Flock Appraisal Visits

The Society operates a system of Flock Appraisal Visits.

These are designed to be informative plus provide a chance to discuss your flock management and quality issues with people who have many years experience of the breed.
Flock management discussions are wide ranging, but will always involve the record keeping of your pedigree animals and their offspring.
A review of your flock and conformity to the Breed Description will also take place.

Flock Appraisal visits

Are usually prompted by a member contacting the Trustees to request a visit.
Will automatically occur if a sheep put up for sale has had to be deregistered.
- Note: Both Flock owner and breeder of those animals (if different from the owner) will receive a visit.

The Board of Trustees reserves the right to visit and appraise any registered flock.

Further Information

The Society has created a Breed Description which forms the legal statement about the physical parameters within which a sheep must fall in order to be regarded as a Hebridean and able to be registered as a pedigree animal with the Hebridean Sheep Society.

For many years the Society has operated a 'closed'` flock book which means that only the progeny of pedigree registered Hebridean sheep are eligible for the pedigree register.

This does not mean however that all sheep born from pedigree registered parents are themselves eligible for the pedigree register. Very occasionally, lambs born to pedigree sire and dam may fall outside of the breed description.
- This can happen through natural variation and give rise for example, to a lamb with white spots.
- Very rarely whitish or reddish brown lambs are born due to a mutation of the wool pigmentation.

It is important that these animals are not regarded as pedigree as over time, this would lead to a drift from the breed conformity described by the relatively broad parameters of the Breed Description and leading to Hebrideans becoming more of a 'type' than a 'breed'.

The Society reserves the right to

Deregister any sheep that falls outside of the Breed Description and remove them from its official sales. In order to do this however the sheep in question must be inspected by two members of the Board of Trustees who then must agree. The owner and the Registration Secretary will be informed. At a sale, the auctioneers will also be informed. Once agreed by the two inspecting Trustees there is no appeal process.
Perform DNA tests on one or more sheep to confirm that the parentage listed in the pedigree is/are correct. If an error is found, the society will recover the costs for the test(s) from the breeder.

Appeals

If you wish to appeal against the decision of a single inspector, you must say so during the inspection visit, and you should refuse to sign the inspection form. The inspector will then inform the Society of your appeal. If after seven days you still wish to appeal, the Registration Secretary will arrange for two other inspectors to visit your flock to arbitrate. If the decision of the original inspector is upheld you will be required to pay the travelling costs incurred by this second inspection, otherwise the Society will pay the costs.