2. Different animals Activity (20 minutes)
D. Crowley, 2007

3. SELECTIVE BREEDING WORKSHEET
Each of these sheep has been produced by selective breeding. For each sheep write down one characteristic that has been selected
Which of the sheep above might a farmer use to breed sheep with good meat and good wool?
Which of the sheep might a farmer use to produce sheep with good wool that can survive in the Welsh mountains?
A sheep farmer has a flock of Wensleydale sheep. To win a prize at the local farming
show, he wants to have sheep with very long wool. Some time ago, he took the ewes
(female sheep) and rams with the longest wool and allowed them to breed. He
allowed the new lambs to grow and then kept the ones with the longest wool and
allowed them to breed. The others were sold at market. It took him eight years to
produce sheep with wool long enough for him to win a prize.
What is a male sheep called?
Why is this farmer’s method an example of selective breeding?
Suggest why it took him so long to win a prize.
Once he has prize-winning sheep, which of these methods would be the quickest way to increase the numbers of sheep with these characteristics:
i cloning ii cross-breeding iii genetic modification iv selective breeding?
Which of the four methods listed in part d could be used to develop new breeds more quickly than the farmer’s method?

4. Selective Breeding Questions
Answers
1. Balwen mountain: able to live in cold conditions
Bluefaced Leicester: good quality wool
Polled Dorset: good quality meat
Friesian: produces lots of milk
2. Polled Dorset & Bluefaced Leicester
3. Bluefaced Leicester & Balwen mountain
Ram
He only kept the offspring with the desirable characteristics, which he allowed to breed - taking eight years to get the desirable traits
Sheep only breed every year, so it takes a long time for characterisitcs to become exaggerated enough to win a prize!
Clonning
Genetic Modification

5. Selective Breeding
Selective breeding is a process used to produce different breeds of animals or varieties of plants that have useful characteristics
Using selective breeding you can produce a specific offspring with useful characteristics of both parents
Farmers can choose individual cows to mate in order to produce a generation of cows that will yield more milk

6. Cross-breeding
A farmer has two cows; he needs to produce more milk and better meat.
Breed A produces more milk.
Breed B produces good meat

7. Cloning

8. Genetic Modification