Preservation Breeding, Welsh Breed Standard, Conformation


	BREED STANDARD & CONFORMATION		INDEX

Does it seem that current generations are ignoring the lessons of experienced, knowledgeable, hands-on breeders of the past? If current breeders are more knowledgeable, then why is current scientific information duplicating the information passed down from our ancestors, and warning against the policies adapted by the newer breeders? It seems the old adage "experience is the best teacher" is most valuable after all, especially pronounced in preservation breeding.

We believe in the "partnership" and the "trade" concept. Thus we can keep our breeding goals fresh by partnering with or trading breedings with others who have the same goal, Welsh ponies bred to the Breed Standard with pony character, type, conformation, movement and disposition. There is no scientific proof that linebreeding and inbreeding if done correctly is wrong, to the contrary, linebreeding and inbreeding are the ONLY way to produce and set type in an animal. Linebreeding and inbreeding were utilized by the most famous, influential breeders from the beginning of time. Liseter, Severn, GlanNant, Bristol, Lithgow, Grazing Fields and Farnley ponies in the US (to name a few) were developed through just such planning. In the UK Criban and Clan were some of the oldest studs in the UK on which newer breeders based their lines, including the Coed Coch stud. In the "old days", when "really good" Welsh were imported due to economics, we imported the best available from the UK. But common sense tells us that breeders now do not sell their best stock unless they choose to change their breeding operation from one section of the registry to another. In the UK, where much of what is considered the best stock, especially in the Section B's, are nothing more than crossbred ponies, better compared to the British Riding Pony. Criban Victor was one of the only Section B stallions (a multi British Royal Champion) carrying cob blood to increase size, not a concentration of thorobred or Arabian. This told to us by several UK breeders who have lamented over their loss of this stallion who had so much to offer the development of Section B ponies. And finally I must mention culling. Culling was used by early breeders not to recoup their costs of producing an animal, but to remove an animal which they considered not of breeding quality to the standard from the gene pool. Nowadays reputable breeders sell the same pony without papers. Yet we find people trying to get papers for an unregistered Welsh pony all the time. If the breeder chose not to register the pony there WAS a reason, and these ponies should remain unregistered and not thrown back into the Welsh gene pool.

When preserving any domestic animal population, we must not be content with the maintenance of the names or the reputation of some groups of breeders, but require the preservation of genes and valuable traits (i.e. the original type, size, conformation, performance, resistance and adaptability of animals (Bodó, 1987a,b)) for the future of mankind. The elimination of foreign genes or characteristics from a population "contaminated" by another breed is possible only by selection of living herds or flocks and therefore this problem belongs also the in situ preservation. If an ancient breed has been influenced by another breed, preservation is possible in three ways: by cryogenic methods - but this only postpones the problem of coping with the "contamination"; by maintenance of the present gene structure in a gene pool. This is possible, but the value of such a population is not so high because of the influence from other, often highly producing, breeds (but it is a method of preserving genes); by special selection, which can be called "purification" in this case. To guarantee the preservation of such a population we should be convinced that it does not carry more than 20 per cent of foreign blood (Alderson, 1981). However, the precise determination of this percentage may be very difficult. If the population in question has valuable traits, purification can result in a good population which has merit enough to be preserved. When the foreign influence is too great, a new breed name should be given in order to be authentic. Thus, the purification is essentially a selection procedure. However, the culling of animals, carriers of foreign genes, is very dangerous when the population size is small. Therefore, with the population in critical status the first step is to increase the population size. Selection is then carried out by culling the animals with markings or characters of another breed or breeds. During this selection an attempt should be made not to decrease the genetic variability in other traits and to maintain the value of the population in question. The selection of males should be emphasized. Heritage animals were bred over time to develop traits that made them particularly well-adapted to local environmental conditions. Heritage breeds are generally better adapted to withstand disease and survive in harsh environmental conditions, and their bodies can be better suited to living on pasture. These livestock breeds also serve as an important genetic resource, and when heritage breeds become extinct, their unique genes are lost forever and can't be used to breed new traits into existing livestock breeds. Therefore, by raising heritage livestock breeds, sustainable farmers not only maintain variety within our livestock populations, they also help to preserve valuable traits within the species so that future breeds can endure harsh conditions. Heritage breeds are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by farmers in the past, before the drastic reduction of breed variety caused by the rise of industrial agriculture. Within the past 15 years, 190 breeds of farm animals have gone extinct worldwide, and there are currently 1,500 others at risk of becoming extinct. In the past five years alone, 60 breeds of cattle, goats, pigs, horses and poultry have become extinct.





PROTOCOLS Card Grading *Purpose* The objective of card grading is to evaluate individual animals relative to a breed standard and assess their potential as breeding stock. Card grading, with its evaluation of all individuals within a group of animals, strengthens breeders’ understanding of the characteristics and attributes of their breed and, in turn, encourages the protection of genetic diversity within the breed. This is in contrast to competitive judging, which encourages uniformity by rewarding only a single "best" animal within a show class. Card grading is not complicated and, in fact, is the same process that successful breeders have always practiced. Each animal presented for evaluation receives a grade (represented by a card). This is another contrast to regular judging, in which the only evaluations made are the ribbons given to top placed animals. The results of card grading evaluation can be used in conjunction with pedigree analysis to plan breeding programs for individual flocks/herds or for entire breeds, making card grading a powerful tool for conservation breeding. The method of card grading evaluation has been used primarily for sheep and poultry, but it can be adapted for any species of livestock. Card grading may be used by individual breed associations to serve as the sole basis for evaluation or it may be used in conjunction with traditional competitive showing and judging. *Procedure* Animals may be presented in a ring or in pens. If pen evaluation is used, there must be adequate room to observe the animals and not so much bedding as to obscure the feet. The advantage of card grading in a ring is that movement is easier to assess and observers are better able to follow the process of evaluation. It is a general practice that the owners of animals are not identified during the evaluation process. Card grading is done by a team of three or four breed specialists, who must agree on the grade given to each animal. The team works from a breed standard provided to them prior to the event by the breed association or show organizers. Each animal is evaluated for physical soundess and for appearance relative to the breed standard. Some breed associations have developed a scale of points, with points being assigned to individual characteristics of the breed standard. Characteristics will carry different weightings, indicating their relative importance. Generally, the points are summed for an overall score. However, care must be taken in using a strictly numeric approach. For example, an animal with bad feet should be failed, regardless of its other redeeming qualities. Again, card grading is a strategy for assessing physical soundness as well as phenotype. To find point scales, contact the breed association or ALBC. The American Poultry Association’s has published scales for each of the poultry species in the APA American Standard of Perfection. Animals are not compared to each other, but only to the breed standard. Allowances are made for age and sex, but condition and presentation should not be factors for evaluation. An evaluator should have no expectations about how many animals in a group will fall into a particular category. Theoretically, all animals in the group could fall into the same category. The goal is to evaluate each animal fairly without sub-consciously seeking a single "best" individual. Do not begrudge the use of blue cards; instead, identify all excellent animals as such. When the evaluators agree on the grade for an individual animal, it is given a colored card to represent this grade. The card may be attached to the animal or to its stall or pen. One of the evaluators (or an additional scribe) records the results and evaluators’ comments. The scribe serves as an evaluator when animals belonging to one of the other team members are being evaluated. A verbal or written evaluation is provided to the owner of each animal. Written comments need not match a scorecard format, but instead should note characteristics significant to the assignment of grades. If animals are to be auctioned after evaluation, cards should remain with them through sale to assist both seller and buyers. The grade given to each animal is made on that day and is not considered a permanent evaluation. Grades Blue Card – An excellent breeding animal conforming to breed standard and free from any genetically based unsoundness. Red Card – A good breeding animal which shows most of the breed characteristics and is free from genetically based unsoundness. Yellow Card – An acceptable, average breeding animal with no disqualifying deviations from breed standard nor genetically based unsoundness. White Card – An unacceptable breeding animal which does not conform to breed standard, is of another breed, or is genetically unsound. These animals are excused from the show (and sale) and should not be used for pure breeding. Use With Competitive Showing If a level of competition among breeders is desired, all animals awarded blue cards may be called back into the ring to compete against each other for grand and reserve champion of the breed. This iS not integral to the practice of card grading but an optional adjunct to it.












Michael Bowling, the well-known American geneticist and CMK [Crabbet/Maynesboro/Kellogg] breeder, who had just presented a paper on SCID at the WAHO Conference in Turkey, then spoke to us on the principles of Preservation Breeding. He encapsulated some important thoughts in his own precis: "Maximum genetic diversity is maintained, not by working with homogeneous populations, but by allowing subgroups to develop. Practical breeding groups may be a single large breeding program, a circle of co-operator breeders, or a defined subset of a breed. Any of those may develop finer substructure, as trends develop over time. Wilfrid Blunt himself wrote that it would be desirable to develop a sub-group at Crabbet with no Mesaoud, which would have allowed a built-in outcross for the future - but an outcross to the same kind of horse, Our task today would be far simpler if that kind of long-term plan had been implemented; our counterparts in the future will have breeding options defined by what we do in our turn." Also: "Traditionally the Arabian horse has been a highly selected using and companion animal: our goal in Arabian preservation breeding must be to select within our stock to combine the best traits of the traditional Arabian. By "improve" we mean, to produce better examples of the same kind of horse. We must not be led astray by the false notion of breed improvement which means to make the Arabian into a different kind of horse." http://www.crabbetarabian.com/article.html

(click on title) ....... there were too many doors left carelessly open. The larger pony of the lower lands was becoming mixed with Cardinganshire cob; and some owners were guilty of letting half-bred Shire colts have the run of the hills. In time the only safe place for the mountain pony would have been the topmost crests, but for an event of happy effect upon his destiny. This was the organization of the Welsh- Pony- and Cob- Society in the Royal Show Yard at Cardiff. Lord Tredegar was the first president, and after him the Earl of Powys. King George became a patron, and the society aquired an impetus that proved it had not been born too soon. The formation of a Stud Book was the initial practical business of the Society, and its first volumes derive special value from the fact that Wales has always tended to the patriarchial system, and her traditions, whether of horses or families, can be relied upon. There have always been wise and prudent breeders in the land; men who could, in some degree, counteract indifference and hold to ideal aim....... Nature long ago accomplished her best for the Welsh pony, and while he was practically an isolated type it was easy to maintain her standard. But with multifarious breeds and half-breeds in proximity, the carelessness of man was beginning to undo her work, and Wales might have followed Ireland in the deterioration of her pony stock and the loss of a fixed type, if the Society had not actively intervened........ Finally, after many difficulties, unwearying effort, and a constant display of good nature, the committee secured the passage of the Act and put an end to what one of the overworked members, exasperated to humor, termed the "unlimited liability sire system." by Olive Tilford Dargan, Printed privately for Charles A. Stone : 1913










Welsh Pony & Cob Conformation, welsh pony breed conformation, welsh cob conformation, breed standard

























INDEX
Color Information		articles and pictures OF WELSH PONIES AND COBS - BREEDING, SHOWING, BLOODLINES AND MORE
Education Information		articles and pictures OF WELSH PONIES AND COBS - BREEDING, SHOWING, BLOODLINES AND MORE - Page 2
		HISTORY OF THE WELSH PONY & COB
		THE WELSH PONY by Olive Tilford Dargan 1913




welsh pony breed standard, welsh pony judging, welsh pony breeder, welsh pony breeders, welsh cob, welsh cob breed standard, welsh cob for sale, welsh pony for sale
Internet © Casmaran Stud 1997

PROTOCOLS

Card Grading