Main description:

Animal breeding has been complicated by persisting factors across species, cultures, geography, and time. In Made to Order, Margaret E. Derry explains these factors and other breeding concerns in relation to both animals and society in North America and Europe over the past three centuries.

Made to Order addresses how breeding methodology evolved, what characterized the aims of breeding, and the way structures were put in place to regulate the occupation. Illustrated by case studies on important farm animals and companion species, the book presents a synthetic overview of livestock breeding as a whole. It gives considerable emphasis to genetics and animal breeding in the post-1960 period, the relationship between environmental and improvement breeding, and regulation of breeding as seen through pedigrees. In doing so, Made to Order shows how studying the ancient human practice of animal breeding can illuminate the ways in which human thinking, theorizing, and evolving characterize our interactions with all-natural processes.

Contents:

Introduction

How to Breed Animals: Theory and Method

1. Animal Breeding Practices and Methods from Roman Times to 1900
2. Mendelism, Quantitative Genetics, and Animal Breeding, 1900-2000
3. Animal Breeding in the Age of Molecular Genetics, Genomics, and Epigenetics, 1990-2020

What to Breed For: The Many Aims of Selection

4. Specialization for Purpose and Animal Breeding
5. Implications of Breeding for Colour
6. Breeding for Authenticity

Orchestrating Breeding: Pedigrees and Trade

7. Pedigree Versus No Pedigree and the Market Value of Animals
8. The Effects of Pedigrees on International Trade

Final Remarks
Glossary
Notes
Selected Bibliography of Useful Sources