[Jacob-list] old time stock

[Dr. David R. Lincicome]

1355 hrs/Monday 11 December 2000

Amen!  Good to have someone else stand on the soap box.  I've been shouting this
for years now, and still we have those out there who worry about the esthetics of
horn set, colors, spots, etc, etc. ad nauseum.  When "Man Meddles with Nature"
man is the loser.

David Richard Lincicome, Ph.D.,PAS, DACAP
Guest Scientist, U. S. Department of Agriculture



SJohn21855 at aol.com wrote:

> Seth and all,
>  If you are going to change the breed and make it what it wasn't - why
> conserve it? There are plenty of the newer "man made" breeds out there. It is
> human nature to think that we can improve on nature - however in the
> improving we usually find someway to muck it up. Case in point - look at the
> Texas longhorn cattle. The breeders decided to start mixing in heavier blood
> to make them more marketable and they almost made them extinct. There are
> VERY few pure blooded longhorns any more. What a mistake it would have been
> to let them die off. I believe, and I may be wrong, that lilac coloring is a
> natural color - not man made- if I am wrong please forgive me. I am all for
> breeding for correctness, I.E., straight legs, strong bones, nice horn sets -
> however I'm not for changing the breed. The Jacob is beautiful because of
> what it is. If you start changing it to "make it better" it won't be the
> same. Nothing ever is after man starts to "make it better". The gene pool for
> Jacobs is still so small that we can't eliminate animals just because they
> don't have exact horns, or their color is a little off. There are going to be
> changes in the breed, just because of the different circumstances that they
> live in and the gene pool that we have to deal with, however, if we are going
> to preserve the breed let's work to preserve it as close to the way that it
> always has been or let it die a natural death.
>  Now I'll get off of my soap box.
> God bless you all,
> Shelly
>
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