[Jacob-list] update on Twigg group

[Mary Ellen Hansson]

Melody,
 
Graying is a trait that seems to happen in the Jacob very commonly.  One
quite interesting and striking point about the group that Katrina and I
wound up with (Royal has 1 or two I believe) is that the obviously old
animals didn't show hardly any gray in their colored areas---be they
lilac or black.  It was SO striking on the oldest ram---lilac with very
few gray strands of wool on his body!  I have sheep in that group with
teeth ground down very low that have no gray in their fleeces.  Their
black is strong and not easily sunburned----and the handle on many of
the fleeces is quite soft.  There are certainly exceptions.
 
I have seen Jacob sheep over the years that fade out so the spots are
almost indecipherable.  This is my personal preference, but I see that
as gross looking and not characteristic of a spotted sheep.  I also
don't like "early graying" sheep.  I am needing to cull a bunch of sheep
to get my flock to a manageable size and may use that as a
criteria----which would mean that most of the lilacs are going elsewhere
one way or the other.  An animal that is significantly gray at 2 years
of age is not one that I want genetically on my place----again THIS IS A
PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND NOT PART OF THE BREED STANDARD.
 
I guess why I am so opposed to the graying is that one of my first 2
ewes turned gray in a month's period around her second spring.  She was
black and white when her lamb was born and before the lamb was weaned,
she was gray and white.  She did happen to carry a "lilac" gene---and I
don't know if she wound up with the trait from the same side as the
lilac or not.  I do know that there were only 2 offspring she had that I
cannot document as being gray at an early age---don't know about those
2...  One lamb was even turning gray at 2 months of age!!!  
 
Mary Ellen Hansson
ISeeSpots Farm www.iseespots.com
Jacob Sheep, Fiber, Spinning equipment,
Books, Patterns, Knitting/Crochet/Tatting
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20030406/cdcaaff8/attachment.htm