True words. I am a commercial sheep producer so it has to pay.
If I was paying crazy money he would have to be very special, in the 1st year after isolating the ram for at least 2 months, at breeding time I would put that ram in a separate yard with 8 select ewes. Then keep 4 select sons from that mating, and voila! - a whole new bloodline!
That is in fact what I tend to do. I bought a young ram from the All Canada Classic in 2011, his 4 sons are in the pack for this season. A complete outcross. By colour coding my ewes with different coloured plastic eartags I have 3 distinct easily identified families. That way I can keep rams from my own flock, using rams from different families/bloodlines.
The mantra must be keep a closed flock, Rule One. There are so many bugs and diseases out there. A certain amount of in breeding is no doubt present, but I like to put a stamp on my sheep, my Dorsets are very different from the the Continental Club, American, show sort.
Some are a little close bred but as I have remarked before, you can do this with sheep, always provided you are not too hung up with the Book of Common Prayer.