I only know a little about Shetland color genetics.
In Shetlands, you have the base color genes, Black (BB - dominate) and Brown (Bb), and then you have the Agouti or pattern genes, Katmoget (Ab), Gulmoget (At), White (Awt - covers all the other patterns and base colors), Solid or no pattern (Aa), and Greying (Ag). There are also a few other genes that modify the base color or make spots. Spots are recessive so the sheep has to carry two sets of the gene in order to show spotting.
This one of my lambs from this spring.
Eden is brown based spotted gulmoget, but we also know that, because of her parents coloring, she either carries the greying gene (Ag) or solid (Aa). Her dad is At/Ag and her mom is Aa/Ag.
Here she is a few weeks ago at 6 months old.
Note how her spots are gone? This means that she carries the greying gene. We now know her genotype is Ag/At, Bb/Bb, (spotting) Ss/Ss, (modifying) M?/M?
How this might help you......
Well I don't know anything about the color genetics behind other breeds, they are probably similar. They will have their base color - black or brown - and they will probably have the Aa - solid (no pattern) gene, the Ag - greying gene and SS/Ss - spots and they most definitely have white.
All your sheep have a base color of black or brown, but they also have the white (Awt) gene, but they could also be spotted and you don't know it because the spots are covered by the Awt.
Parent #1 could be BB/B?, Awt/Aa, Ss/Ss - Black base, white and solid pattern, with spots. Shows up as a white sheep.
Parent #2 could be BB/B?, Awt/Aa SS/Ss - Black base, white and solid pattern, carries spots. Shows up as a white sheep.
Baby is BB/B?, Aa/Aa, Ss/Ss - Black base, solid pattern (no white gene!), with spots. Shows up as a black sheep with white spots or patches.
Hope this makes sense!
What do y'all think??
