norseofcourse's journal - spring and show update

Do you know what color her parents were? Has she had a brown baby before? Elding is moorit, correct?

The pattern/agouti genes are these: Ag (gray), Aa (solid), Ab (badger face), At (gulmoget - not sure what it's called in Icelandics), Awt (white)

Each sheep gets two agouti genes. Awt is dominate. It hides all the other patterns. Ag, At, and Ab are equal, meaning they don't cancel each other out (ie. both patterns will show up). Aa gets covered by all of the above.

Black (BB)/brown (Bb): brown is recessive so a sheep would have to be Bb/Bb to express moorit. BB/BB and BB/Bb would show up as black. The last pair means that the sheep carries brown and could have brown babies.

Spotting (SS/Ss): this gene is recessive. SS/SS = no spots, SS/Ss = carries spots, but doesn't have any, and Ss/Ss = spots.

There are some other "modifier genes" that I don't understand and that aren't too relevant to the basic color genetics.

Without knowing more of Rose's background, this is her genotype: Ag/A?, BB/B?, SS/Ss.

I love figuring out color genetics! Ive got most of my sheep figured out so I know what I could possibly get. For example these two sheep.....

I knew that the ewe's genotype was this: Ag/Ab, BB/B?, SS/S?

The ram was this: Aa/Ab, Bb/Bb, SS/S?

Their babies were both solid black with spots so I know that the babies are both this genotype: Aa (from dad)/Ag (from mom), BB/Bb, Ss/Ss.

This also means that both the parents carry spots which gives me more information about them.

Every generation you collect more information.

I have another ewe that is due any second that is this: Ag/A? (could be Aa or Ag), Bb/Bb, SS/Ss (she might possibly be Ss/Ss, but the Ag has covered all the spots). She also has some of those "modifiers" which have turned her face and legs a honey color called "mioget".

If her babies get Ab (from dad) and Aa from her, then I know that she is Ag/Aa. If they both get Ab/Ag, it doesn't mean that she is Ag/Ag necessarily, but it is a possibility.

I may have gotten carried away there.....

@purplequeenvt - nice to find someone else so into the color genetics!

Rose's mother was pattern white, I have no idea what color/pattern her sire was.

Rose has been bred three times - once to a black and white ram, twice to a moorit ram, every lamb's color has been black, so it's likely she is BB for color (still a small chance she may carry brown).

Her pattern is grey, and Icelandics must be similar to Shetlands. White pattern is dominant, so she doesn't have that. Grey, badgerface and mouflon are equal, so if she had badgerface or mouflon they would show up with her grey (and they don't), so she doesn't have either of those. The only other pattern she may carry is solid, since it's recessive to everything. Or she may be grey/grey for pattern. So whether the twins go grey or not may tell me what her pattern genes are.

I think Rose is spotted, just a few white markings on her face/neck area. Both rams she's been bred to were spotted, and her offspring have all been spotted.

Elding is moorit for color, solid for pattern, and spotted, so he's recessive for everything. Using him as a ram has really helped me figure out the genetics of my ewes. Plus I wanted a nice variety of natural colors for handspinning and pretty fleeces.

I almost have Gracie's genetics figured out, too. She is white pattern but carries grey, and she is either black/moorit or moorit/moorit. She is not spotted (or if she is, the white pattern hides it), but she carries spotting. She is making me wait to see what lambs she gives me this year though! lol

It's been a long week. Gracie lambed on Tuesday (more on my lambing thread), twins, a boy and a girl. The boy is pattern white like Gracie. The girl is moorit and white, and her undercoat will come in white/cream, so the brown markings on her body will lighten up a lot. With Gracie's lambs, my total number of sheep is, for the first time, in the double digits - I have ten

On Wednesday, I came home to find one of the two remaining quail dead . I'm not sure what happened, neither had been showing signs of anything wrong. I'll keep the other one for as long as she lives, but I won't get more, at least for the foreseeable future.

We had some storms this week, and on Wednesday I also checked the fencelines and removed a few branches that had come down. I got all the way to the back of the pasture, and found this:



About an 80 foot long tree - luckily it was just one big long trunk, so no huge mass of branches to deal with. I went back to the house and got the chainsaw and a battery pack (it's an Earthwise electric chainsaw) to cut a two-foot section out right at the fence. Walked back and started cutting, but it's been awhile since I used the saw and I didn't realize the battery pack had lost some charge. It died partway through the first cut. Back to the house, put the other one on the charger and it soon showed a full charge, put the first one on and soon it did, too. Walk all the way back to the tree (did I mention it's about a thousand feet from the house? And uphill?). Start cutting, get nearly through the first cut and the tree starts to sag and binds the saw. Got it free, tried to brace underneath the trunk, but with the mud and not much clearance, it wasn't easy to lift it much. Not enough room to cut from below, either. Got nearly through the second cut and the saw again binds. Then the battery packs begin to die...

Walk back to the house for the sawzall and both of its battery packs, walk back to the tree and by now it's getting almost too dark to see what I'm doing. *Finally* cut through one all the way, then the other cut, and remove a section of trunk right at the fenceline. The fencing is Intellirope from Premier1, and this is not the first time I've had a tree down on it - it does stretch it, but so far it hasn't broken due to a tree. I like this fencewire. If this was board fence, I'd be replacing broken boards. I wrapped the rope around some insulators a couple times to take up the slack till I can get out and restretch it properly.

Of course, by then I'm really late feeding, and the sheep are hollering because they are all starving to death! Luckily I had thrown hay to everyone when I got home, but the sheep also get grain and boy did they let me know I was late!

It's been a rainy April so far, but the weekend is not looking too bad, so maybe some of the mud will dry up. I have Rose and Lukka's lambs penned for the night, for my first go at milking in the morning. I hope Rose remembers, but Lukka is still in training. WIsh me luck!

First milking of the year this morning! I wish I had taken the camera, I'll have to do that another day.

Both Rose and Lukka were hollering, and so were their lambs, as I went out to the barn as soon as it was light. I sure hope the neighbors don't get too annoyed... The lambs actually stopped calling and settled down till I was done, so maybe the moms will eventually, too, once they get used to the routine.

Brosa really wanted on the milkstand! I had to keep explaining to her that she didn't need milked. If she is pregnant, I shouldn't have much trouble milking her later this year.

I actually got Lukka into the milking area first, and she hopped right up onto the stand! That's the first time she's gotten all the way on the stand, so I decided to just make it a good experience for her, and I didn't tie or milk her. I brushed her a little, and clipped some wool from around her rear end and udder. She was a bit unsure about what I was doing, but stayed there till she'd eaten all the grain. If she continues to do well, it won't be long before I'll be able to start milking her.

Last was Rose, she got on the stand, but I'd forgotten the neckrope so I had to go get it. Rose didn't want to get on the stand again - she probably saw the neckrope and had bad memories of all the struggles we went through the first few days of her twins, and having to be tied and forced to let the secondborn nurse. I finally got her on the stand, and she behaved pretty well. I'm still trimming hair off her, too. Her udder looked really big and full! She moved her back feet a fair bit, but overall she wasn't that bad, and settled down and let me milk without too much fuss.

With Rose, last year when I milked her, especially the first few squirts, it seemed like her orifices were really small, and I had a hard time getting a good stream of milk going. Today, I was happy to see that the milk was coming out more easily right from the beginning (and I only missed the bucket a couple times lol). I didn't milk her out all the way, and I'm sure she was holding some back. And all her moving around got some hair and dirt in the milk, so I'll just save it for soapmaking. I came in and filtered it, and I got a cup and a half!! Anyone who remembers my milking adventures last year knows I started off measuring results in teaspoons... lol

I let everyone together and the lambs were happy to nurse. Hope tomorrow goes well, too!

Woo hoo! Making progress for sure!

frustratedearthmother said:

Woo hoo! Making progress for sure!

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Thanks! I was looking over my notes from last year, and the most I ever got was just over 10 ounces, and that was combined from two sheep, Rose and Brosa. Many times I got only 2 or 4 ounces. So 12 ounces from just Rose is great! I'm not going for major milk production, just enough for me to play with some cheeses and other recipes, and at this rate production should be just right for that.

You're milking sheep?? How does it taste? I heard from queen of sheep when she milked some of hers it was like 2% milk. Very cool.

CochinBrahmaLover:) said:

You're milking sheep?? How does it taste? I heard from queen of sheep when she milked some of hers it was like 2% milk. Very cool.

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Well, it tastes like milk I actually don't buy milk very often, but I'd say it tastes more like whole milk.

at least it doesn't taste like chicken

Another busy week. Some sad news, the last quail passed away last week. I will miss their little cricket chirps and their cuteness. Maybe someday I'll get quail again, or chickens... but not now. Just way too much going on, and I found out I'm not a big egg eater right now anyway. If I want backyard chicken eggs, there's a fair number of people in the area who have them for sale.

April showers have brought flowers - and yard work! I've already had to mow some places twice. My rhubarb is sprouting and it's really coming in well. And I have little asparagus shoots coming up! I splurged on a couple of peach trees at Tractor Supply. The Reliance is nice and healthy, but the Red Haven was a bare-root tree packed in wet sawdust, and it hasn't sprouted yet, so I'm keeping it watered and thinking good thoughts.

I scissor-sheared the wool off of Brosa. For the most part she behaved and loved it - I'm sure it was a relief to get all that wool off! Then Rose spent a couple days headbutting the 'new' sheep... lol. Gracie needs the rest of her wool cut off, too. The others are also shedding, but since Gracie wasn't sheared in the fall, her wool is much longer. I've also been trimming hooves. Always stuff to do...