Colours ... and the Joy They Bring!

While you are all busy checking out Lisa's Website and trying to determine the amount that you might be able to donate to this worthwhile cause ... we'll look at pictures that show some of the colours in my flock. I am sure not a colour genetics expert, but I am having fun playing with the genetics of colour ... :-)WillowGarden Pippin is either fawn or mioget. At the moment her modified colour looks more taupe than golden, so, at the moment, I'd call her fawn. Her colour is a whole colour, as there are no white fibres to get this colour. She is out of Great Plains Tulip (fawn with Ag) and WillowGarden Duke Ellington (emsket smirslet). Her fleece looks as though it will be as wonderful as her dams!
This is just a close up of WillowGarden Matisia, a mioget yuglet socket gulmoget ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Carmen McCrae and WillowGarden Duke Ellington. Her colour is quite light, but definitely the golden mioget tones. She is a third generation mioget ewe and her lightness supports my theory that the modifier, like the spotting gene, compounds as modified sheep are bred to modified sheep.
Dailley Ray Charles came from the Dailley flock on my last visit there. He is spectacular ... good size, square and solid, wide horns, and a superb fleece. This Fall, I am hoping to put him on most of my modified sheep.
We must be close to half way through the pictures for today. I'm hoping that you won't be too tired when you are done here to check out Lisa's Website and to consider making a donation ... I feel like a PBS fund-raiser ... hehehe
WillowGarden Gala is an emsket krunet ewe lamb out of Great Plains Kilda and Duke Ellington. Looks like she will have a soft and crimpy fleece like her dams.
WillowGarden Kohlrobi is an interesting emsket krunet gulmoget ewe lamb. She is out of WillowGarden Queen Latifah, a mioget smirslet sokket gulmoget ewe, and Duke Ellington.
WillowGarden Fuji is a grey twin to Gala. She is quite light at the base, but I am going to keep her and see if there is more to her than just being Ag. She sure has an interesting tint to her fleece!
WillowGarden Butterfly McQueen, a mioget ewe, with her white, but also mioget (hidden by white) son out of Whistle Stop Lerwick, WillowGarden Hubbard.
WillowGarden Chickory, a lighter mioget ewe lamb, and her musket sister, WillowGarden Cress ... are out of Dailley Dinah Shore, a mioget ewe purchased last December as a bred ewe. Although Cress is definitely musket (Ag), she is also is Mm/Mm as well.
Juneal Shock is a ewe that I always thought was dark brown ... until she was sheared this year as a four year old ... and she is now emsket. Go figure, eh?! The two colours must be part of a continuum. So much for me yet to learn!
SheltrgPines Hebe, an emsket ewe with a BAD hair cut, is with her emsket krunet daughter, WillowGarden Luffa. Luffa has a huge 'spot' that is not white, and thus not a spot. Some folks refer to this as 'moon spotting' ... but that does nothing to explain the phenomonon. I choose to call it 'incomplete expression of pattern' and use that same 'explanation' to rationalize white sheep with small coloured spots. I'm going to chat with Dr. Sponenburg about it at the AGM.
I LOVE this little guy, WillowGarden Purslane. He is an emsket krunet ram with wonderful fleece, presence, and conformation. His dam, WillowGarden Joni Mitchell is dark brown. His sire is Duke Ellington.
I couldn't NOT post another picture of WillowGarden Papaya, a mioget ewe lamb out of WillowGarden Grace Kelly (mioget yuglet flecket sokket) and Valley Road Spencer ( a VERY fine, even and crimpy black ram). I love this lamb!
This is Dailley Iris', a mioget ewe with AWESOME fleece and conformation (my favourite ewe) and her emsket krunet ewe lamb, WillowGarden Ambrosia.
This is WillowGarden Joni Mitchell, a ewe that I consider to be dark brown. Interestingly, I am thinking that 'dark brown' is actually a black based colour. This is the colour that Shock WAS ... up until she was sheared as a four year old. Joni's emsket ram lamb, WillowGarden Purslane, was pictured earlier.
This little one, WillowGarden Bonnie Best, is a moorit ewe lamb, out of WillowGarden Little Eva and Whistle Stop Lerwick. She is about as perfect as a lamb can get ... and her colour is nice and rich!
And finally ... we reach the end ... hehehe. This is WillowGarden Buttercup, a mioget ewe lamb out of Bono Creek Cleome (mioget) and WillowGarden Cliff Carlisle (mioget gulmoget).

I hope that some of you still have enough energy left to check out Lisa's Website ... ;-)