Description
Book SynopsisThe long tradition of livestock breeding in the Netherlands serves as a valuable example of the delicate balance between art and science, beauty and statistics in the modernizing field of agriculture.
Trade Review"This book offers a magnificent panorama on animal husbandry, featuring concrete discussions on dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses." -- Beat Bächi, University of Zurich *
European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health *
"A work of excellent scholarship that will be recommended reading for scholars interested in twentieth-century agricultural history and in the history of animal breeding and genetics." -- Tarquin Holmes *
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences *
"This book beautifully straddles the line between the two apparently diverse (and often divisive) attitudes to breeding, because of a deep understanding of both genetic and practical breeding methods." -- Margaret E. Derry, University of Guelph *
Agricultural History *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Breeding for Nobility or for Production? Friesian Dairy Cattle The Breeders Get Organized Type and Tuberculosis The Moral Economy of Breeding Bloodlines and Purity Scientific Breeding Nobility or Production? Entrepreneurship Indexes Holsteinization Market and Moral Economy 2. “The most efficient chickens in the world” From Side Business to Mainstay Hybrid Breeding Hy-Line and Hendrix Genetics From Purebreds to First-Generation Crossbreds Industrialization Developments in Breeding Chickens are Not Peas 3. Breeding a Pig for all Parties Testing for Productive Traits Minkema’s Breeding Plan AI in Pigs Hybrid Pig Breeding The Breeder’s Eye Pigs are Not Chickens 4. Just Not Like any other Sheep Breed: The Texel Creating the Texel The Swifter Breeding by Numbers or By Eye AI in Texel Sheep What’s in a Breed? 5. From Farm Horse to Riding Horse: The Dutch Warmbloods Gelderlanders and Groningers Introducing “Hot Blood” Finding the Right Mix The Government Intervenes Scientific Breeding Balancing Practical and Scientific Methods Conclusions List of illustrations Sources Index
