[Jacob-list] Horns

[stonecroft235 at juno.com]

On the subject of horns, Neal wrote, "subject to chaos or randomness".  
It appears to us in our 8 years of breeding Jacobs and in observing other
breeder's sheep that predicting horns on lambs is pretty risk business
and "chaos & randomness" pretty much sums it up.  Twins can be born from
a long line of beautiful horn sets in both the dams & sires, and one
twin's horns will be beautiful and classic in color, separation, and
growth pattern - and the other one can look like the good Lord gave him
lobster claws growing in wild abandon, twisting in any
direction.........and generally the one with the weird horns is very
healthy & vigorous, is a ewe,  is very tame and loving, has exceptional
fleece,  and perfect body markings!!!!  And, in that case, unless the
horns were growing in a way as to affect health, I would probably
consider keeping the ewe lamb........I found for me it was very
frustrating to constantly be searching and breeding for the perfect-
looking Jacob because I seemingly could not affect the outcomes.  SO, I
rearranged my thinking about perfection with the belief that I am now
more realistic............I don't view my change  as a "dumbing down" of
my standards - just a maturing of my understanding of the breed.

Sue Martin
Stonecroft Manor
Lititz, PA
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