That would be great for the Heb Soc, if we had access to the scheme or could afford to do it ourselves (it's a very small society), and had people interested enough to do the work. I don't know if such an idea is in train as part of Committee business yet. I don't think we have access to the scheme as organised by the RBST because Hebs are now classed as only a traditional breed, not in any danger - although those of us who keep multihorned Hebs feel they qualify as a very rare breed within the larger flock, and they are indeed endangered.
I would love to know if I am wrong here.
I was thinking that you just meant a free for all of straws, in which case the same tups would be used again and again, which would narrow down the genetic diversity of the national flock. 'As Big Light says: decent tups in the real world aren't that expensive'
When semen was collected following F&M, it was a very haphazard, disorganised process, possibly put together in a rush. It depended on people being willing to transport their tups to a collection centre - there was ONE in Scotland - and leave them there for a month (I think it was a month). During that time they were kept in single stalls surrounded by stone walls, although they could hear their chums next door. They had no access to grass or fresh air, so if Primitives in these circumstances became depressed and couldn't be bothered to perform, it's hardly surprising. I think the semen collection business has been commercialised now, but may still not suit our breed.
Kanisha - how about a condom on the tups (it would probably need to be glued on

) so the semen could be collected during the normal tupping process? I'm sure someone could improve on the basic idea - it would make it infinitely cheaper, more likely to succeed, give fresh viable sperm, and not disrupt one's own tupping programme.