0 Members and 7 Guests are viewing this topic.
Mr C is in charge of a rather good fish stew. I am heading for the shower and then putting my feet up.
Quote from: Miss Creant on October 30, 2011, 12:13:32 PMMr C is in charge of a rather good fish stew. I am heading for the shower and then putting my feet up.Not enough room for a bidet then
I have been invited out tonight To a lecture on the history of British pig breeds
Prof Julian WisemanProfessor of Animal Production, University of Nottingham Devotees of modern named breeds are keen to establish a lengthy genealogy as a means, somehow, of confirming the quality of that breed. The further back the better. Humans have always been obsessed with family trees (again, the further back the better) and now the pig is receiving attention. Such an approach with pigs is not valid (and, on reflection, it is also not much use as an indicator of quality in humans). Tracing the historical development of different named breeds is undoubtedly a fascinating but complicated area of study. Although the introduction of herd books towards the end of the nineteenth century made the task easier (as long as the herd books were themselves accurate descriptions of lineage - a matter for considerable debate), the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are much more interesting. However, there is considerably less information available for this earlier period. Accordingly, there has to be an almost complete reliance on contemporary agricultural texts supplemented by study of surviving paintings and lithographs. The chief basis for the study of breed history is the name of the breed itself, with modern authors using each and every historical reference to a specific breed as evidence for its existence in the form in which it is currently known. This approach, however, has no role in tracing breed development for reasons which are contained within the historical record itself and become apparent only when those involved in the subject critically review references. Pigs readily interbreed, giving rise to a variety of shapes and colours, of which many Victorian paintings of various farmyard scenes are an eloquent demonstration. They range from almost completely black to virtually all white with various intermediate forms (spotted, sheeted). Paintings are in all likelihood accurate descriptions of the average farm, and they demonstrate absolutely no uniformity of colour, shape or form. The notion that there were named breeds with fixed characteristics is therefore highly unlikely. In fact, the most likely basis for breed nomenclature was simply the geographical area in which the pig was found. This should never be used to suggest that there was, nationally, a specific breed type with a particular name.
