1.5.1 Establishment of herd books (2024)

With time the number of people increased who were using the selective breeding approach introduced by Bakewell. In that way they tried to improve the required characteristics of the progeny. With the growing number of generations of selective breeding, it became increasingly difficult to remember the relationships between the animals, especially further back in the pedigree. And buyers of animals wanted a proof of the pedigree, because it was believed already that the offspring of a good animal became also a good animal. These were reasons to start recording the pedigrees on paper, so that correct information could be reproduced and it could be proved that an animal was a purebred animal. The first herd book was for the thoroughbred horse and was established in England in 1791. This book did not contain all pedigree, but only those of horses that were winning important races. Following the race horses, the Shorthorn cattle (1822) were next to start a herd book. In the rest of Europe, herd books only started to be established from 1826 onwards for horses (in France), and from 1855 onwards for cattle (also in France). The first international herd book was established for the American Berkshire pigs in 1876. The first dog in the Netherlands was registered by the Koningklijke Nederlandsche Jachtvereeninging Nimrod (predecessor of the Raad van Beheer op Kynologisch Gebied in Nederland) in 1874. At the end of the 19^th century animal breeding within herd book settings became the standard.