Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 May 2016
For any programme of livestock improvement to be successful it is necessary to investigate the mode of inheritance of the various economic characters and their relative importance in the given set of circumstances. Many practical attempts at agricultural improvements have failed to give satisfactory results because the objective has not been well co-ordinated with the overall economic, environmental and even social conditions.
In this paper the possibilities of genetic improvement of a flock of Welsh Mountain sheep will be reviewed in the light of the results of investigations carried on at the College Farm of the University College of North Wales, Bangor, from 1949 to 1955. The investigations were made to determine the relative values and mode of inheritance of several basic measurable characters in the flock of 600 breeding ewes managed under typical hill conditions.