Beauty or Statistics: Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding, 1900–2000

285 Pages·2020·9.299 MB·English

by  Bert Theunissen

BEAUTY OR STATISTICS
Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding,
1900–2000

Beauty or Statistics
Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock
Breeding, 1900–2000
BERT THEUNISSEN
With the collaboration of Steven van der Laan, Jesper
Oldenburger, and Liesbeth van der Waaij
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2020
Toronto Buffalo London
utorontopress.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-4875-0700-8 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-3539-1 (EPUB)
ISBN 978-1-4875-3538-4 (PDF)
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Beauty or statistics : practice and science in Dutch livestock breeding,
1900–2000 / Bert Theunissen ; with the collaboration of Steven van der
Laan, Jesper Oldenburger, and Liesbeth van der Waaij.
Names: Theunissen, Bert, 1955– author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190204605 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190204664 |
ISBN 9781487507008 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781487535384 (PDF) |
ISBN 9781487535391 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Livestock – Breeding – Netherlands – History –
20th century. | LCSH: Livestock – Netherlands – History – 20th century.
Classification: LCC SF105.25.N4 T44 2019 | DDC 636.08/2 – dc23
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts
Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 3
1 Breeding for Nobility or for Production? Friesian Dairy Cattle 14
The Breeders Get Organized 15
Type and Tuberculosis 17
The Moral Economy of Breeding 22
Bloodlines and Purity 25
Scientific Breeding 28
Nobility or Production? 34
Entrepreneurship 44
Indexes 48
Holsteinization 51
Market and Moral Economy 59
2 “The Most Efficient Chickens in the World” 63
From Side Business to Mainstay 64
Hybrid Breeding 69
Hy-Line and Hendrix Genetics 75
From Purebreds to First-Generation Crossbreds 80
Industrialization 82
Developments in Breeding 86
Chickens Are Not Peas 90
vi Contents
3 Breeding a Pig for All Parties 94
Testing for Productive Traits 95
Minkema’s Breeding Plan 98
AI in Pigs 103
Hybrid Pig Breeding 106
The Breeder’s Eye 110
Pigs Are Not Chickens 116
4 Just Not Like Any Other Sheep Breed: The Texel 118
Creating the Texel 120
The Swifter 128
Breeding by Numbers or by Eye 136
AI in Texel Sheep 145
What’s in a Breed? 149
5 From Farm Horse to Riding Horse: The Dutch Warmbloods 153
Gelderlanders and Groningers 155
Introducing “Hot Blood” 159
Finding the Right Mix 161
The Government Intervenes 164
Scientific Breeding 170
Balancing Practical and Scientific Methods 174
Conclusions 178
Notes 193
Sources 239
Bibliography 241
Index 257
Illustrations
1.1 Friesians in 1900. 18
1.2 Dirk 4. 21
1.3 Adema 197. 21
1.4 Milk recording around 1950. 36
1.5 Crowd at a cattle show in Leeuwarden (Friesland) in 1953. 39
1.6 Breeder Siem Moeyes, visiting the United States,
inspects a Holstein bull. 53
2.1 Chickens on a mixed farm in the Province of Drenthe,
around 1910. 65
2.2 A Euribrid advertisement. 80
2.3 A battery cage in the 1960s. 83
3.1 A Dutch Yorkshire sow. 97
3.2 Measuring backfat thickness. 113
3.3 A provincial pig show in the 1960s. 114
3.4 Demonstration of Hein, a Dutch Landrace boar,
at an AI station in the Province of Utrecht. 115
4.1 The Texel in the early nineteenth century. 119
4.2 The Improved Texel. 123
4.3 Lamb sale at Den Burg, Texel, around 1950. 128
4.4 The Swifter. 133
4.5 Weighing at 135 days. 139
4.6 Texels of the luxury type. 142
4.7 The Texel’s characteristic head. 143
5.1 The Gelderlander: farm horse, carriage horse,
and riding horse. 156
5.2 The Dutch Tuigpaard. 158
5.3 WPN members demanding more scope for their hobby
at the Binnenhof, the Dutch parliament building. 168
C.1 Bronze type model of a Friesian cow
in Leeuwarden (Friesland). 186

Acknowledgments
This book brings together the results of a project on the history of
Dutch livestock breeding supported by a grant from the Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research NWO (dossier no. 360-69-030). The
chapters on pig breeding and sheep breeding synthesize the findings of
two PhD theses written by Steven van der Laan and Jesper Oldenburger,
respectively, and the chapter on chicken breeding is based on the results
of a postdoc project carried out by Liesbeth van der Waaij. I have fond
memories of the time we worked together and of our numerous discus-
sions, ranging from the secrets of successful insemination in sows to the
rhetoric of agricultural modernization.
Over the years that I worked on this book, I have incurred many
debts. I want to thank the farmers, breeders, and animal breeding
experts who shared their expertise with us, in particular Gerard Albers,
Courtney P. Allen, Ton Bos, Anton Bosgoed, Pim Brascamp, Nico Bons,
Wim Dekkers, Bart Ducro, Marleen Felius, Jan Geluk, Frans Kuijpers,
Ferry Leenstra, Hans Lenstra, Koos van Middeldorp, Mart Nijssen,
Kor Oldenbroek, Theo Peters, the late Rommert Politiek, Frans van
Sambeek, Piet Scheer, Henk Slaghuis, Reimer Strikwerda, Hans van
Tartwijk, Rienk van der Berg, Addie Vereijken, Jan Vosjan, and Chris
Willems.
For their interest in my work, for many stimulating discussions, and
for their comments on parts of the manuscript I want to express my
warmest thanks to my colleagues at the Descartes Centre for the History
and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities at Utrecht University,
in particular David Baneke, Floor Haalboom, Hieke Huistra, Noortje
Jacobs, Peter Koolmees, Jorieke Savelkouls, and Daan Wegener. I am also
grateful to the many colleagues who have commented on my work at
conferences and workshops, and during informal conversations. The list
is too long to mention them all here, but I want to single out Margaret
Derry, whose enthusiasm and suggestions have been a great help.