Animal Breeding I: Meaning & Types – SS1 Livestock Farming Lesson Note (First Term)

Animal breeding is the mating of selected animals to produce offspring with better qualities, such as cows that give more milk or chickens that grow faster.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. State the meaning of animal breeding.
2. Describe mass, progeny and pedigree selection.
3. Explain pasture mating and hand mating.
4. Define artificial insemination and give reasons why farmers use it.
5. Distinguish between inbreeding, outbreeding and crossbreeding.

What is animal breeding?

Animal breeding is the process of mating selected animals to produce offspring (young ones) with better qualities.

• Improvement: the main goal is to make the animals better, for example bigger, healthier or higher yielding.
• Increase in number: breeding also gives the farmer more animals.
• Example: a farmer with small goats breeds them with strong, well-grown bucks so that the kids grow bigger and healthier.

What is selection in animal breeding?

Selection is the choosing of the best animals to be parents of the next generation.

There are three main methods of selection: mass selection, progeny selection and pedigree selection.

Mass selection

• Basis: the animal’s physical appearance and performance.
• Example: a ram that is big, with strong legs and a wide chest, is chosen to mate with the ewes.
• Example: a very big cock is chosen to father future chicks.

Progeny selection

• Basis: the quality of the animal’s young ones. “Progeny” means offspring.
• Example: if a bull’s daughters all give plenty of milk, the bull is kept for breeding.

Pedigree selection

• Basis: the family history (family tree) of the animal.
• Example: a young animal from parents and grandparents with high yields is selected before it has produced anything itself.

What are the methods of breeding?

There are two methods of breeding: natural breeding and artificial insemination.

What is natural breeding?

Natural breeding is the mating of a male and a female animal without human help in the act itself.

There are two ways of managing natural breeding: pasture mating and hand mating.

Pasture mating

• Meaning: the male is left in the field with a group of females.
• How it works: he finds the females that are on heat and mates with them.

Hand mating

• Meaning: the male and females are kept apart.
• How it works: when a female is on heat, the farmer brings her to the male he has chosen.
• Advantage: the farmer records the exact date of mating, so the birth date can be worked out.

How do pasture mating and hand mating differ?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of natural breeding?

• Advantage: it is simple and needs no special skill or equipment.
• Advantage: it is cheap for the village farmer.
• Disadvantage: the farmer must keep a male, which costs feed and housing.
• Disadvantage: diseases can pass from one animal to another during mating.

What is artificial insemination (AI)?

Artificial insemination is the collecting of semen from a high-quality male and placing it into the reproductive tract of a female by hand or with instruments.

What are the steps in artificial insemination?

1. Collect semen from the chosen male.
2. Examine the semen to check that it is of good quality.
3. Dilute the semen so that it can be shared among many females.
4. Store the semen safely, for example in straws kept cold.
5. Place the semen in the female when she is on heat.

Why do farmers use AI?

• No dangerous male to keep: bulls and boars (male pigs) can be aggressive, and AI removes the need to keep them.
• One male serves many females: semen from one bull is divided into many straws and sent to many farms.
• Improved breeds: semen from a champion bull abroad can be used on local cows in Nigeria.
• Less spread of disease: animals do not pass infections to each other through mating.
• Saves cost: the farmer does not spend money on feeding and housing a male.

What are the disadvantages of AI?

• Trained person needed: the work needs skill.
• Equipment needed: instruments and cold storage are required.
• Timing: the farmer must know exactly when the female is on heat.

What are inbreeding, outbreeding and crossbreeding?

Inbreeding, outbreeding and crossbreeding are three systems of breeding that describe which animals are paired.

• Inbreeding: mating animals that are closely related, such as brother and sister. It can make the young ones weak or sickly.
• Outbreeding: mating animals that are not closely related. It usually gives stronger young ones.
• Crossbreeding: mating animals of two different breeds, such as a local Nigerian cow and a Holstein.

Why is crossbreeding useful in Nigeria?

• Local cow: it survives the hot weather and local diseases well but gives little milk.
• Holstein (foreign cow): it gives plenty of milk but copes less well with heat.
• Cross: the young one may combine toughness with a better milk yield.

How do the three systems compare?

Evaluation

1. You have a very big cock and want your future chicks to be big like him. Which selection method are you using?
2. Give one reason why a village farmer might prefer natural breeding to artificial insemination.
3. Why is crossbreeding popular in Nigeria? (Hint: think of hot weather and the high milk yield of foreign cows.)
4. State the difference between pasture mating and hand mating.

Assignment

1. Write short notes on mass selection, progeny selection and pedigree selection.
2. State four reasons why farmers use artificial insemination.