[Jacob-list] Jacob lilac question

[Debbie Bennett]

I have gotten one lilac each year for the last two years out of b/w 
parents. In both cases the lilac coloring was apparent at birth ( facial 
markings) and neither lamb has black spotting on the legs. In tracing 
the ancestry of the ewes (used different rams), I came across one common 
great-grandparent that had been known to throw lilac offspring. I have 
one "fading" lilac ewe that is throwing me b/w offspring, so far (I have 
been told that as she is fading at two years old, she probably carries 
the early greying gene). Since I like the lilac coloring, I purchased a 
lilac ram last month and plan to use him on my (3) ewes with lilac in 
their backgrounds. So, we'll see what we get next Spring.

Debbie Bennett
Feral Fibre
Oakland, Oregon

On Monday, August 6, 2001, at 05:38 AM, Heather Hettick wrote:

> I would call Thom's example greying and not lilac.   My lilacs are 
> obvious
> at birth because of the different coloring or in the case of the darker
> ones, the light eye ring.  I had a ewe lamb born almost charcoal color 
> out
> of lilac parents, but she had the eye ring and mellowed to the lilac 
> brown
> color as soon as her wool started to grow a bit, although she hasn't 
> faded
> as much as her sister.
>
> My lilacs are all various shades of brown, although just like the blacks
> some of them fade a bit and seem to turn a greyish taupe color as they 
> age.
> Especially after the color change with age, I've noticed that the legs 
> and
> face seem to generally keep their original darker shade, but I have none
> that I would say have black leg spots.  Maybe this is more a 
> characteristic
> of the grey lilacs.  I would think maybe the grey and browner lilacs are
> caused by different genes possibly, but as I don't have any I would 
> consider
> grey lilacs I can't say for sure.  Mine seem to be carried recessively 
> in my
> short experience with them.  So far, I have always gotten only lilacs 
> where
> both parents are lilac and a around half the time from a pairing of a 
> lilac
> and a black with one known lilac parent.
>
> Do the grey lilacs actually have grey wool or is it a mixture of black 
> and
> white that looks grey from a distance?  Mine are actually brown, but 
> they do
> grey as they age meaning that white fibers invade the colored patches,
> making the spots look lighter.
>
> I was out watching my sheep yesterday, trying to get some decent 
> pictures,
> and noticed that all the lilacs have just as black horns and hooves as 
> the
> blacks.  I have no striped horns in my flock at this point, although my
> original lilac ram did have striped horns and produced two ram lambs 
> with
> striped horns last year.
>
> Heather Hettick
> Moonstruck Jacob Sheep
> Creston, OH
> hettick.1 at osu.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jacob-list-admin at jacobsheep.com
> [mailto:jacob-list-admin at jacobsheep.com]On Behalf Of Thomas Simmons
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 6:03 AM
> To: jacob-list
> Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Jacob lilac question
>
>
>
> --And while we're on the subject......
>
> If a ewe grays in some places, butis jet black in others - (even with
> distinct jet black spots in the MIDDLE of the grayed areas!) is this 
> really
> graying? Or is it evidence of Lilac?  Or ???
>
> thom
>
>
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