[Jacob-list] lilacs

[Neal and Louise Grose]

"I believe that it is a dangerous generalization to say that a lilac "Jacob" is proof of its purity.  "

It was not my intent to imply that lilac is warranty of purebreeding. The original question was:
 "is this possible in purebred Jacobs 
or is this an influence from the influx of other breeds (colored sheep as in 
recessive black or brown versions maybe linking up with lilac??).  What other 
breeds would do this to a Jacob line?  " 
What our experience here indicates is that rather than coming in from another breed, the lilac originates with the Jacob breed. It is always possible to take a single gene, and with a few generations place it in a different genetic group. Color is controlled by half-a-dozen or so genes that interact to produce results. My main thesis here is that color in sheep is such a complicated mess that it is much safer to look at things such as type conformation which are controlled by additive genetics when we want to see some guarantee of authenticity.

"We have various shades of "lilac" in our Jacob x Horned Dorset sheep. "

Crossbred offspring from our longwool sheep start out black but fade quickly. These might be mistaken for the lilac color. No one would mistake these fleeces for Jacob because they are much too heavy (6 to 8 pounds) and loose the Jacob "fluff". Our 'chocolate lilac' Jacobs do not fade.