Breeding related sheep - how close is too close?

[bohogardenia]

How closely related can a ram be to the ewes he breeds?

We are trying to decide if we can keep one of our ram lambs from this year, or if we will need to sell him and buy a ram from another flock for next fall's breeding. We bought our ewes already bred and haven't done the breeding thing ourselves yet!

 

[boothcreek]

Son to mother or father to daughter are fine for breeding.

I have a few ewes that have very linebred pedigrees because I wanted to anchor a few key traits.

 

[bohogardenia]

What about half-siblings from same ram? Not okay?

 

[alsea1]

With line breeding a person needs to really watch out. If there are faults then these will be even more defined with the lambs.
If there no faults then it should turn out okay. However it would be good to bring in fresh blood at some point.
But, if your like me and all the lambs are terminal or will be leaving the place as long as the babies born are healthy and all I wouldn't get too worried

 

[Sheepshape]

Generally speaking breeding related animals isn't a good idea as recessive genes leading to genetic diseases have a much higher chance of being expressed.

However, some breeders actively choose to breed two related animals with a particularly desirable trait or traits in order to try to preserve the desired feature(s).

Half siblings will probably be OK, though there will be a higher risk of undesired recessive traits. Oh and if you decide to breed related animals this year, get some 'fresh blood' next year.

We swop rams with a neighbour who has an unrelated blood line.

 

[bcnewe2]

My rule of thumb is father to daughter is ok. Half siblings (same father) has happened here and has turned out ok but I've always heard grandfather to grand daughter is where to draw the line.

 

[Bossroo]

Most of the stories on inbreeding are just taboos .... NO HOLDS BARED in this type of selective breeding unless there is an unwanted / detrimental characteristic in the gene pool , then invite those animals with the flaws to a BBQ.

 

[OneFineAcre]

My rule of thumb is father to daughter is ok. Half siblings (same father) has happened here and has turned out ok but I've always heard grandfather to grand daughter is where to draw the line.

I don't understand this. Why is father to daughter OK, but grandfather to grand daughter not? Isn't a father and daughter more closely related than a grandfather and grand daughter?

 

[bcnewe2]

Aren't you doubling up if you breed back the grandfather? Not sure. I have line (read "in") bred and gotten smaller lambs. One time got twins that had horn scur spots that were open. So my rule of thumb is get a new ram every 3 years unless not keeping any ewes back. I have always looked at it like you are setting traits and sometimes they aren't always good.

 

[AshleyFishy]

My take on line breeding is aim for what traits you want and cull hard on what doesn't work.