We donated semen from one of our finest rams to the RBST semen bank some years ago. The scrapie monitoring programme was running at the time and, again, we thought that eliminating a whole tranche of genetics for the sake of just one trait could have unforeseen consequences in the future.
We too put forward tups for the RBST scheme. As the idea was to preserve diversity, we didn't particularly choose 'the best' (whatever that is), just 4 tups in general use.
The process of semen collection from sheep involves the use of a teaser ewe. With the primitives at least this can be a particular problem it seems. For our lads, this poor long suffering white-wooled lady just didn't appeal
. They weren't taken for collection until January, by which time they were going 'off the boil' anyway. Primitive breeds (I don't know about others) are often not happy with performing in public, so in the end only two of our four produced enough of the good stuff to keep.
In addition, collection of sheep semen is an expensive business, with several weeks board and lodging, plus the cost of the manpower required to care for them and do the collection, plus of course storage of the straws.
My feelings about AI? Well, I grew up on a farm where all the hen turkeys were fertilised this way, and there were hundreds of them, so I'm well used to the process. My elder son worked for a while at Roslin, with Dolly and the cloning team. Animals used in that process have legally to be euthanased after 3 invasive procedures - does the same apply to ewes used for invasive AI?
Overall I suppose, I'm sad for the animals used for invasive AI, but I can see the need in breeding programmes, less so in small rare breeds flocks. There are rams for that. I know though that not everyone has space for several rams to ensure the degree of diversity ideal for rare breeds programmes, whereas being able to source semen from several tups can be used to widen the genetic pool, just as using one super-tup on a huge flock will halve the diversity of that flock in one go.
I find it's horses for courses - it's acceptable for one sector of sheep rearing, but for most sheep in Britain I find it unnecessary, expensive and counterproductive.
Do I approve? It's getting quite uncomfortable sitting on this fence
