mongrel is better!

[suyoder]

A very wise person said this:

"There was a time in the life of common folks that pure bred didn't enter into people's thinking if an animal served it's purpose, it didn't matter who it's parents were or what it looked like ! I think breed got started among wealthy folks that didn't need the animals for anything but a status symbol . Fancy dogs and fancy cats ;-) ! Later dairymen who were well off became Guernsey breeders or Holstein breeders or Jersey breeders and they didn't dairy entirely for the milk and making a living selling it but took pride and formed associations promoting their breed . They decided how much color could vary what constituted a beautiful cow the confirmation of the udder how big the barrel should be and on and on . Holstein cows are a relative new breed and until recently there were throw backs to a red and white ancestry and these cows could not be registered as Holsteins . Recently there is a red Holstein registry and there are guys just as proud of their red ones . So you see making something "pure" is simply selectively narrowing down the gene pool to where they can't be anything else . The result of pure breeding is often an animal less hardy , less intelligent , more prone to disease then animals who don't have their gene pools so severely restricted . MONGREL IS BETTER !!!"

I needed this reminder in my current fascination with pure breeds. He's not saying that pure breeds are bad, but I thought it just put things in perspective.

 

[Michael OShay]

It's a good point about Mongrels and often true, particularly regarding the animal's hardiness. On the other hand, with pure breeds, you know exactly what you are getting, whereas with Mongrels, you never really know. Oftentimes the best animal is a hybrid where two pure breeds have been crossed. Chicken examples would be Black Sex Links where RIR rooster are crossed with Barred Rock hens, or Red Sex Links where red gene roosters are crossed with white/silver gene hens. You know exactly what you are getting with these particular crosses and the resulting offspring are better layers than either parent breed

 

[DoubleMM]

I've always love making barnyard mutts, crossing mongrel to mongrel and never knowing what to expect... Then every once in a while 'd get something I wish would breed true,

 

[suyoder]

Yes! I agree with both of the above posts!
I am very fascinated with some of the pure breeds... Particularly some of the rare ones. I havent created any barnyard mutts yet, but here in a year or two, who knows what kinds of critters I'll end up with. I have 20 standard sized chicks between 5 and 6 weeks... Wyandottes, australorps, Welsummers, orpingtons, dorkings...with 2 orpington roosters and a dorking rooster.... (So far.) Ah, the fun to come....