Our mentor Leslie Adkins has taught us a great deal about fleece quality and color, reproductive health, animal well-being, inbreeding issues, and many other aspects of living with a flock. Leslie is a scientist with an avid interest in primitive breed sheep genetics.
With the advent in 2025 of adding Laparoscopic Artificial Insemination (LAI) to our breeding program for Ouessant and Shetland fresh genetics, Amy’s desire to understand the science of sheep genetics became stronger. She was blessed to meet Deb Nelson Gourley and Judith Hooper. They enjoyed a series of collaborative dialogues, which resulted in the paper below.