[Jacob-list] Inbreeding--linebreeding--whatever you call it

[Hobsickle at aol.com]

No breeding can produce an animal which is more adapted to its specific 
environment than any other animal unless the environment itself is 
influencing the selection of parent individuals (remember "natural selection" 
in H.S. Biology?), or unless the shepherd is selecting parent individuals 
based on their ability to survive/thrive in their specific environment.  
Since we do our best (I hope we all do) to ensure the survival of all of our 
lambs it is hard to image natural selection working here.  And, unless 
someone has an extreme and unique environmental factor at play, most (all?) 
of us breed for traits other than 'thriveability'.  The only circumstance in 
which inbreeding could play a role in adaptations to a specific environment 
is if the flock is totally left to "fend for itself" with rams and ewes being 
left together over several generations and "letting nature take its course" 
in lambing, etc.

Inbreeding does tend to produce "pure strains" for random traits over time.  
Therefore any link to any environment would be pure happenstance.

Perhaps a sheep could develop an immunity, resistance, or tolerance to the 
strains of parasites of diseases in its environment, but this would be the 
result of exposure, not breeding.

-Dan

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