[Jacob-list] Ed and E+

[Hettick, Heather]

I think most Jacobs are considered EdEd, but some are EdE+.  I had a lilac ewe who produced a spotted black badgerfaced lamb with an Icelandic ram who was black badgerfaced and carried spotting, so she had to be EdE+.   She also tended to fade a lot, which may or may not make a difference. The two lilac ewes I still have only produced black lambs bred to a solid moorit Icelandic ram two years in a row.  This year they both have black or black/white spotted lambs bred to a white ram who carries spotting.  I feel fairly confident that they are both EdEd.

I have a Jacob/ mostlyTunis cross ewe who produces the coolest colored lambs.  She is EdE+ and looks like a Jacob cross - black with a small  white spot on her poll.  Bred to Jacob rams, she produced classic looking black with some white lambs.   Last year, with a moorit solid Icelandic ram, she had two blue ewe lambs.  I think their pattern is considered light blue - they have tear spots and their bodies grayed from the sides outwards leaving a dark line down their backs, and they have black legs and faces.   This pattern has to  come from their mother, either hidden under Jacob Ed or from the Tunis side which includes a colored Romney ancestor as her "Tunis" mother was 1/8 Romney.

This year we bred her to a black mouflon (reverse badgerface) ram who carries moorit and spotting and got two spotted lambs with both the mouflon pattern and probably her blue pattern, and a weird brown ram who is graying from the skin.   I don't think she carries moorit, although her Jacob father was a lilac carrier - which isn't moorit anyway.   I'm not sure if he's actually moorit or just phao colored from the Tunis side.  He doesn't have the teardrop spots, but has some kind of gray pattern - more like Icelandic gray, but his father doesn't carry gray.   I think she carries the light blue pattern and a gray pattern, which we couldn't see because of the Ed and one of her patterns would have to come from her Jacob sire.

One of her half Icelandic daughters had a classic colored Jacob cross ewe lamb - black with white cap.  This one makes sense since our white ram is black under his white and carries spotting and I think has the solid, pattern based on other lambs he produced.  The other daughter had another sort of strange brown ram.  He actually looks more like he could be  a  white with phao lamb though as the color is patchier and lighter than our other brown cross ram.  Both daughters were bred to our white Icelandic ram who I don't think carries moorit so I think this brown lamb probably is white with phao.

I don't understand phao coloring too much, but I think that's what the Tunis's have that makes them red.  Is it possible this could be what lilac is?

When I see phao in Icelandics, it's more tan or golden, although I've heard it can be a stronger color too.  Some Tunis really have dark red, and my one lamb who may  have phao coloring has really rich brown on his face and legs.  I wish I had room to keep him and could breed him to my lilac Jacob ewes to see what we'd get.


Heather Hettick
Moonstruck Farm
Creston, OH
www.moonstruckfarm.wordpress.com