1.13 Negative effects of animal breeding (2024)

Sometimes negative effects of animal breeding practices pop up. There are examples where selective breeding has gone too far. There are also examples where selective breeding has not only improved certain performances, but simultaneously and unintendedly also deteriorated other performances that were not under selection: the so-called negative correlated responses. Both types of negative responses to selective breeding are difficult to predict and are usually only noticed afterwards. This is the case because it takes a while to realize that the negative effects are structural and not coincidence, and that they occur at increasing frequency throughout the population. Even then it sometimes takes time to realize the negative consequences.