ram going back to own daughters

[spark_28]

I tupped my Gimmers elsewhere this year as I was using their father, they returned home and ran with him for a few weeks. Im not entirely sure they were tupped until they came home. The place they were at sheep aren't showing too much either. this could all be hypothetical but would it create problems?

 

[Nithsdale]

Not really.

It's called line breeding

I put a tup Hogg with a broken rear leg out with his half sisters to keep him quiet - bugger went and tupped 3/4 of them. Kept all the ewe lambs as i was a wee bit short on numbers, no problems. This happened 3-4 years ago.

 

[notorious]

May be okay or may be all wrong I guess time will tell

 

[Davy Boy]

Not really.

It's called line breeding

I put a tup Hogg with a broken rear leg out with his half sisters to keep him quiet - bugger went and tupped 3/4 of them. Kept all the ewe lambs as i was a wee bit short on numbers, no problems. This happened 3-4 years ago.

is line breeding more to do with tupping ewes with their grandfather rather than their father. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[GTB]

It's only called line breeding if you're a pedigree breeder. If you're just a normal farmer it's called inbreeding.

 

[Ysgythan]

It's sh!t or bust normally. All about risk. Could get one lamb and that's a mutant, or a few with no issues. The more lambs you do get though the more chance you'll get a genetic oddity. One off its fine, but all the time and it limits performance quite drastically.

 

[dogjon]

It's only called line breeding if you're a pedigree breeder. If you're just a normal farmer it's called inbreeding.

Actually around here, it's called line breeding if it turns out well, inbreeding if it doesnt haha. Seriously, if I've used a ram to produce replacement ewes for several years, I like to breed him to 10 or 12 of his daughters before he goes down the road. The thinking is that if he is carrying an ugly recessive it'll be more likely to show up in his inbred offspring. So far all I've ever seen doing this is a lack of size and vigor in some of the offspring.

 

[GTB]

Lots of hill flocks breed their own Rams. They will usually buy a new ram or two every year but buying in enough Rams for a couple of thousand ewes gets too expensive. There are rarely any problems with inbreeding but I suppose the chances of a ram serving his own daughter or full sister are pretty slim in a big flock. Many hill flocks develop a family resemblance over many generations and a good shepherd can usually spot a stray sheep a mile off because she doesn't look quite the same as his own ewes.

 

[yellowbelly]

Line breeding/in breeding, whatever you want to call it, is what Bakewell and all pedigee breeders that followed him used to 'fix' the traits or characteristics in many breeds. If you use it over a big group you will find it accentuates all the good points in some offspring and it will also accentuate all the bad points in others - that's how you improve your breed, by culling all the bad ones and keeping all the good ones and starting again.
I wouldn't worry about it in your situation.

 

[Ysgythan]

Lots of hill flocks breed their own Rams. They will usually buy a new ram or two every year but buying in enough Rams for a couple of thousand ewes gets too expensive. There are rarely any problems with inbreeding but I suppose the chances of a ram serving his own daughter or full sister are pretty slim in a big flock. Many hill flocks develop a family resemblance over many generations and a good shepherd can usually spot a stray sheep a mile off because she doesn't look quite the same as his own ewes.

Which is why mules are good sheep. Their father is inbred and their mother is inbred and the breeds are so different you get a huge F1 hybrid vigour.