ABSTRACT
A representative of a global poultry-breeding company explained in 2000: ‘All breeding plans for commercial breeding companies have one major objective in common: to increase the genetic potential of the stock to produce a maximum of saleable high-quality products at minimum cost in a given production system.’ 1 Thus, commercial suppliers of livestock genetics promise that their animals are designed for traits that will strengthen the bottom line of the purchaser's business. The Holstein Association USA, which represents the elite of dairy cow breeders, more simply promises ‘US Registered Holsteins, for maximum profit’. 2 The second half of the 20th century was a time of unheardof increases in the yields obtained from agricultural plant crops, through a combination of selective breeding, hybridization and agrichemicals, with average wheat and rice yields doubling or tripling. 3 Livestock breeders took these successes as a model and aimed for similar year-on-year increases in yield from livestock. Overall, they succeeded. This has meant streamlining and specializing animals’ bodies for their allotted function and restricting their behaviour in order to maximize their genetic potential.
