[Jacob-list] Comment on "American Jacob"

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

The following email may not be suitable for all audiences.  It contains words 
like 'primitive', 'improved', and 'pure-Jacob'.

The term "Jacob(American)" was adopted by the ALBC just a few years ago 
(1996?) to distinguish the divergence of the improved Jacob of England and 
the Jacob in North America.  The Jacob (American), in my opinion, (a) is a 
landrace breed and (b) represents a small 'mixed' population of Jacobs that 
(i) moved before c.1970 and were perhaps closer to Park Sheep ("unimproved") 
and (ii) those that moved after c1970 influenced by the strategy of 
conservation through commercialization ("improved"). 

My Jacob (American) landrace opinion is based on documents,articles and 
pictures from three periods which I think are significant.  

(1) The establishment of the Park Sheep Society by Elwes and Ewart in 1911 
..."landowners keep in their parks various breeds which are not generally 
known to those who keep sheep for profit only...more or less carefully 
attended by their owners...values as much for their ornamental qualities as 
for the wool and mutton they produce...a most important feature is their 
ability to live like deer on grass alone without the daily attention of a 
shepherd....they have no standard or pedigree...they are liable to degenerate 
by careless crossing...and until a Society for the improvement of Park Sheep 
is formed,such breeds as those we advocate must remain in their neglected 
condition...the pied sheep..."  Photos from the early 1900s and in particular 
a group of photos from 1934 in Tabley Park are probably pretty good evidence 
of the "original" Park Sheep types...forward horns, fused horns, slipped eye 
patches.  Yes, it's all there.  

(2) The Jacob Sheep Society begins in 1969 to conserve the breed by promoting 
its 'utility', showing and commercialization of its product.  An article in 
Oryx published by the Fauna Preservation Society (12/70)..."..if the Society 
succeeds with two of its main three objects, namely the improvement of the 
wool and the drawing up of a breed standard for show exhibitors, there will 
inevitably be a loss of genetic material and the Jacob will no longer be a 
primitive breed....It would be interesting to maintain some stock of 
unimproved Jacob in parrallel with 'improved' stock in order to maintain the 
widest range of genetic variablity possible, but also, by using the control 
stock, to trace changes in the breed brought about by artificial selection."

It is my sense of the geography and events that Jacobs imported to North 
America prior to 1970 had far less, if any, "improvement".  However, on the 
other side of 1970 it is not as clear.

(3) From Todd Hescock's writing (1977) "there are about 10,000 Jacob sheep in 
Britain and most are in small hobby flocks although some were pet flocks of 
larger commercial producers.They were considered a novelty breed but..I soon 
concluded, it was a breed with a great commercial potential.  The Jacobs were 
emerging from the reputation as an ornamental breed at the time and with the 
competitiveness of the shows and sales, the breed was starting to improve in 
conformation and wool...It was possible to locate some quality animals...at a 
reasonable price."

At this time the Jacob was under the aegis of the Rare Breeds Survival 
Trust...and the ARK of 4/15/77 describes "...a breed can only survive if it 
adapts to requirements...and all breeds can stand to be improved.  To back 
this up- I have crossed a Dorset Horn ram onto six poor quality ewes, 
selected the best ram back to the ewe lambs and from these have a ram and ewe 
lamb that are identical to pure Jacobs...I now intend to use this ram to 
up-grade the rest of my "pure" Jacobs..." (Roger Mason).  This is not the 
only account; there are many others that continue into the 1980s.

Which might then raise the question of what flocks were improved.  There is a 
field review of the breed that occurs in the 1980s (I can't find the exact 
date) that suggests that the Jacobs in Scotland and Ireland are not as well 
'developed' as those in England. Did improvements move more slowly in 
Scotland and Ireland?  In the mid 1980s there is already considerable 
emphasis on Jacob carcasses and wool and at this time the Jacob is dropped 
from the RBST rare breed listing.

Martin Dally (Hopland Research and UC-Davis)  was recently in England and 
gave me the recent JSS brochure...top of the list for raising Jacobs has 
changed from wool emphasized in the early 1990s (British Wool Bd. 'Select') 
to "meat"....tender and lean, pasture fed, sweet as a hazelnut. 

A definition of breed that is often used is "a group of animals that has been 
selected by man to possess a uniform appearance that is inheritable and 
distinguishes it from other groups of animals within the same species.  It is 
a product of artificial choice of characters that are not necessarily 
strategies for survival but are favored by man for economic, aesthetic, or 
ritual reasons, or because they increase the social status of the owner of 
the animals." (Clutton-Brock, J. Domesticated Animals From Early Times, 
1981)...and/or...a breed is a group of animals selected to have a uniform 
appearance that distinguishes them from other groups of animals; when mated 
together, members of a breed consistently reproduce the same type. 

Breeds develop...from feral (wild)...to domestic landrace...to standard 
breeds (uniformity and predictability).  So why a Jacob (American) landrace 
breed?

Landrace breeds are local flocks that are consistent enough to be considered 
breeds but are more variable in appearance than standardized breeds...unique 
due to founder genes (limited imports), geographical isolation (England/North 
America), type (wool/meat), etc.  Thus, I conclude that the Jacob (American), 
without regard to 1950s or 1970s imports, is a breed, more specifically a 
landrace breed.  

Fred Horak