Why Lines?
In “Managing Breeds for a Secure Future,” Dr. Phil Sponenberg reiterates numerous times the importance of preserving lines in order to preserve certain genetics and have them available for the future. He says, “Managing the bloodlines, strains, and varieties within a breed is important for long-term maintenance of the genetic variability that is crucial in breed viability.” By having breeders whose focus is the linebreeding of lines, the SCI goat population can maintain maximum genetic diversity, maintaining pools of unique genetics for other breeders to access to add to their herds.
It is a challenging task to attempt to preserve a line at this stage of the SCIGs life on the mainland. Until approximately 2008 when Leslie Edmundson started organizing San Clemente Island Goat history, lines were unknown in the SCI Goat community. Without access to a complete herdbook with the population’s true founders, Leslie started from scratch with the herds she could locate which were a compilation of true foundation genetics. Her lines were: Ahrensberg, Blake, Earth Spirit / Warren, Nellie Gail, New Hampshire, Plimoth, Rivetti, Tepper, Gil, and Vancouver Island.
The SCIGBA has worked on compiling histories and pedigrees for our lines, filling in gaps to help breeders better position SCI goats for the future, and there is much more to learn. As our research progresses, our understanding of these starter lines and the genetics represented by each will continue to be presented to the breeder community.
This work is critical and time sensitive as every year we lose more genetics and information to the past. From current data, the Blake and Gil lines have been absorbed into Canadian herds and no longer exist as separate lines. Ahrensberg is nearly extinct. Tepper is much less available, and individuals who are alive and identifiable are of much lower percentiles. Our breed is nearing a stage where there are almost no primary lines left, but just blends of lines.
To help understand, let’s compare lines to the primary colors: red, blue, yellow. Imagine starting with individual cups of limited amounts of each color. Once utilized, they are gone. Mixing any two of the colors will give you a secondary color with the hue dependent on the ratio: orange, purple, green. The mixing represents your breeding pairs and the resulting color and genetics represented in your kids. Start to mix all three and the paint starts to turn dull gray with no resemblance to the starting primary colors nor the secondary colors. Plus, there are no remaining primary colors to help turn the paint to a different hue. If you needed a red, yellow, or blue it would be too late.
What if the red represents genes which are parasite resistant or resistant to a new goat disease? How would you reintroduce these genes to the population with all of the red gone? If we have breeders preserving each of the primary colors, i.e. lines, they can be accessed at any time. Every painting needs some gray, so not every SCI herd needs to represent a line, but as a whole community, we need to be able to track these genetics to ensure enough focus is being placed on these genetics, and this brings up again the need for a comprehensive Herdbook which includes all San Clemente Island Goats and is accessible to the community.
We are talking about this, not to be a harbinger of bad news, but to bring attention to this situation and hopefully attract more breeders to pursuing the lines: New Hampshire, Tepper and Plimoth, particularly.
New Hampshire: It was named this because it started at Dave Adams’ East Hill Farm, in New Hampshire. It was heavily contributed to by Leslie Edmundson and Heamour Farm, Shannon Nichols. Dave Adams was particularly fond of goats with the light tan coloring with the typical San Clemente pattern and this quality was his goal. ( Note: Not all NH goats have this coloring now but vary considerably.)
There have been several breeders working together on the NH line to maintain genetic diversity within the line and increase its numbers. If you have goats you believe to be 50% New Hampshire or higher, please contact the Genetics Committee and Laurel Sherrie. The genetics are limited and careful planning is needed for breeding, which entails considering lineage, Coefficients of Inbreeding and line percents.
Approximately 50 breeding/young goats nationwide out of approximately a population of 1700. Except for rare occasions decades ago, collection of semen and eggs has not been done. Some of these goats are not available to the NH Breeding Program. Many others have been lost due to not having any record of who they were sold to. Many others have passed on due to age, accident, etc.
Tepper: It was named this after the breeder, Sheri Tepper. It has not been specifically worked on as a line until several years ago when it was realized how few there were. Progress is being made by a handful of breeders currently.
Plimoth: Named for the Plimoth Plantation, this line has undergone significant problems due to either loss of records or no records at all of individuals or unreliable word of mouth regarding lineage. All we can do is work with the little bit of information left to see what can be done.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Most importantly, we need proactive breeders. The first step is to register your goats in the SCIGBA Registry - the only comprehensive, accessible registry owned and operated by the SCI Goat breeders with copies held by The Livestock Conservancy.
Registration and record keeping is essential in breed conservation. We encourage all breeders to participate. Pedigrees produced by the SCIGBA Registry are not copyrighted and can be utilized by breeders in their marketing, sales, and development of breeding programs plus by the association for projects such as the Lines Preservation Project discussed above.
To learn more about the SCIGBA Registry, please follow the link: https://scigba.org/registry-introduction
Secondly, once you receive your pedigrees, study their lineage and lines, if you don’t already know them. For any goats that have 25% or greater of a line, reach out to find other high % goats. And reach out to the Genetics Committee with this information as well.
Lastly, VOLUNTEER. We need help with research such as: interviewing past and current breedings, tracking down historical records and pedigrees, and so much more.
The Genetics Committee
Reach us at genetics@scigba.org
