[Jacob-list] Re; Primative sheep

[Grose]

Betty, what wag was it that counciled "Moderation in all things, especially moderation"?

Seman imports/exports: I think that you will find that importing seman to the UK will be difficult because of the byzantine health regulations that where set up specifically to limit this sort of thing. This is a concern that we may have to work through ALBC and the RBST to come up with a lobbying effort in support of easier movement of seman instead of breeding stock. In light of the FMD  problems in the UK [and scares here in the US], this is something to which we are going to have to pay more attention. When we have a realatively narrow genetic base to start with, and then wipe out a portion of them, it rather brings to the forefront why we need concerted efforts to document and preserve unique groups of animals. This is not limited to FMD, but applies to many of the things that we deal with. OPP is a perfect example: The effort to eliminate OPP would turn OPP into the only selection criterion. 

Size as a primitive trait: I have to ask [at the risk of sounding flip] how many sheep do we eat at one meal? My market is for lambs for muslims and whole Bar-B-Que. A guy drives 60 miles each way several times a year to purchase 4 to 6 lambs at a time for his extended family. He likes my lambs best. He is not interested in lambs over 50 pounds ["Everything from your farm is as honey."] My kids seem to have learned something from him about having some reverence for the food we eat. There are many things to admire about the British Jacob; but after seeing the breed standareds listed lately, I must say that I was appalled at a few of the things. Of major concern was the specification that the tailhead should be set high and the thigh should be full. Both of these things are indictative of an effort to breed for an inflexible broad ligament, which results in a poorly designed and 'flat' rump...definately not primitive. 
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