[Jacob-list] breeding counts

[Linda]

Whew!  If you culled an entire line every time you encountered something like SUED,
forward horns, slipped eyepatches, bad manners, etc, seems like you'd run out of
breeding stock after awhile.

I didn't quite understand why you'd be culling this ram and the entire line? You
only mention that he is lilac.

If you know the background of your animals to way back when and you know what has
been produced - including brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles - shouldn't
you be able to isolate the introduction of what ever trait you are culling to a
narrower margin that the "entire line."  I may be misunderstanding what you mean by
an entire line.  Certainly you don't mean that you would cull both parents, all
siblings and everything produced by both parents on into infinity?

Linda


On Fri, 5 Mar 2004 03:36:29 -0800 (PST), Mary Hansson wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I came home to another surprise yesterday---another lamb, but this time a
>lilac out of a lineage that seemed devoid of the trait.  The link on the dam
>side goes back 5 generations (and off the 4-generation pedigree).  I haven't
>figured out the link on the sire side yet---hence the need for super
>pedigrees.
>
>When you look at your lambs and can't figure out where a trait came from,
>remember that it may have been hidden in the genetics for quite a number of
>generations---which is why it is SO important to understand where your animals
>came from, what they have produced and what their ancestors have produced.  We
>all have something else in the backgrounds of our sheep----THAT is a given.
>
>One time, a breeder from the AMBC days made the comment that they had used the
>"good looking" twin of a set where the other one looked almost completely
>black----and had the "cross-bred" look to it.  This breeder didn't consider
>the breeding and selection criteria a problem and felt like it was a good one.
> That is a judgment call in all instances and entirely dependent on the
>breeder.
>
>In light of this little ram lamb standing here.....I would stick with my
>pretty pathetic understanding of inheritance and cull the entire line (as I
>have done in one instance here for just such an occurance).  BTW:  I do NOT
>cull for "lilac" as it has been a trait in the recognized "Jacob" family tree
>for quite a number of years.  The Reynold's flock in the USA was all lilac at
>one point.
>
>Mary Ellen
>
>
>
>
>Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN ISeeSpots Farm Jacob Sheep:  Lambs, adults,
>wool www.iseespots.com


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