Jeff and Ginny Adams of Walnut Hill Farms at Elm Springs are true rare breed stewards. They invest countless man-hours and dollars every year to conserve a variety of endangered heritage breeds, including Hog Island sheep, Tamworth hogs, and Milking Devon cattle to name a few. Their involvement with Hog Island sheep in particular has been essential to the breed’s survival; Jeff networks constantly with fellow breeders, especially Lisa Pregent of Mt. Vernon, to appropriately manage the small genetic pool.
Hog Island sheep are critically endangered according to ALBC’s Conservation Priority List (2,000 or less global population). In fact at the last count less than 200 breeding ewes remained, with the Adams caring for about 65. This is a feral breed, formed through geographic isolation on Hog Island off the coast of Virginia. The sheep were of British decent and remained on the island for hundreds of years with little or no human intervention. This led to the development of important survival traits such as foraging ability, strong maternal instinct and disease resistance in response to the island’s environment. Over time the population evolved into a genetically unique breed that was removed from the island in the 1970’s and placed with a few interested breeders on the mainland. For more information on Hog Island sheep please http://hogislandsheep.org
Genetically speaking there are four distinct phenotypes in Hog Island sheep: white horned, white polled, black horned and black polled—they appear roughly in the Mendilian 9:3:3: 1 ratio. The Adams maintain three rams of each phenotype in an attempt to keep the breeds overall genotype heterozygous. Currently, they have fourteen rams in the breeding program where only two would be required to service the flock. The extra rams are kept for conservation purposes to assist other Hog Island breeders who cannot house their own rams.
Due to the breed’s critical status, SVF has been extremely interested in assisting conservation of the Hog Island sheep. Scarcity of available animals and the prevalence of Blue Tongue (an infectious but non-contagious ruminant virus) has made it difficult to secure either ewes or rams for germplasm collection. Jeff Adams first approached SVF Foundation in 2007 to discuss Milking Devon cattle. Once initial contact was made the conversation quickly turned to the elusive Hog Island sheep.
Within a year the Adams made it possible for SVF to collect semen from a large number of Hog Island rams. Jeff caught up the rams from his fields and worked with SVF’s mobile semen collector, Harry Zimmerman of Zimmerman’s Custom Freezing, over a period of several days. As a result, over 800 viable straws were collected and frozen from 20 rams. Perhaps even more importantly, the Adams are compiling pedigree information, health history and anecdotal documentation on each ram to be included in the SVF database. They are donating personal time and hard work purely to ensure these sheep will be preserved long term for the future.
SVF plays an integral role in the overall genetic conservation of rare breeds. Once germplasm is collected and stored at SVF it is maintained in perpetuity. SVF is a non-profit, charitable organization charged with a mission to preserve the diversity of genetics from endangered breeds of food and fiber livestock. The foundation hopes to maintain this germplasm collection indefinitely in hopes that science will be able to utilize these genes in the future. The SVF program is designed to complement “on the hoof” breeding efforts and germplasm collections for immediate use for artificial insemination and embryo transfer.
The Adams recognize the importance of following all three avenues of conservation. Jeff and Ginny are dedicated to keeping these sheep around through selective breeding and lambing each year (“on the hoof” conservation). They are also working with the NAGP and ALBC to collect and freeze semen which will be available to breeders if needed in the near future. Regardless of how this feral breed is maintained, it is inevitable that being raised off Hog Island will alter its genetic characteristics. It is the goal of SVF to capture a “snap shot” of the survival traits that are part of the breed now before these traits are lost or modified. By working with SVF the Adams have ensured some Hog Island sheep will be preserved as they are today, through long term cryogenic storage.
In addition to semen collection Jeff is also working to get a small group of ewes health tested in order to allow SVF to collect and freeze embryos. Due to the southern location of the Hog Island flock the Blue Tongue virus is commonly detected in blood tests. Jeff is arranging for his flock to be tested this winter, the season in which the virus is least likely to be present. SVF plans to pick up approved ewes and rams and bring them back to the collection facility in Newport, RI. Once embryo collection is complete the sheep will be returned to the Adams breeding program.
SVF looks forward to continuing a great working relationship with Jeff and Ginny Adams. It is educated, determined people like these that have allowed such breeds to survive. Without their foresight and willingness to safeguard heritage breeds SVF would not have been able to preserve the Hog Island’s important genetic traits for the future.
