[Jacob-list] Opinion regarding "true Jacob"

[Neal and Louise Grose]

Linda, Good scientists never say "always" and "never"! We say things are more or less probable. Fortunately, I'm not a very good scientist.

Our Jacobs have a lot of leg markings and many are lilac AND tend to have soft fleeces. I don't know that these things are particularly related other than they are a fairly primitive sheep. We can expect the more primitive guys to have more fleece inconsistency, 

As to having more freckling in the fleece, we should also expect that this might go along with more and smaller spots. There are genetic groups that have larger patches and others that have small, numerous patches (which is what we have). At the same time,  we have seen freckling decrease with inbreeding. Freckling may be partially due to mixing of types.

I have seen several pictures of Jacob sheep pre-1900. They do not seem to follow a particular type, other than being piebald and multi-horned. The horns would not have met the JSBA standard. (Disclaimer: that does not mean that I think that bad horns SHOULD be accepted. Only that symmetry is not a factor of purity.)

Neal Grose
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Linda 
  To: aztreaz at earthlink.net ; jacob-list 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 6:43 PM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Opinion regarding "true Jacob"


  In GENERAL, which means not always true and not supported at all by any research, sheep with a lot of leg flash (not just knee and hock spots) are more likely to be freckled or ticked.  Notice how I am avoiding making any definite statement :-)   

  I have seen no correlation between leg markings (facial markings, hornset, body spotting, etc)  and fleece quality. Most (not all) of my lilacs have been short on leg markings, but many lilacs have excellent leg markings. Lilacs are rarer and sometimes there is not as large a selection as when we are looking for blacks. There are lilac lines out there with "ideal" "perfect" markings.  It's not the color that determines markings. If everyone selected for lilac without paying attention to anything except the color, we could end up with lilacs with poor markings, horns, fleeces, etc. Same as selecting for any specific trait without thought to other traits. 

  Linda
   
  www.patchworkfibers.com
  Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn



  > I have quite a variation of Jacobs and I have observed, in my
  > flock, that the ones with no leg markings have the best quality
  > fleeces and no freckles.  Going only by "looks", I do prefer leg
  > markings; but right now the fleeces mean more to me than how the
  > animal's legs look.  I have three lilacs and all have white legs.
  > Do lilacs usually have no leg markings?
  >
  > Cathy
  > Moscow, Idaho
  >
  >
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