"We're going to see about breeding some of the females," said Robert. "There's three methods that we tend to use."
"I'm listening," said James.
"First method, is what's known as the Traditional method," said Robert. "Simply put a Buck and a Mare together in the same pen. Now, while the usual preference is to make sure that one of them is at least a B-Grade, or better, to ensure a good quality cub of at least C-Grade, if a Buck and Mare are already involved, it would be a shame to just stop them, even if both are of the C-Grade already. After all, a happy human is a tasty human."
"What if the random mating results in a D or even an F-Grade?" James asked.
"We do what we can to see to it that they increase their grade by one, if not two, grades by giving them the best that we can," said Robert. "It tends to help. Failing that, we can still make them as happy as possible."
"Alright," said James. "The other methods?"
"Artificial Insemination," said Robert. "Should an eligible buck be unavailable, due to injury, sickness, or digestion, by having a good supply of their genetic material on hand, we can make sure that their line can continue even if they themselves aren't up to doing the job themselves."
"And the last method?" James asked.
"Surrogate mother," said Robert. "Given we don't normally let D or F-Grades breed, as there isn't much money in Pet Food or Fertilizer Directly, but females might want to experience motherhood, we simply insert an impregnated egg of a higher grade mare inside of them, and let their body take care of things from there. Frees up the biological mother to have another cub at the same time, and of course is very useful if the higher grade mare is otherwise not available for producing offspring."
"Useful to know," said James.
"Just make sure that all genetic material from collections is stored properly, and is correctly labeled," said Robert. "More than one Prime Grade line has been lost due to improper handling of stored genetic material, especially by those who fail to have back-up sources of said line, either in living relations or having secondary storage sites. Thus far, this family has yet to lose a line that was C-Grade or better. In fact, we've even improved the lesser lines so that they are at least a C-Grade, for the most part."
"That's a good achievement, father," said James.
"It's hard work, but worth it," said Robert.
"I'll keep that in mind," said James. "By the way, what's the deal with you and the Prime Buck named John? He's older than most, yet you don't seem to want to place him on the Menu for Big Meal days. Why is that?"
"Let's just say that an old law protects him," said Robert. "Stock that save the life of their Owner are not to be eaten."
"He saved your life?" James asked.
Robert nodded. "It involved a dangerous wild predator, around the same time I had caught him. Needless to say, without John saving me, your little brother, Billy, wouldn't be around today."
"I see," said James. "Explains why you tolerate some of his antics."
"That, and he's Prime Grade, and hasn't made any escape attempts, although that's partly because of his messed up leg," said Robert.
"What's the other reason?" James asked.
"He hates Marcus worse than I do," said Robert. "Now, back to the Breeding of Mares. Which method would you like to try using?"
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