:Sheltering Pines Dolce-an emsket ewe. No Ag sugar lips, light inner-ear color, pale eye-circles or underparts.
Emsket fleece parted. Pewter color near skin, sunbleached taupe color at t
ips.
ips.
This photo is of Rachel that same winter.She carries a single Ag gene. Sometimes her fleece is dark grey enough to resemble a "bluish hue" But she has the sugar lips, white eye-circles, and light inner ears as well. She has thrown non-iset solid lambs as well as Ag lambs.
This trio is AgAa Rachel (center) with two of her offspring: AgAg 2 year old Zora (left), and AgAa Kyve as a yearling (right). Even after his first shear, Kyve was a dark blue color. He maintained all the tell-tale signs of Ag though. Notice the "sugar lips" on Rachel even from this distance.
6 comments:
Great illustrative photos -- and I just LOVE that photo of Dolce! My Ag grey girl is named Rechel, too, and I have her Ag daughter (who may be Ag/Ag, since her sire is also Ag grey). Both of mine look like your Zora in the winter.
I've registered my two lambs as musket, even though the ewe lamb doesn't show all the Ag characteristics. She does have white hairs in her ears and light-colored tongue and gums, but no sugarlips and only slightly lighter brown eye rings. I think she will retain a lot of color, like Kyve.
I have never seen an emsket so can't tell you if they look alike or not. Thanks for the photos! What I can tell you however is that not all Ag have their sugar lips or ligther ears. I saw a shetland AgAa that looked exactly like a suffolk (black head and legs and tail) but she was indeed AgAa and was therefore a black Ag. The AgAb girl I have an Ag Katmoget is quite striking but her racing stripes on her legs have faded since last year. Love the blogs!!
I am enjoying the pictures and discussions. I am surprised at how light the 'pewter' color next to the skin looks, as I had imagined emsket to be a darker more bluish cast. Also is there a possibility of an Ag Emsket? Please forgive my ignorance as I try and get a handle on these colors. I have alot of Ag in my flock, and all of them are Ag/Aa, however they are all light colored like Zora, with the defined white circles around eyes/nose. However Rain that I mentioned in prev. post is also Ag/Aa and is definately getting darker, more bluish as she ages instead of the reverse of the other Ag's in the flock. Very interesting. Tammy
I love your Dolce, Sabrina. There's one on my farm from that breeder who could be her twin. Those long fleeces are absolutely the loveliest.
I was out of town for a day, so sorry my reply is a bit late:
Tammy, yes, a sheep could be an Ag version of a modified color. Modified affects color, Ag is a pattern.
An example of a heterozygous grey mioget would read:
AgAa BbBb MmMm - Ag standing for one greying gene, Bb standing for two brown genes, and Mm standing for two modified genes.
I wish I knew what causes some greys to be that heather blue color and some to be almost white in the fleece. Kyve and his twin sister Finna were both AgAa. Finna had very light fleece, Kyve's was dusky blue. I would love to know why so I could breed for more of that bluish color.
Also, I should mention that the emsket color on the Dolce fleece photo is sortof lightened due to glare. Next time I borrow a camera I'll do side-by-side fleece samples so you can see the color better.
Karen, I've noticed those two Sheltering Pines ewes on your web page. But is it Mughain or the other one that is a lot like Dolce? Dolce's locks really are long and flowing-I love how that makes a ewe look out in the pasture, even though I love spinning the shorter, crimpy staples more.
Michelle, post some photos of the musket lambs you are registering. I would love to see more versions of Ag. I will admit, my knowlege of Ag is limited to the sheep I've seen in flocks here in MN so I'd like to expand my understanding. I would think that different Ag's would have different intesities of the characteristic? Not all Kats have incredibly dark markings. Maybe some Ag's have more or less intense markings. I certainly see that in the homozygous Ag's.
Now I'm really curious. :) Let's see those lambies!
Sabrina, my ewe Mughain resembles your Dolce. Mughain's fleece is incredibly long and wavy, sort of musk ox-like. Love reading your blog!
Post a Comment