Waxing philosophical here, and not being contentious or argumentative. The ability to produce more than one litter of lambs per year is one of the priceless genetic gifts our blackbellies come equipped with. It is necessary in some "production models" such as accelerated lambing and is part of the genetic gold that may theoretically be used at some point in the future to correct selection errors that are sending some species of domestic animals down the poop chute.
Allowing breeding only once per year may actually be selecting against this trait. Or in cases like myself, breeding only in February/March for late summer lambs... with enough time, would I create an isolated race of Blackbellies capable of breeding ONLY in Feb/March? Right now I am taking advantage of their polyestrous nature. I could be mindlessly headed down the road to eliminating it through preventing its natural expression. The opposite is true, too. If I deliberately select too heavily for a certain trait and discover later that it screws up some associated characteristic, I may never be able to un-select that previously desirable trait. How can I know? It's one of those cases of "we don't know what we don't know." But it is a case in point that we can't let sentimentality interfere too much with our breeding choices. I would highly recommend reading the ALBC's conservation handbook to anybody who cherishes the Blackbelly sheep. Not for a blueprint of how to run a breeding operation, but as an eye opener how one's breeding choices affect the future of the breeds, indeed the future of domestic livestock. Being a "hobby breeder" doesn't mean being exempt from the laws of nature. Regards, Barb L. _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
