Carol, If I may, American Blackbelly Sheep sounds like the way to go. I also think that developing a standard for the American breed is a good idea. One of your respondents mentioned the infusion of genes from other breeds. The results of these genes in physiological differences should be considered if they can be. A problem being the identification of which gene mixes produce what characteristics. This may prove possible to do but its not going to be done in a short time. Look how long the mixing has been going on. Not one of us having the horned breed has an idea what’s in the gene pools of their breeder sheep. Perhaps each of us should close our farms to the addition of new sheep, select breeding pairs, record their physical characteristics, and then those of the offspring for at least two breeding cycles to see if anything can be learned. (Another idea follows.)
The best route may be to obtain breeding stock from someone that has the polled sheep, proven to be true to breed by consecutive lambing cycles that produce polled lambs/sheep. Then, do our own crossing with the hair sheep of choice and keep really good records of the results produced. These records would then have to collected and recorded by the registry for a period of time until sufficient data on the same types of parings is produced to enable the development of a breed standard for that type of paring. This sounds like it could lead to a multi-faceted standard. Sincerely, Joe Hollinger Cuddly Critters Farm Eldridge, MO 65463 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.642 / Virus Database: 410 - Release Date: 3/24/2004 =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
