[Jacob-list] scurs in sheep

[gordon johnston]

<<<My conclusions have become somewhat different.
* Scurs are clearly undesirable in a horn breed. >>>

This surely depends on your point of view : if you are a breeder of horned
sheep wanting to show them, then yes, scurs are undesirable ; if you keep
your sheep in a 'wild' flock or situation, then scurs have been shown to be
a survival strategy in years of severe stress. This was found during
research on Soay sheep ; most years, it is the males with the largest horns
which are most dominant and breed with the most ewes, while the scurred
males lurk on the periphery of the flock, rarely mating and that only
opportunistically.  However, in years when there is little food and the
population crashes, it is the big horned males which tend to succumb first,
because they have high energy requirements, leaving the normally undesirable
scurred males , with their lower input needs, to mate with the remaining
females. So, far from being undesirable, it appears that it is the lowly
scurred males which ensure the survival of the flock in stress conditions.

Juliet in Scotland