Analyzing the Litters
By Ralph Gillum, BraceBeagling Columnist
February 27, 2010

While going through my old NBN magazines recently, I came across two series of articles about the relative importance of the litter position to the number of field champions produced. These articles covered the Pearson Creek kennels and those of old time breeder Owen Payne. Both articles showed data that strongly supported the fact that the first two or so litters do produce the most field champions. I got to wondering if this would also hold up for identifying the bitches that not only had the quality to become champions, but also have the reproducing ability needed to carry on the bitchline. I researched my own records and then compiled the cumulative data from all three kennels.

This study covers eleven generations for the Payne bitchline, seventeen for the Pearson Creek as well as seventeen generations for my bitchline, for a total of 45 bitches. The litters numbered from one to ten with an average litter size of five litters per bitch for a total of 225 litters and approximately 1,100 pups evaluated.

This sample contains close to the same number of bitches and pups for each breeder. Also, it includes one breeder who primarily outcrossed, one who primarily inbred, and one who practiced family breeding. The three bitchlines cover beagles from the early 1940s to the present.

The chart below shows the percentage of bitches in each litter that the breeder not only kept and bred, but in turn also produced at least one bitch pup that the breeder kept in the program.

Litter # - Payne bitches—Pearson Creek—Gillum bitches— Total

1. ---------- 72% ------------ 60% ------------ 59% ---------- 63.7%

2. ---------- 14% ------------ 20% ------------ 41% ---------- 25%

3. ---------- 0% ------------- 0% -------------- 0% ------------ 0%

4. ---------- 14% ------------ 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 4.7%

5. ---------- 0% ------------- 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0%

6. ---------- 0% ------------ 20% ------------ 0% ----------- 6.6%

7. ---------- 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0%

8. ---------- 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0%

9. ---------- 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0% ------------ 0%

10. ---------- 0% ---------- 0% ------------ 0% ------------- 0%

This data strongly indicates that the future of a kennel is highly dependent upon that first litter, although the exception does occur. This makes it doubly important to breed that good young bitch to the very best stud you can find regardless of the expense or amount of difficulty to arrange. It also suggests to me that you may want to take an extra good long look when evaluating first litters so as not to let any bitches get away from the breeding program that may carry the genes needed to reproduce and carry the kennel forward.