[Jacob-list] Registrations & Philosophies

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

Fred Horak here and I should be taking the March JSC Journal to the printer 
but the discussion on registration hits Joan and me pretty hard.

Mary Spahr's comment that we each have different approaches to breeding our 
sheep....if your personal goals are to conserve...then. 

Herein lies my personal conundrum with registration, in the context of 
conserving a rare breed, numerically impaired at its foundation, and the 
future of several rare breeds including the Jacob.

First, a registration PAPER appears on its surface to be a "gold seal of 
purity" (a) this sheep meets the breed standard but does not address the 
question of its genetic content. (b) it says that subsequent generations will 
meet the breed standard.  Case fact: two registered sheep that threw horned 
rams and polled ewes, second generation sheep that failed to meet the breed 
standard from non-related registered Jacobs.

Second, registration PAPER does not address breeder motive: financial 
(registered sheep sell at a premium), personal (does type preference breed 
out certain breed traits), and even conservator motives (what is being 
conserved?).

Third, a registration PAPER is the first thing a purchaser is handed, not the 
pedigree, not a list of all progeny.  As a conservator I am often frustrated 
by the naivete of purchasers who place so much confidence in the registration 
PAPER.

Finally, too few breed orgainzations have been able to address the question 
of identifying and purging registered animals for questionable progeny and 
genetic problems.  So few breeders talk about progeny problems, inbreeding 
depression or getting information out to educate breeders and reduce problems.

Case in point on a very personal level: in conjunction with a vet school, we 
are repeating an experiment and have bred five ewes (all registered Jacobs) 
expecting to produce Jacobs that will die in 12-24 months.  If successful we 
will have identified a disease, a carrier line and, perhaps, a test to reduce 
its occurence.  If the carrier line is identified, what do we do?  Do we 
"unregister" sheep? Do we tell others?  This is not the first occurance of 
this problem...why hasn't it been addressed before?  The final verdict for 
this experiment is not in yet.  But what does the conservator do about the 
PAPER...the ram and ewes who produce a lethal defect...their parent sire and 
dam lines?  

It is scientifically clear and evident that no breed registry (including 
Jacobs) can guarantee "purity" (with a 95% confidence level) unless the same 
breeding is repeated seven times and all progeny from this same 7 time 
repeated breeding meets the breed standard.  Further, all the offspring from 
the 7 breedings must breed true for seven breedings.  One failure means a 
recessive gene is in the pool; a to quote a recent note from a breeder " a 
bummer gets boinked behind the barn".

I am not against registration despite its inherent flaws because behind the 
PAPER is a record of the family tree.  The conservator breeder registers 
animals to create the ree and branches.  When the conservator registers 
animals there is an assumed fiduciary responsibility to the breed and other 
breeders; there is an accurate record of all breedings and all progeny. 

There is an ethics question involved with registration and philosophy that 
Joan and I are facing and would like the insights of other conservators.  
What is the value of the PAPER, is there a fiduciary responsibility or have 
we assumed something that does not exist, what if the experiment proves true 
and should the information be shared, if so, how?  What of the family trees 
involved?   
Fred Horak