[Jacob-list] Fiber: black/white/fading/freckles/ticking

[im rapunzil]

I have a pair of Jacobs - ram lamb and a ewe lamb purchased from the same farm.  They were the same age but of different parents.  

 

The ram arrived faded and the ewe is black as night.  So I don't know about the iron theory.....

You live by writing your poems on a farm
and call that farming.


 










 


Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:44:18 -0400
From: patchworkfibers at windstream.net
To: Jacobflock at aol.com
CC: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com; nlgrose at yadtel.net; Hobsickle at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Fiber: black/white/fading/freckles/ticking

Fred brings up something that I really hadn't thought about. 
I'm familiar with the effects of copper on holding color. It's important for black rabbits if you want to keep a good deep black, so I watched it when I had show rabbits. 
But, I've never given a thought at all to iron. Our previous farm was just two miles away as the crow flies and we had a well. The water there was very high in iron. Our well was better than others in the neighborhood, but still pretty high. The people up the hill had to filter their well water so they could drink it. We get our water here from a spring at the top of the hill, so not sure if it's also high in iron. Next time I'm in town, I'll ask our friend at the health department about it. 
I don't plan to move or buy bottled water for my flock :-)

Linda

Jacobflock at aol.com wrote: 

 
Melanins binds to a variety of compounds and metals.  Iron tends to neutralize the anti-oxidant property of eumelanin but copper tends to strengthen it.  Thus a diet richer in iron tends to promote fading, copper reduces fading and promotes the structure of eumelanin.  Water, soils, mineral, forage etc in the environment richer in copper would tend to fix the black color and reduce fading from UV rays.  Is it possible that there is some measurable difference in the breeders environment (water test, soil test, feed test) that might indicate copper is richer or poorer (like selenium measures).  Some data might be available from soil tests, hay tests, and water review boards that would suggest local environmental conditions.  Might MI be a copper rich environment?
 


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Patchwork Farm Jacob Sheep  		 	   		  
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