The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: SmallWelshBarn on December 23, 2018, 03:49:52 pm
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I have two Balwin ewe's and a ram lamb they were gifted to me after allowing my land to be grazed. The ram & ewe's are all from the same tup. Clearly the ram lam is going to try and mate with the ewe's. Its my understanding that one generation interbreeding is not an issue if the ewe's lamb then clearly I would need the services of a fresh tup.
Can half brother and sister ewes and lambs mate ?
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They can, but I would not use the offspring for breeding stock. Any chance you can swap the male, or has he already got to the girls?
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I often have a little bit of inbreeding in one or other of my matings; with a small flock it’s hard to avoid completely without going to extreme lengths.
My rules are, all about-to-be parents must be excellent specimens. If the tup or his dad has any undesirable features, then I’d try to avoid any inbreeding but at the least, would not use a ewe which had the same undesirable trait.
In general, one would not expect to keep the offspring of such a union for breeding, but on the rare occasion that all the positives line up and non of the negatives, one can get an excellent specimen. If truly exceptional I might keep such, but would be certain to not inbreed it again.