[Jacob-list] crimpy fleece, etc.

[Mary Spahr]

My post about crimpy fleece did not go through for some reason, so I resent it.  
I believe that registries are a valuable way to keep track of a breed.  They help us to know about how many of the breed are out there and how many are rams or ewes.  Pedigree info and other statistics can be compiled into flock books.  Of course it is a free country and anyone can breed any animal and not get it registered.  I feel that it is risky, especially for a novice just getting started, to purchase a non-registered animal.  We all know there are many crossbred Jacob sheep that could be passed off by someone unscrupulous as a purebred animal.  Or perhaps the seller really believes the sheep is a purebred Jacob.  
A lady at the fiber show we attend in Sept. wanted to show me a picture of her 'Jacob ewe.'  She had to keep her at a friend's house with the friend's pet goat.  I could tell she was very proud of her sheep, so did not have the heart to tell her that her very dark, polled ewe was a crossbred and not a purebred Jacob at all.  
We do need to have established characteristics that define a breed.  Maybe this is what Neal meant by 'speaking the same language'.  Fortunately, there is room for lots of diversity within our breed so we do not all end up with Jacob lookalikes.  I tend to think that the majority of purebred Jacobs in the U.S. are registered.  There are many so-called Jacob sheep showing up at auctions that are not pure-bred at all. 
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