CapriCoCo
Chillin' with the herd
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Painted desert sheep are a breed of hair sheep known to come in a variety of colors and patterns- and often times people will tell you that predicting what you will get from a pairing is near impossible, and after studying different pairings, and what resulted, I’ll be documenting my theories here.
Part 1: genetically distinct colors
cinnamon: brown with a red tint
chocolate: a deep brown; can be almost black
black: just black; Sun bleaching can cause lighter colors temporarily
white: just white; ticking and roaning can can cause permanent dark colors
sable: brown with gray peppered in, dark faces and extremities
red sable: regular sable toned red
fawn: most browns fall under this category; not as dark as chocolate but more saturated than pastel
pastel: desaturated colors; extremities, eyepatches, and ears will be lighter than the rest of the body; very characteristic of ’wild’ sheep crosses
Cinnamon genetics: when a sheep inherits one cinnamon gene they will come out cinnamon, however when they inherit two cinnamon genes, they will come out chocolate. This gene bases off of pre-existing brown colors, and hyperpigments the red, so when it is inherits this gene twice the offspring will deepen to a brown due to such a high presence of red pigment. When applied to sable, creates red sable. Ex: cinnamon x cinnamon = chocolate, cinnamon x fawn = 50% cinnamon 50% fawn, chocolate x fawn = 100% cinnamon, cinnamon x chocolate = 50% cinnamon 50% chocolate, cinnamon x sable = red sable, and red sable x sable = 50% red sable 50% sable
Part 2: genetically distinct patterns
Black belly: as the name implies, a sheep with a black belly, along with black legs, and a partially black neck and face; dominant.
Mouflon ‘saddle patch’: rams with close mouflon relations may get a patch of white of their back called a saddle with age
black dorsal stripe: a black stripe running along the neck of the sheep; origin is unknown, seems to be dominant. I believe it is a modified version of the black belly gene; sheep can only have one or the other at a time; dominant.
Doberman: a reverse black belly; having one gene (carrier) will not express this trait, two carriers must be bred together in order to get a sheep with two copies who will express the gene. Some theorize it’s related to swallowbelly.
Swallow belly: similar to black belly, however instead of black it’s cream. Correlated to mouflon. Sheep can have both swallow belly and black belly.
Part 3: ticking, roaning, and frosting
Ticking: the appearance of small dots on a sheep over time; highly sought after.speed can vary, with some lambs exhibiting ticking immediately and some only being present later in life. Seems to either be dominated or semi-accumulative, at the moment I’m not sure. Dots will always be the same color as the base color of the sheep.
Roaning: the appearance of colors over time, usually on the back of the neck.
Frosting: the appearance of white over time.
These are my personal theories and observations thus far, I will probably add more at a later date.
Part 1: genetically distinct colors
cinnamon: brown with a red tint
chocolate: a deep brown; can be almost black
black: just black; Sun bleaching can cause lighter colors temporarily
white: just white; ticking and roaning can can cause permanent dark colors
sable: brown with gray peppered in, dark faces and extremities
red sable: regular sable toned red
fawn: most browns fall under this category; not as dark as chocolate but more saturated than pastel
pastel: desaturated colors; extremities, eyepatches, and ears will be lighter than the rest of the body; very characteristic of ’wild’ sheep crosses
Cinnamon genetics: when a sheep inherits one cinnamon gene they will come out cinnamon, however when they inherit two cinnamon genes, they will come out chocolate. This gene bases off of pre-existing brown colors, and hyperpigments the red, so when it is inherits this gene twice the offspring will deepen to a brown due to such a high presence of red pigment. When applied to sable, creates red sable. Ex: cinnamon x cinnamon = chocolate, cinnamon x fawn = 50% cinnamon 50% fawn, chocolate x fawn = 100% cinnamon, cinnamon x chocolate = 50% cinnamon 50% chocolate, cinnamon x sable = red sable, and red sable x sable = 50% red sable 50% sable
Part 2: genetically distinct patterns
Black belly: as the name implies, a sheep with a black belly, along with black legs, and a partially black neck and face; dominant.
Mouflon ‘saddle patch’: rams with close mouflon relations may get a patch of white of their back called a saddle with age
black dorsal stripe: a black stripe running along the neck of the sheep; origin is unknown, seems to be dominant. I believe it is a modified version of the black belly gene; sheep can only have one or the other at a time; dominant.
Doberman: a reverse black belly; having one gene (carrier) will not express this trait, two carriers must be bred together in order to get a sheep with two copies who will express the gene. Some theorize it’s related to swallowbelly.
Swallow belly: similar to black belly, however instead of black it’s cream. Correlated to mouflon. Sheep can have both swallow belly and black belly.
Part 3: ticking, roaning, and frosting
Ticking: the appearance of small dots on a sheep over time; highly sought after.speed can vary, with some lambs exhibiting ticking immediately and some only being present later in life. Seems to either be dominated or semi-accumulative, at the moment I’m not sure. Dots will always be the same color as the base color of the sheep.
Roaning: the appearance of colors over time, usually on the back of the neck.
Frosting: the appearance of white over time.
These are my personal theories and observations thus far, I will probably add more at a later date.
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