I got a 6/7 in AP Bio but I hated all of it EXCEPT the genetics chapter*

[cimorene]

When casual chatting about livestock leads to google leads to random forums where some people are like:

"OH if you're so in favor of responsible livestock breeding practices and 'not risking animals' lives with high probability of deadly pregnancies and stillbirths', then how would YOU feel if someone FORCE STERILIZED you and maybe YOUUUUU should post some pictures of YOUUUUUR family health history for us to mock, Ms. High-and-Mighty 'I Know What Genetics Is'!"

We've encountered this kind of anger twice today, once in the context of horses with genetic skeletal faults and once in the context of Dexter cattle, a heritage breed with a dangerous dwarfism trait.

It gives a whole new context to the phrase "some people shouldn't be allowed to breed", which I never thought I'd have a response to other than "kill it with fire"; but it turns out all you have to do is add "livestock, if they can't be bothered with Punnett squares*".

I honestly never thought I'd be getting enthusiastic about cattle breeds and sheeps' hooves, but I guess that's what happens when you marry into hearty farmworker stock.

*Full disclosure: as a teen (mumble 16 years ago) I loved Punnett squares. Our AP Bio teacher happened to have a teachers' edition of the text with a misprint that omitted the answers to a big section of the genetics problems, and our teacher kept getting lost trying to work them out, and several of us spent several class periods arguing with her... which I still look back on with fondness.

Comments

[spark]

Yes, for practical matters of sheep health it mostly just comes down to, if the sheep is not a fine healthy specimen of a sheep in general, or if it has lambs that are not, then don't breed from it. Where I do spend time puzzling over recessives etc is for fleece colour genetics, which is v. complicated and interesting, you might enjoy delving into it if you haven't already.