearly, there are very mixed views about the process of line breeding throughout the cattle community. Line breeding …show more content…
The first of many, is that the genetic gamble of having an impure strain, would ruin a whole herd in the breeding process. Qualities would not be insured as they would with a pure strain, as nothing is guaranteed. Line breeding allows almost certainty that the qualities being preserved through breeding will remain the same as long as you do not interbreed your cattle. Secondly, mixing of the breeds may result in unwanted qualities spreading throughout the whole herd over time. This would be easily avoided by only line breeding with genetically pure cattle, which would eliminate risk of any defects or unwanted outcomes, when done properly. Lastly, genetically impure cattle do not yield quality meats or dairy products. As the genetics are watered down by breeds of cattle with no meat quality, the breeds that produce quality beef products are slowly ruined by those undesirable bovine. Dairy wise, cows who are mixed do not have a guarantee that they will yield a certain amount of milk. On the other hand, pure bred cattle have an average production rate, and with that we can manage everything from that point onward. In summary, line breeding produces quality product of the inferior product of mongrelized …show more content…
Maintaining livestock quality involves the preservation of desired qualities in cattle. Line breeding is one of the most well-known processes agriculturalists use to date, which allows said qualities to be kept through generations. If this processes is carried out for a number of years, line breeding can be indefinitely sustainable as a practice. Though the use may not be as widespread as needed as a result of critics branding the practice as nothing more than a new incarnation of inbreeding, even though genetically and physically, there are no found defects. Out of many unsure bets provided by various forms of breeding management, line breeding shines as the rubber stamp for