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Fifty Years of Progress in Sheep Breeding

United States Department of Agriculture¹

Abstract

Sheep breeders of the past 50 years have continued to improve on practices which began possibly 7000 to 8000 years ago (290). In fact the sheep was probably one of the first animals to be domesticated and man has long depended on sheep for clothing and food. Many of the methods of sheep improvement common during the past 50 years, such as selection for improvement of valuable traits and the formation of specialized breeds and types, must have been used before the time of recorded history. Our efforts in the last 50 years have been directed toward adapting these methods and the sheep with which we work to our changing needs. Furthermore, we have gathered and recorded many facts about sheep and animal breeding which have permitted the development of ways of applying these methods more precisely and effectively (278, 302, 313).

¹ Sheep, Goat and Fur Animal Research Branch, Animal Husbandry Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland.