[Jacob-list] line breeding rams

[Thomas Simmons]

Fred, Joan, or anyone else (!) -     

Fred, I printed out a GREAT piece you wrote me last year about effective populations, coeficients, etc., and Joan, you added info about line breeding vs Cross-breeding.

Well, i am now at the juncture where my Jacob collection contains five distinct "lines."  If I understand what you've written previously, I want to move away from the flock ram as quickly as I am able; but, you also mentioned line-breeding rams to preserve that particular genetic collection.

So.....I have a Northcote Ram.  I also happen to have a Northcote ewe; their most common ancestor is more than 4 generations back.  My thought was to match these two up this fall, and hoping for a ram (there's a rarity!), move my original Northcote guy out and have his ram lamb  progeny continue as the "Bearer of the Line."  Does this make sense to you?

thom
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