Extension Dominant Ewes

A few years ago, I was part of a group of four Canadians who imported semen from the UK. The rams were stunning! They turned out to NOT be what they appeared due to Extension Dominance, but they were still stunning ... and better than what was available to me at the time. I still have 19 straws left to use.

Extension dominance masks all pattern in sheep so that the animal appears to be a solid colour. My favourite of the sires is Todhill Glayva. Glayva appears to be Aa/Aa ... but in reality is Ab/Ab (homozygous katmoget). That makes him pretty easy to deal with. It means that if I use those straws on ewes that are Aa/Aa, then every lamb that is katmoget ... will not have ED. Those that appear to be solid will have to be bred to double patterned rams and then all patterned lambs from them will be ED free.

Below is one of Glayva's ED daughters. She is Ab/Aa. Her britch is creeping up and she has more wispy-ness than I like ... but her numbers still allow me keep her for another year ... AFD - 23.4 ... SD - 6.4 ... CV - 27.1. Those numbers are for her fourth fleece. She is bred to Juliann's Greyson, who is At/Ag ... so only lambs with a pattern are free of ED.

This ewe is second generation Extention Dominant. Her granddam was Awt/Aa and her grandsire, Todhill Hornblower (who appeared to be Aa/Aa black) was Awt/Aa. This ewe's dam was either Awt/Aa, or Awt/Awt. This ewe's sire was Ab/At. The possibilities excite me ... Awt ... Ab ... At ... Ag. This ewe is also bred to Greyson so any lamb without pattern must be ED. Numbers from her second fleece are ... AFD - 26.5 ... SD - 5.0 ... CV - 18.9.

Would I have rather the rams that we imported were as they seemed and not ED? OF COURSE! Would I be import semen from another ED ram who met all of my other requirements? YOU BET I WOULD!

I LOVE my ED sheep and all that I have learned from them. And the Canadian registry doesn't seem to have a problem with them ... :-)

Life is good!