Why not just use a ram? More fun all round! ;) And less stressful on the ewes I would think.

This is what someone asked as a comment regarding the AI series of posts I made. It is an excellent question, and one that I will happily answer.

Most of the Shetlands in Canada are desended from 28 ewes and 4 rams imported by the Africal Lion Safari 27 years ago. A small flock was later found to exist in Sasketchewan, but this flock was desended from 4 animals. Over the years, semen has been imported from the UK into the US. Very few of the F1 (first generation animals from AI) are in Canada. As a result, our gene pool is not as diverse as it could be.

I was THRILLED to a part of a group importing semen into Canada, from Scotland, for the first time. Kathy Baker, in Alberta, organized this venture.

Besides adding genetic diversity to the Ontario Shetland gene pool, these rams introduce a few other factors back into the pool. Both have very crimpy, even, and solid fleece, with almost no white fibres present, and with minimal sunbleaching.

Glayva is also fully scrapie resistant, and will pass on good scrapie resistance to all of his lambs.
An examination of Glayva's fleece sample leaves me wondering if he might, perhaps carry the 'modifier', which produces some of the rarer Shetland colours.
There are 38 other ewes here at Willow Garden that will be bred 'the old fashioned way'. I still have 19 straws of semen left, so will go through the AI process once more ... but it will not likely ever become a common-place occurrence here at Willow Garden.

I hope this answers the question adequately ... :-)