In
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
and in
animal fancy
Animal fancy is a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals.
Fancy may include ownership, showing, animal sports and other competitions, and breeding. Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the anima ...
, a breeder is an animal used for
selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...
. A breeder is usually a
purebred
Purebreds are cultivars of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type, which means the progeny of l ...
animal, bred with the intent of producing purebred, or even show-quality animals. However, in some cases, a breeding animal is
crossbred with another breed or a
mixed breed
A mixed breed is a domesticated animal descended from multiple breeds of the same species, often breeding without any human intervention, recordkeeping, or selective breeding. Examples include:
* Mixed-breed dog
A mongrel, mutt, or mixed ...
with the intent of combining aspects of two or more different breeds.
Purebred and registered animals
If the breeding is for a purebred animal that will be used for exhibition or future breeding (
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...
s or
livestock
Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...
), the animal must be
registered and conform to the criteria laid out for that
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
in a
breed standard
In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include phenotype, physical or morphology (biology), morphological detail, genotype, g ...
kept by a central authority, such as a
kennel club for dogs. In addition, the breed club, kennel club, or other governing authority may have other restrictions on the type of animal that can be used for breeding to produce offspring that can be registered.
For example, some horse registries allow
backbred and
crossbred individuals to be breeders. However, most dog registries do not accept crossbred animals for registration, except in exceptional circumstances and only by permission. Most kennel clubs allow any registered individual to be a breeder, however the individual breed club may have additional criteria such as having to pass certain eligibility requirements.
Terminology
In animal fancy, there are specialized words for breeding animals in some species. (Not to be confused with the words for an animal's parents, ''sire'' and ''dam''.)
See also
*
Animal breeding
Animal breeding is a branch of animal science that addresses the evaluation (using best linear unbiased prediction and other methods) of the genetic value (estimated breeding value, EBV) of livestock. Selecting for breeding animals with superior ...
*
Animal fancy
Animal fancy is a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals.
Fancy may include ownership, showing, animal sports and other competitions, and breeding. Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the anima ...
*
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...
References
External links
breeders-international.com- The worldwide Community for Breeders
Animal breeding
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