agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and in the

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing oth ...

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 individual 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 " cultivated varieties" 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 ...

animal, bred with the intent of producing purebred, or even show-quality animals. However, in some cases, a breeding animal is

crossbred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with another breed or a mixed breed 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 appearances, intelligence ...

s or

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

), the animal must be registered and conform to the criteria laid out for that breed 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 physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athletic ...

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

equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. Ma ...

societies allow backbred and

individuals to be bred from; most

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

clubs do not except in exceptional circumstances, by permission. Most kennel clubs allow any registered individual to be bred from; the individual breed club may have additional, stricter criteria. The Mini Foxie Club of Australia, Inc., for example, requires adult dogs to be classified before being certified eligible for breeding of purebred

Miniature Fox Terrier The Miniature Fox Terrier is a small, fine, lightweight working terrier developed as a hunting dog and vermin router. It is known colloquially in its native Australia as the “Mini Foxie”. Appearance A balanced, smoothly-muscled dog b ...

s. Some

Jack Russell Terrier The Jack Russell Terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting in England. It is principally white-bodied and smooth, rough or broken-coated and can be any colour. Small tan and white terriers that technically belong to ot ...

and Greater Swiss Mountain Dog clubs have similar requirements.

Terminology

In animal fancy, human breeders have specialized words for breeding animals in some species: (''Please list only if different for the words for the male and female of the species.'') *

Cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

: Stud (male) and queen (female) *

Cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

: Bull (male) and heifer or cow (female) *

Dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

: Stud (male) and brood bitch (female) *

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

: Stallion (male) and mare (female) *

Pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

: cock (male) and

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

(female) *

Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

: RamD’Arcy, J.B., Sheep Management & Wool Technology, NSW University Press, 1986, (male) and ewe (female) *

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

: Buck (male) and doe (female) *

Guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...

: Boar (male) sow (female) * Rabbit: Buck (male) Doe (female) These should not be confused with the words for the parents of offspring (i.e. sire and dam) or with the words for male and female of the species (i.e. dog and bitch). These terms specifically apply only to animals bred intentionally by serious animal breeders.

References

External links

breeders-international.com
- The worldwide Community for Breeders Animal breeding {{agri-stub

Purebred and registered animals

Terminology

See also

References

External links