Theunissen Bert
Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Universiteit Utrecht.
Studium (Rotterdam). 2008;1(1):47-61.
In the agricultural journal De Nieuwe Veldbode of 1941 Dutch scientists, agricultural engineers, commercial cattle breeders and herd-book officials engaged in a prolonged debate about cattle breeding methods. Geneticist Arend Hagedoorn started the debate by accusing commercial breeders of deceiving their buyers. In his view, breeders were merely interested in producing beautiful show bulls that could be sold for high prices, and they ignored the animals' hereditary potential for milk production. Rational breeding, he argued, required progeny testing: only the production of his daughters should decide on a bull's merits. Commercial breeders denied the charge. They did indeed select for conformation, not however for aesthetic reasons, but to safeguard the health and durability of the breed. In their view, selecting for production was not feasible in practice and would, moreover, lead to the degeneration of the breed. In this article I explore the backgrounds of this debate by investigating the different views of scientists and practical breeders on theory and practice of cattle breeding in the first half of the century. I shall show that to understand the different viewpoints, the practical realities of dairy farming under Dutch circumstances, commercial considerations and normative ideas on good farming have to be taken into account.
在1941年的农业期刊《De Nieuwe Veldbode》上，荷兰科学家、农业工程师、商业养牛户和畜群登记簿官员就养牛方法展开了一场持久的辩论。遗传学家阿伦德·哈格多恩发起了这场辩论，他指责商业养殖户欺骗买家。在他看来，养殖户只对培育出能高价出售的漂亮种公牛感兴趣，而忽视了这些动物产奶的遗传潜力。他认为，合理的育种需要进行后代测试：只有其女儿的产奶量才能决定一头公牛的优劣。商业养殖户否认了这一指控。他们确实是根据体型来挑选，但并非出于审美原因，而是为了保障牛种的健康和耐力。在他们看来，从产奶量方面进行选择在实际操作中不可行，而且还会导致牛种退化。在本文中，我通过研究科学家和实际养殖户在本世纪上半叶对养牛理论与实践的不同观点，来探究这场辩论的背景。我将表明，要理解这些不同观点，必须考虑荷兰乳业的实际情况、商业考量以及关于良好养殖的规范理念。
