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The scope of this book and this chapter In summary, animal breeding relates to intentional selection by humans based on animal performance in a certain environment for predefined and heritable traits. In most practical animal breeding schemes selection will be on more than one trait simultaneously. The animals that are superior in this combination of traits will be selected as breeding animals. In general this combination of traits will consist of traits related to performance (e.g. milk production, number of eggs, growth, sport performance), health, and reproduction. The theory behind selection for a combination of traits easily becomes very complicated. In this book we, therefore, explain the theory behind animal breeding using single trait selection. In the rest of this chapter we will give you a brief history of animal breeding, starting from scratch (so from domestication). You will see that developments in animal breeding have gone hand in hand with developments in society. Then we will look into the current situation and main challenges. And we will also try to peek into the future: what are the expected developments in society and how will that influence animal breeding decisions? But first we will look back at how it all started: with domestication.