Many of us have taken seriously the American Livestock Breeds
Conservancy (ALBC) designation of the Barbado and Barbados >Blackbelly as a "watched breed" (which is one step up from a "rare breed").�
When the original idea came up to "think about changing the name Barbado to American Blackbelly," it was greeted with a lot of fanfare by many regular people. As the days go by and I see a BIG opposition to a change by some BBSAI people, I think back to last year when a lot of discussion took place asking about just what the BBSAI registered--whether it was Barbados Blackbelly, Blackbelly Barbados, or something else. When I learned that they registered EVERYTHING, I began to encourage them to make some changes. But, if changes are NOT made, then BBSAI is able to register more and make the registry bigger. Just like the trouble in Florida where mention was made of losing a breed as a result of making their registration bigger, I worry that some people in BBSAI worry about that.
If the sheep on the island of Barbados are really referred to simply as "Blackbelly," then what could possible be more natural than to have the two distinctly separate breeds be called American Blackbelly and Barbados Blackbelly? I do not understand the opposition. I do not wish to see either breed disappear. It is horribly disturbing, however, to keep it the way it is now, seeing that list today of all the different names websites give their sheep. Even our local auction calls them just Barbs, to be "politically correct." Years ago I was told that I was buying Barbados Blackbelly and it's still going on. This is our chance to end it simply. The ALBC has Barbados Blackbelly relatively high on their list because there are enough of them in North America (especially Barbados island). If the US only were counted, Barbados Blackbelly would probably be in the ranking "rare." Barbado, as I mentioned is not shown on their list at all. There are thousands of Barbado in my small town of Auburn and probably many thousands in every part of the country, whether they are registered or not. Most of us wish to keep the color and body style similarities the same for the two breeds. Having one set of standards (aside from horns) would give us that chance. We Barbado raisers need to have our breed given a more satisfactory, less confusing, name and American Blackbelly would be just that!! We would all keep the most relevant part of the name--BLACKBELLY!
Rick Krach
Auburn CA 95602
(530) 889-1488_________________________________________________________________
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