[Deere]

This  year will be my first year of breeding Pedigree Ryelands and im interested to know how closely people will breed from a line.
Obviously im not talking sire on daughter's im more interested to know if people would use a tup and a ewe who both share the same secound or third generation sire.

Im trying to expand my flock and was wondering if there is any guidance for breeding other than the obvious certain traits a sheep will need to show to become eligible for registration.

Go easy on me,  pedigree breeding is all new to me as ive always had mules bought from one place and a tup bought from a closed flock so the chances of them being related were miniscule.

[Tim W]

http://www.signetfbc.co.uk/sheepbreeder/technical-information-sheep/

follow the link and scroll down to the papers on inbreeding , managing it and further reading

[mowhaugh]

I tend to sort of go with if its legal for humans, its OK for sheep.

[Marches Farmer]

If it works it's called line breeding, if it doesn't it's called inbreeding.  Using related stock, especially if you've meticulous records of every sheep and only ever use stock with a clean bill of health all their lives and with excellent teeth, feet and udders, can work to fix characteristics like good feet.  If you use older stock you know they're older because they've not been of poor enough quality to warrant culling.  If you bring in a new ram you don't know what he may have in his background - poor mothering, becoming broken mouthed at a young age, poor feet, etc.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

When I started with Ryelands I asked an experienced breeder about repetitions within the bloodline and was advised that as long as the same animal did not appear twice on the certificate then it was acceptable. The certificate shows 3 generations so on that basis the bloodstock would be 4 generations removed.


Obviously the more diverse the gene pool the better but unless you were able to research your ewes family history you could end up breeding a ewe with a ram that had an individual animal in common as it had "dropped off" the end of the certificate. 


HTH   

[Buffy the eggs layer]

In terms of the rules of breeding I personally place alot of emphasis on the rams and have found that a good ram can bring a great lamb from a mediocre ewe. I choose my rams on the basis of carcass size, leg length, substance and  temperament.


With Ryelands there is quite a bit of variation within the breed so I would suggest you have a look at other breeders flocks and decide on the type that you like then aim for a ram which embodies that type. With regard to the ewes I would start with a selection and see what each union produces.


HTH