breeding tests

When I sold small flocks to beginning shepherds, I explained that they would need to buy their first mioget sheep. The concept at that time in my understanding, was that you had to have one, to get one. At that time, I had not seen a "real" emsket sheep. I was still searching for a dark brown, and there had been no testing of mioget modifiers.

Blink forward....we have now had three breeders who I know have tested the genetics of mioget....and emsket. They all admit that the genetic modifier for making a mioget out of a moorit...is the same modifier that makes an emsket from a black. In fact, if you breed emskets to miogets....you will ONLY get emsket and mioget lambs.

Now these tests work better if you actually HAVE an emsket and a mioget who can breed together.

Right now, I don't....so I am depending on my friend's mioget breedings to supply me with my own test breedings.

It takes two modifiers to achieve the color emsket and the color mioget.

One passed from the dam...one from the sire. You can understand how unreliable the color testing can be if your sheep only have one modifier each.....argh! It could take a long time in number of lambing seasons....to get one of either color.

I know that some of my rams had or have a modifier. Unfortunately, I am missing a couple of those rams this year. So, I have been watching for a real mioget ram to appear in my own flock.

Thanks to my friend, I now seem to have one ram lamb who looks positive for two modifiers.

I know I have several ewes who have one modifier.....if they had more than one, I would only get emsket or mioget by breeding them to this ram....who by-the-way, was named soso. Well, he didn't impress me with anything special when he was born....So, my newest breeding ram is minwawe soso. he he heh

What can I do with one mioget? Well, I have several girls who are modified blacks....if I bred them to a two-modifier mioget, I might get a mioget if they carry brown...or an emsket...if they don't. Yes, I said might. If these girls only carry one modifier, they could throw the modifier or not....to their lambs. 50% doesn't happen in real life....sometimes the sheep is reluctant to show your their real genetics....and will breed 100% the other way, just to irritate you. Or in this case, to irritate me. I might say, I am torn right now. I still have breeding goals, and I still would like to have fewer sheep. Right now the goals seem to be winning out.....But I may decide later this fall that I don't want to work this hard....that I can't afford good hay for all these sheep....and that I need to cull, or otherwise remove these sheep from my flock.

We'll see.

I thought I would share the latest photos. The group of two girls and the lamb belonging to one of them....are from a mioget ram and two ewes who carried modifiers. They are imported to my flock. The ram, when I caught him yesterday has a color change to the skin, and will be a mioget. The single ewe lamb is looking much lighter right now, and her wool also appears to have a color change to mioget....well, I think so anyway.