The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: shygirl on April 26, 2014, 11:53:20 pm
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i understand what a terminal sire is but what is a maternal sire, and a paternal sire. couldnt seem to google it :innocent:
thanks
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Maternal sires are rams which pass on good mothering qualities to their female offspring. An example of this in a hybrid situation would be a blue face Leicester used to create mules... In this scenario it's a maternal sire as the primary objective of the cross is to produce a good ewe and future mother which is crossed a you know with a terminal sire to produce fat lambs....
Whilst I am not familiar with the term of a paternal sire in this context it would make sense if it was the selection of superior rams to produce terminal sires.... As in the pedigree breeding of texels, suffolks etc etc etc.
Hope that makes sense!
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ahh yes thankyou. that makes sense. :thumbsup:
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Interesting but not how I understand the terms, roddycm!
To me, the maternal sire is the grandsire on the mother's side, a paternal sire is the grandsire on the father's side.
I rather like your definition of maternal sire, cf terminal sire, though. I think there should be a term for that - but I'm not sure what it is!
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Interesting but not how I understand the terms, roddycm!
To me, the maternal sire is the grandsire on the mother's side, a paternal sire is the grandsire on the father's side.
I rather like your definition of maternal sire, cf terminal sire, though. I think there should be a term for that - but I'm not sure what it is!
Thats how I would understand them. Sires are then pretty much just known as terminal or non-terminal sires I think.
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:wave: am wi roddy on this one . my thinking was down to breed type maternal sire is one you would use to produce ewe replacments . lleyn ,Leicester. easycare etc
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Would also use the same definition as roddycm for maternal sire, i.e. what we put over our draft age ewes to produce ewe lambs who will then be put to a terminal sire.
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Some folk make a whole business out of marketing maternal sires! An example would be http://www.innovis.org.uk/breedingsheep/maternal-sires.asp (http://www.innovis.org.uk/breedingsheep/maternal-sires.asp)
However it's a bit more technical than what most of us get up to! Or me at least haha I am just a bit of a nerd when it comes to reading about breeding and genetics etc etc!
The term maternal grandsire is a term that can be used for discussing pedigrees... In this case you are talking about the grandfather on the female side essentially... The father of the subjects mother... Etc