I’m with you on a lot of stuff you say, as much as that would probably surprise you.
Taking the sheep metaphor on - no I would never use a ram with no knowledge of its health status or EBV (estimates breeding values - based on tracking its offspring, and other relatives etc)
However - if I did know that stuff, the breed, type and what colour it’s face was, would have no bearing what so ever, if I thought it added something I wanted to add or had some positive traits etc.
So what I’m saying is that knowing all of the stuff above is important - but I will always go for functi