[Jacob-list] showing sheep with freckles?

[Robert May]

Howdie Royal, Linda, Neal, et als...

I've enjoyed reading your responses.  Royal, you may
recall the Judge at the Sussex Show the one year who
remarked that a Jacob ram's scrotum had to be "black".

Because we've worked so hard over the years to promote
the Jacob breed by attending "shows", I think we have
forced judges to start reading the breed standard (I
know, we still have a long way to go).

What I have noticed in the 11 years that we been
raising Jacobs is that there are many, many "good"
Jacobs out there!  Looking back, the first two ewes
that we purchased were horribly freckled, and the one
ewe (a 4-horn) had forward curling horns.  

Today, there is a much bigger pool of Jacobs to select
from.  Personally, I don't mind a few freckles and
haven't had a judge place one of our Jacobs lower,
because of it. 

"Size" continues to be an issue with many of the
judges.  You know, "bigger is always better".

Regards,
Bob May



--- Neal and Louise Grose <nlgrose at yadtel.net> wrote:

> I don't think that they will pay much attention to
> tail docking at SAFF. By now, most people are aware
> that there is some controversy over tail docking. If
> not, this is an excellent opening for  'splainin' to
> 'em. I have shown several times at SAFF early on for
> the exact reasons you cite, and was chagrined when I
> had a ram top the medium wool class. Fortunately,
> the judge reassured me that he placed up because he
> exhibited Jacob type.
> 
> Now, as to the freckling, we have seen freckling
> significantly reduced in our flock over the last few
> years. I have not been particularly aggressive about
> culling for this trait. What we have done is close
> the flock and line bred. I certainly don't recommend
> this for everybody or even many breeders at all. We
> have done it to protect a given bloodline. Several
> of these bloodlines were separated for many
> generations and have developed unique
> characteristics. Linebreeding is the only way to
> preserve this uniqueness. 
> 
> We realized early on that there were some
> significant differences in the piebald genes (or in
> related traits) between the bloodlines. As the
> influence of the outcross rams has diminished, so
> has the freckling.
> 
> Neal Grose
> 
> PS: Hey, this is the twentieth anniversary of Louise
> and I purchasing the only Jacob Ram available on the
> East coast. "Ram-I-Am" had 5 wild horns, 75% black
> fleece, weighed 70 pounds wringing wet, and had a
> hogget fleece that weighed 3 pounds. Dad found out
> that he liked Little Debbie Spice cakes. He still
> represents the perfect Jacob sheep for us. See how
> much trouble that has got us in.
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Linda 
>   To: Neal and Louise Grose 
>   Cc: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
>   Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 7:21 AM
>   Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] showing sheep with
> freckles?
> 
> 
>   When I received an email from a potential buyer
> and she mentioned that she preferred two horned
> Jacobs because she didn't like those little floppy
> side horns that four horned Jacobs have, I thought
> that presenting a four horned Jacob with strong
> laterals might give the breed a boost. 
> 
>   I docked the ewe lamb that I am considering
> showing, as I was thinking about this when she and
> two other show prospects were born.  But then I
> decided I didn't want to dock just on the off chance
> I might show one, so what I'd consider my best show
> prospect (as if I'd know :-0 ) is an undocked ram
> lamb.  He has type A fleece all the way to the end
> of his tail, though. 
> 
>   Can you explain?
>   > All in all, though, I think that freckling is
> minor issue as far as
>   > a authentic breed character is concerned. I have
> a sneaking
>   >> suspicion that some forms of it arise due to a
> mis-match in
>   >> piebald
>   >> genes across bloodlines.
> 
>   Linda
> 
>    
>   www.patchworkfibers.com
>   Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun
> Yarn
> 
>   On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:46:47 -0400, Neal and
> Louise Grose wrote:
>   > Linda, I think you are exactly right to look at
> this as presenting
>   > the Jacob Breed.
>   >
>   > With what little showing I have done and seen,
> the judges are most
>   > likely to give primary consideration to
> non-breed specific traits.
>   > However, SAFF has a good track record of getting
> judges that are
>   > familiar with, and give due credit to what they
> think are Jacob
>   > breed character. I had a few Jacobs at the very
> first SAFF. One was
>   > criticized for having "patches that touched". I
> got him back in the
>   > ewe lamb class though. When he asked why she was
> not docked, I
>   > explained that I had not been able to catch her
> to perform the
>   > procedure. He not only accepted the explanation,
> but thought it was
>   > worth mentioning when he went to the microphone.
>   >
>   > When I went to SAFF a few years ago, there was a
> huge "Jacob" ram
>   > being shown that had a nearly level rump.
> Fortunately, he bottomed
>   > the class, because  would have hated to walk out
> in the ring and
>   > slap the judge.
>   >
>   > 
>   >
>   > Neal Grose
> 
> 
> 
>
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