[Jacob-list] I agree with Sue's daughter

[Melanie Boxall]

In the ten years I've been reading this list I've seen all sorts here. Compared to some of the politics and religion debates I get into elsewhere this is relatively peaceful, but if you are a maverick you are a maverick. I've always been a maverick. I've been flamed for just about everything. I don't register (I do tag and keep records), I don't show, I don't dock tails, I use only herbal medicines, etc etc. I'm about as far from the ideal breeder as you can get. I have my own strong opinions too, so I can cause enough offence. Fact is, I have terrific sheep and that's all that I'm bothered about. But to answer Thomas, yes, location makes a huge difference. Where I am in Grey County, Ontario the only other people I know who have Jacobs either bought them from me or from the gentleman I bought my first ewes from (Vern Ashley). We are so far from any other breeders that even doing ram swaps with each other our flocks are inbred. Do we care? Not really. We're very low-key farmers, we keep these sheep because they're hardy and trouble-free. And we eat them. Having heard so many stories of aggressive rams I don't even want to buy a ram from outside my area, I'll stick to the gentle Grey County bloodlines, even with the "cousin" risk. I'm not wealthy, and I really can't justify the huge costs of transportation from hundreds of miles away and/or across the border, when what I've got are really very good. 

So I just read. I rarely post. 

Melanie
In medio stat virtus

http://obsville.myminicity.com/ind 




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Thomas Carnes 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:42 AM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] I agree with Sue's daughter


  Frankly, I think if you are not in the far west or in the east it is difficult to find registered Jacobs (or Navajos).  I would prefer to buy only registered Jacobs and Navajos, but in Texas I have to drive to Arkansas or Missouri, at closest, to get them.  Perhaps some day this will not be the problem it is for us in the lower middle of the country, but it is now.  In the meantime, I plan to have registered and unregistered, and offer them both.  Maybe someday I will have six breeders within an easy drive of me to transact with, but that is not the case now.
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