Thursday, May 14, 2009

Gulmoget genotypes, phenotypes and side dusting

We got three black-factored gulmoget ewe lambs this year. And yes I can tell them all apart! Each has a slightly different coloration. Left to right in the photo above you see Hannah's ewe lamb with the mid-side lightening (genotype is At/Aa BB/Bb M?/M?), followed by Cordelia's ewe lamb who is At/Ag BB/Bb, and Hattie's lamb in back, she's At/Aa BB/B? M?/M?.

Below is another shot of Hattie's lamb. Hattie is a good solid black at three years old, she's an F2 Holly. She carries modified genetics and gave me a gorgeous shaela ram lamb last year when bred to a mioget.
And here is Cordelia's Ag gulmoget lamb...she's got longer fleece and you can see the lightening underneath already.
I was hoping to get a solid-sided gulmoget like last year's River Oaks Lana (At/Aa BB/B?). At least she WAS solid-sided until shearing this spring. This is what we discovered at shearing...
Sorry she was in the rise, so she looks kind of scraggly in this photo. She didn't breed as a ewe lamb, darn!

Okay, now I'm going to felt that wedding gift! I'm all done with my census job and feel like I have my life back again. Just in time to get the garden in and enjoy what's left of spring. :-)

8 comments:

  1. Hi Becky,

    I got my first solid sided gul this year, out of a frosted sided gul. Sire is a moorit.
    All the rest of my guls have always have the side frosting. Weird!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous lambies! :) I'm thinking a few of my babes' are solid sided, but time will tell :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We have tried every combination to get the solid side and haven't found the genetic trick yet but it is lovely to finally come into. I'm sure we will figure it out in time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My black gulmoget ram lamb is black as black can be all over his body, but when I part his side fleece, I see "black frost" coming in. It will be interesting to see what he looks like after his first shearing. I think I am going to LOVE the cool color variations in the gulmoget fleeces!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, the genetics behind the solid sided gulmoget is indeed a mystery. I was thinking it may have to do with BB/Bb vs. BB/BB when I saw the immediate mid-side lightening on Hannah's BB/Bb lamb. I'm not sure if my two BB/B? gulmogets are homozygous black, but they are solid as lambs and it wasn't until shearing that we saw the small light spots on Lana. It's interesting to investigate though!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Becky, if you go to the Boulderneigh post I just put up, you will see my black gulmoget (he's BB/Bb).

    ReplyDelete

Getting ready for Christmas Markets!

  I'll be doing two Christmas markets this year. The first one is at Sapsucker Farms in Brook Park, MN Nov. 18-19th. And the second one ...