[Jacob-list] "Guide to Selection of Jacob Breeding Stock"

[Gary Anderson]

I view the comments regarding the new booklet "Guide to Selection of Jacob
Breeding Stock" to be productive discussion.  JSBA members have a vested
interest in the guide being the best publication possible, not only because
of their interest in Jacob sheep but also because JSBA funds were used to
publish the booklet.  Without doubt, the guide will be an important resource
for current and future conservators of the Jacob breed, but the current
edition can be improved upon in its next iteration.  For example, at my
first reading of the booklet, before seeing discussion on JacobList, I took
note of the sentence "Spotted legs can be attributed to freckled bodies.".
I still am uncertain of the intended meaning, but at best the sentence is
open to misinterpretation.  Several JacobListers have described successful
and independent selection for spotted legs and against freckles, and more
than a handful of non-freckled Jacobs with spotted legs can be found among
U.S. Jacobs.  I interpreted the sentence differently from some JacobListers;
I viewed the sentence simply as not clearly stating its intended meaning.
Revision of the sentence to read "Spotted legs at times are (or can be)
found in association with freckled bodies." likely will suffice to caution
new breeders and yet should offend no one.

 

An early poster suggested the guide be displayed on the JSBA website where
the guide will reach a significantly larger audience than will printed
copies. An opportunity exists to revise the document and ensure the posted
guide, as a JSBA-sponsored document, is as good as it possibly can be.  I
urge the JSBA Board of Directors (BOD), in its deliberations to post the
guide or not on the JSBA website, to consider suggestions that have been
posted on JacobList.  Unintended nuance, if any, that four-horned Jacobs are
preferable to two-horned Jacobs can be addressed without matching
photo-for-photo two- and four-horned sheep.  The concept that "ideal" Jacobs
come in multiple forms can be expanded.  JSBA has a large membership with a
range of talents.  I would think the BOD can enlist from JSBA ranks the
(free) talents of an experienced editor to address minor grammatical
problems in the published edition.  I believe a revised guide can be all the
good things it's intended to be, including a document that all serious
breeders of JSBA-registered sheep are comfortable to support without
reservation.

 

I apologize to Jacob breeders and enthusiasts who are not JSBA members and
who might have grown weary of so much discussion of JSBA business on
JacobList.  

 

Gary Anderson

Hillside Jacobs

Sparta, MI

 

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