[Jacob-list] ? Ethics on selling Jacobs

[Hobsickle at aol.com]

I won't even pretend to have a definitive answer to your questions, but here 
are some things to think about.  (I expect that some will generate plenty of 
discussion.)

First of all, did you mean that your concern was crossbreeding? (you said 
inbreeding)

1.  Even if you where to sell them without papers they can still be 
registered (at least through the JSBA), so I don't see that selling them 
without papers accomplishes too much.  (My absolutely best all around ewe is 
a sweetheart that I bought three years ago at a stockyard sale for $35.00--no 
papers.)

2.  If you are not a well established breeder you may find that you have a 
hard time selling as many lambs as you'd like (particularly rams) and take 
almost any opportunity you can find.

3.  Many reputable, established breeders I know breed some of their Jacobs to 
other breeds (crossbreed) for meat or spinning wool purposes.

4.  These days there are constantly stories about Jacobs going to livestock 
sales for slaughter (see above) as folks get out of the breed for one reason 
or another, and yet the breed is preserved.  Perhaps the breed has reached 
the point where it can "fend for itself," in a manner of speaking.

5. Most, if not all, of us with Jacobs raise them because we like the looks 
(at least) of them.  Should we deprive anyone else of satisfying that desire 
because we may not like their breeding program?

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