How safe is it to line-breed farm animals?
Question by sjd143: How safe is it to line-breed farm animals?
We are considering getting a few animals for our small, self-sustaining farm. We are concerned about how to breed the animals and have wondering whether line-breeding (or in-breeding) is possible. I found online that it is safe to breed within a family however to avoid breeding direct siblings. Please remember, we are talking about farm animals (goats, sheep, pigs, chickens).
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3 Responses to How safe is it to line-breed farm animals?
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Doesn’t matter what type of animal you are talking about. Line breeding seals in genetics traits, good and bad. You need to know pedigrees like the back of your hand to avoid bad genetics.
mcally
October 29, 2013 at 4:20 am
well.. from my own breeding experinces .. i have learned that same line breeding is not a very good idea..
(for example a pig) .. say you have a sire and a sow.. and they produce pigglets..it would not be a very good idea to breed one of the gilts from that litter to that same sire (the gilts dad) you are able to.. but it does effect meat quality and stucture qualitty of the offspring ..
BUT .. after you have already bread the gilt from that sire that sired her… and she had offspring.. those offspring are able to be bread to that sire once again.. with no problems.. since pigs have a very complicated structure and elabrate genetice structure.. they are prolly the most complicated to breed when it comes the best of my knowalge in this subject
now i have no idea about chickens.. but sheep and goats ( to the best of my own knowledge) can be in-breed …..
but also … some states have laws agenst in-breeding for surtain animals.. and if they can prove it . you can be fined…but only on some speices…
i hope i helped atleast a little bit
and atleast gave you some information that is good enough
paige
October 29, 2013 at 5:05 am
There is absolutely nothing wrong with linebreeding/inbreeding.
ALL breeds were developed through linebreeding/inbreeding.
The thing to remember is that if any particular mating produces something undesirable, BOTH parents carried the gene.
Inbreeding does not create problems, it only allows those genes that are already there to pair up, become pure, and be expressed in the offspring.
Certain matings bring out traits more quickly than others. Mother/son, father/daughter, and full-sibling matings provide the most rapid genetic improvements, but by the same token will also more rapidly bring out undesirable traits.
If you decide to linebreed/inbreed you have to start with high-quality animals, you have to have a plan, you have to breed with an eye towards improvement, and you have to be willing to cull not only those animals that show detrimental genetic traits, but both parents too.
Ann B
October 29, 2013 at 5:23 am