Inbreeding sheep

[Legamin]

If it works, it’s called line-breeding, if it doesn’t it’s called in-breeding.

You do what you have to do. It’s not ideal to breed father to daughter, mother to son, cousins or what have you too many times in succession, but it’s perfectly acceptable to do it occasionally.

Recently I have been reading articles on sheep inbreeding. We have recently had several lambs, all of which happened to be male. Our last sheep is due and if she has a female, I would like to keep her purely for breeding sheep that we will eat. What are your thoughts on this? It is always giving me a yucky vibe but I know ppl do it. I don’t let my chickens even cross breed, but I know ppl do that too. I know it is an acceptable practice for some people, and I certainly am not breeding for show or anything like that. I just need another female Katahdin, and I’m having a hard time finding one locally. We would slaughter her lambs for food when they’re the appropriate age. Does it gross you out? Do you allow this?

Recently I have been reading articles on sheep inbreeding. We have recently had several lambs, all of which happened to be male. Our last sheep is due and if she has a female, I would like to keep her purely for breeding sheep that we will eat. What are your thoughts on this? It is always giving me a yucky vibe but I know ppl do it. I don’t let my chickens even cross breed, but I know ppl do that too. I know it is an acceptable practice for some people, and I certainly am not breeding for show or anything like that. I just need another female Katahdin, and I’m having a hard time finding one locally. We would slaughter her lambs for food when they’re the appropriate age. Does it gross you out? Do you allow this?

ps-sorry! I know I just wrote a book…but I thought… This year I will be traveling to Sheridan, WY from WA State to pick up some rams and ewes. I have made arrangements with a very reliable Katharine breeder to pick up a ram for a friend locally. If you live somewhere on the way or in the vicinity of on the way I would not mind arranging to pick up another sheep that matches your stated needs. I have not gotten prices fixed yet but anticipate that the ram I am getting will be $450-$600 and a ewe somewhat less. The breeder I deal with in Montana is VERY particular about the breed standard and you would be paying for a high quality sheep registered, ready to breed and guaranteed to perform and breed. If you’re interested dm me….what’s a few extra miles out of the way?

 

[BoPeep75]

That is very kind! But I think I’m pretty out-of-the-way in Tennessee. And don’t worry about the “book” - I thought it was awesome! . Sounds like you have a well run operation going. We don’t have so many sheep farmers here that studding is a big thing for sheep, horses and cows yes. It would be great if so though. We don’t have nearly as big of a herd as you do… We only have one ram. It would be nice to have enough females to have two rams but I think we’ll keep it smaller and more manageable. We downsized our number of goats and chickens as well. We picked our favorites as breeding stock and sold the rest or butchered in the case of chickens. My last ewe is due soon and hopefully will have much-anticipated females for me.

 

[secuono]

Inbreeding for meat is no problem. Inbreeding for brood stock is fine if you do it right.

 

[Legamin]

That is very kind! But I think I’m pretty out-of-the-way in Tennessee. And don’t worry about the “book” - I thought it was awesome! . Sounds like you have a well run operation going. We don’t have so many sheep farmers here that studding is a big thing for sheep, horses and cows yes. It would be great if so though. We don’t have nearly as big of a herd as you do… We only have one ram. It would be nice to have enough females to have two rams but I think we’ll keep it smaller and more manageable. We downsized our number of goats and chickens as well. We picked our favorites as breeding stock and sold the rest or butchered in the case of chickens. My last ewe is due soon and hopefully will have much-anticipated females for me.

I found it interesting that you are from Tennessee! My wife and I have been considering selling out here in Washington and have already located a 250 acre farm ready and waiting in Tennessee just about 4 hours north of where our children move to in Texas! It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring in land sales and opportunities!

 

[Legamin]

Thank you. Those were my thoughts as well, since it’s only for food. I just didn’t want to think about eating anything that was going to come out with six legs and cross eyed. Lol i’m only kidding I know it won’t actually show anything like that but I guess I just wanted to hear more ppl say it was a common practice before we went down that path. This is about as far as we will go with it, but for curiosity’s sake, how far down the line do people inbreed? I haven’t gotten a firm answer in the articles, but I see people mating the sire to his daughter and granddaughter but I’m not sure where ppl stop, or if they stop purely based on what traits are showing up.

Since I breed a critically endangered breed of sheep there are lots of questions that we have had to ask and determine “how far CAN we go with inbreeding?” When the last remaining group of purebRed Leicester Longwool sheep were discovered in Tasmania in the 1920’s there were just 50 left. In the WORLD. This meant that to save the breed line breeding would be unavoidable. They were purchased and brought back to the UK for re-establishment and I’m glad to report there are just over 1000 breeding quality purebred Leicester Longwool sheep today….STILL critically endangered and VERY difficult to find an ’unrelated’ sheep to breed.
So there had to be standards to give the herd the best chance of survival AND genetic diversity while maintaining the highest standard of physicality and genetics…and of course health.
We are at a point in the recovery of the breed that it is still acceptable to breed a grandfather with a grand-daughter that is not the product of a sister or daughter and a grand mother with a grandson that is not the product of son or brother…it’s more complicated than that but you may get the idea.
We are looking first for health and ’perfect’ breed quality genetics that match the standard. Then we are able to breed to the third generation as long as it is not the product of the same immediate family. In other words if I rotate my four purebred unrelated rams every year….and never cross breed back to the next immediate generation my sheep will meet the standard for registration as long as they meet at least 3 of the 5 star grading requirements under a qualified judge.
It does no good for the breed if I try to ’cheat’ the system by writing in the wrong name on the paperwork because eventually (sooner than that) someone will do a DNA test and call my bluff….it’s a small community and it’s not worth risking my reputation.
My understanding is that as long as the bred product meets your breeding program standards and is healthy and not prone to disease there is no problem in breeding for meat. You may not meet a hoity-toity registration standard but if you breed siblings for 6 generations and are still getting healthy, product that meets your standards then you might be near the limit of what a line breeding program can do. The science AND the experience demonstrates that each successive rebreeding to siblings or next generation will progressively weakens the strength, health and likelihood of no significant birth defects. The DNA breaks down.
I won’t be callouse…as I’m pretty okay with people providing for themselves however they best can….but if you breed for 4-5 years and have not been able to purchase fresh blood to breed…even a multi-breed Craigslist ram….maybe you are better off looking for inexpensive but healthy groceries from a store? Please don’t take me wrong…you do what you need to do. But animals in our care should not be experiments in seeing how far we can stretch an experiment that has been proven many times over….that it doesn’t end well. Animals in our care deserve our best efforts and our best care. I’m on a shoe-string with my operation. But I’m intensely frugal and we manage…because the quality of the outcome is worth it.
You will not see Leicester Longwools in a breed show because there are simply not enough to have any competition. We still judge one at a time by a 5 star system. But we press on because this special breed is worth it!

 

[Baymule]

I found it interesting that you are from Tennessee! My wife and I have been considering selling out here in Washington and have already located a 250 acre farm ready and waiting in Tennessee just about 4 hours north of where our children move to in Texas! It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring in land sales and opportunities!

Tennessee is not 4 hours north of Texas!

 

[Ridgetop]

Inbreeding is breeding first degree relatives i.e. mother/son, father/daughter, sister/brother.
Linebreeding is breeding individuals with some of the same relatives in the pedigree.
Outcrossing is breeding individuals that have no blood relationship.

Like Legamin said - inbreeding solidifies a "type" by doubling close genetics so the offspring are better than the parents with the same genes. If you don't know the genetics you want to double up on this can be a mistake, since it can also double up the flaws in the two parents to pass on to the progeny.

Linebreeding is breeding selected individuals with other individuals wh have some of the same ancestors and genetics. This is what most people do when starting out.

Outcrossing is breeding unrelated individuals to bring in an outstanding attribute from another gene pool.

All 3 are standard breeding techniques is the quest for perfection in a breed. LOL

In your case, breeding a 1st generation daughter to her father is necessary to provide you with more breeding females. Assuming there are no terrible flaws in the parents, your 2nd generation ewe lambs should be fine. You can breed those 2nd generation daughters to the father again for terminal locker lambs. Breeding 2 generations will be fine unless there are bad flaws in your sheep. In that case, you can eat all the 2nd and 3rd generation lambs. Bad flaws doesn't necessarily refer to birth defects, rather to type of the breed. You need to know what the best Katahdin should look like and then judge your sheep on that standard to decide if you will keep any 2nd generation ewelings for future breeding.

If you want to keep any ewe lambs produced by the 2nd generation ewes, you will need to buy another ram. Sell the old ram and invest in another better ram who is not closely related to proceed with your breeding program.