[Jacob-list] RE: Link on ALBC's Web Page for Jacob Sheep

[Robert May]

Hey Don...we couldn't ask for anything more.

Kind regards,
Bob

--- Don Schrider <editor at albc-usa.org> wrote:

> Hello Bob
> Thank you for pointing out the issues with the link
> to the OK State site for
> the Jacob breed. As the old Chinese saying goes,
> "The squeeky wheel gets the
> grease." While ALBC will decline your kind offer to
> link to the JSBA site
> for this breed (please note that we do have a link
> to JSBA on our links page
> under sheep), we will work to get our own
> information up within the next
> month or so. Jeannette Beranger and Marjie Bender
> will review the abstract
> we have on Jacob and then I will work on getting
> that posted. ALBC has long
> intended to replace all the links to the OK State
> site with our information
> for each breed. We will now make this a priority for
> the Jacobs.
> Perhaps not the suggested action, but I hope this
> pleases you. Thanks for
> pointing out the need.
> 
> Best Wishes
> 
> Don Schrider
> Communication Director
> The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
> P.O. Box 477
> Pittsboro, NC 27312
> (919) 542-5704
> editor at albc-usa.org
> www.albc-usa.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert May [mailto:newjerseyjacobs at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 3:49 PM
> To: editor at albc-usa.org
> Cc: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
> Subject: Link on ALBC's Web Page for Jacob Sheep
> 
> 
> Hello Don...
> 
> I wanted to let my friends at the ALBC know that
> Jacob
> Breeders (who subscribe to the Jacob List) have been
> having a lively discussion about a photo of a Jacob
> Sheep that appears on a link on the ALBC's Web page.
> 
> The link takes one to the following site:
>
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/SHEEP/jacob/index.htm
> 
> Going to that site, there is a picture (upper
> right-hand side) of a "beefed-up" 2-horn Jacob ram.
> The photo credit is to a woman from Great Britain.
> 
> That site mentions the following:  The Jacob sheep
> is
> indeed a unique breed in America. Slight in build,
> with the narrow, lean carcass typical of some of the
> ancient British Breeds...The Jacob is an old,
> unimproved breed.   Asa a result, it is slight in
> build, with ewes averaging only about 100-120
> lbs...."
> 
> The Jacob ram pictured, doesn't even fit the
> definition they included, and the ram isn't typical
> of
> any (purebred) Jacob that I've seen here.
> 
> The Jacob Breed Standard developed by the Jacob
> Sheep
> Breeders Association (JSBA) describes the
> conformation
> of a (North American) Jacob ram as:
> 
> "Mature rams weigh between 120 and 180 lbs."..."Fine
> boned with straithg back." "Rams have short scrotoms
> holding testicals closer to the body than modern
> breeds."
> 
> Don, the ram in that photo easily weighs over 200
> lbs
> and his scrotom hangs below his hocks.  It's
> well-known that the Brits have crossed many of their
> Jacobs with Dorsets to get a larger
> animal--something
> that they may well have a right to do--and perhaps
> the
> only way they could keep some of their Jacob
> genetics
> going, but that ram is nothing close to either
> JSBA's
> breed standard, or something that I would want to
> have
> in my Jacob flock and it's not typical of the
> old-type
> Jacobs that we have worked so long and hard to
> preserve.
> 
> I would appreciate it if that link could be
> redirected
> to JSBA's website: 
> http://www.jsba.org/standard.htm,
> where a complete breed description is provided.
> 
> Have to admit that when I first saw that photo, I
> thought of a (North American) Jacob ram on steriods.
> With so many judges believing that "bigger" is
> always
> "better" (in their eyes, not mine), is just doesn't
> help our preservation efforts to imply that such a
> ram
> is "typical" of the breed.
> 
> Don, please don't misinterpret this email.  We Jacob
> breeders greatly value the hard work and dedication
> of
> all of our friends at the ALBC--the same
> organization
> that was instrumental in seeing the formation of
> Jacob
> registries in this country, and we are eternally
> grateful.
> 
> Please extend my best wishes to all of our friends
> at
> the ALBC.
> 
> Kind regards,
> Bob May
> President
> JSBA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>