Mysterious tiny horns on left twin. Hmmm.
Bluebell and her handsome lads cooling off by the shabby chic shed. I did not say shabby sheep shed! 
Our Appy, Bell, and her Quarter friend, Tess, in front of ur neighbor's scenic old farmstead.
Mama Hen hatching out a few more (seven!) chicks.
Hi all,
I told you that horses and poultry would appear here at times!
I was off at 4H kids' camp being a chaperone (Wheeee! 140 kids!) and now I'm back (Wheee!) to my farm and animals. Some of you wrote while I was gone, admiring Starbright's Funny Baby--thank you! I'll find her (and her moorit brother) constellation names soon, promise.
This week, we have new chicks, hatched by Mama Hen, fifty big, fat 7-week-old chicks we bought to raise for dinner and 10 golden chicks we also bought, for egg layers. All of these need me right now more than even the sheep and horses do. But EVERYONE and the little red oak trees need a lot of water in this heat, so that's what I took care of when I came home. And now it's raining! (Yay!)
Now, you sheep detectives, tell me about these ram-boys. They are gray boys, out of my favorite, adorable, big white ewe with the (I swear) double-thick coat of wool, Highland Hollows Bluebell. She is QQ (not scrapie resistant) so I crossed her with my black blettet (bleset?) RR (resistant) ram, Little Red Oak Frazier. So, I want to keep one of these QR boys as a flock sire-- I want that double thick gene in more of my sheep. And I have a favorite, the cutie with a whiter nose and "points"-- but are his horns scurs? I'm putting pictures here. YOU be the judge-- though I think you may tell me it's just too soon to know. Oh, and if both sets of horns turn out fine, you, too, may own a Bluebell son, if you want one. Dibs on little horn guy. . .
I told you that horses and poultry would appear here at times!
I was off at 4H kids' camp being a chaperone (Wheeee! 140 kids!) and now I'm back (Wheee!) to my farm and animals. Some of you wrote while I was gone, admiring Starbright's Funny Baby--thank you! I'll find her (and her moorit brother) constellation names soon, promise.
This week, we have new chicks, hatched by Mama Hen, fifty big, fat 7-week-old chicks we bought to raise for dinner and 10 golden chicks we also bought, for egg layers. All of these need me right now more than even the sheep and horses do. But EVERYONE and the little red oak trees need a lot of water in this heat, so that's what I took care of when I came home. And now it's raining! (Yay!)
Now, you sheep detectives, tell me about these ram-boys. They are gray boys, out of my favorite, adorable, big white ewe with the (I swear) double-thick coat of wool, Highland Hollows Bluebell. She is QQ (not scrapie resistant) so I crossed her with my black blettet (bleset?) RR (resistant) ram, Little Red Oak Frazier. So, I want to keep one of these QR boys as a flock sire-- I want that double thick gene in more of my sheep. And I have a favorite, the cutie with a whiter nose and "points"-- but are his horns scurs? I'm putting pictures here. YOU be the judge-- though I think you may tell me it's just too soon to know. Oh, and if both sets of horns turn out fine, you, too, may own a Bluebell son, if you want one. Dibs on little horn guy. . .
6 comments:
I would say the tiny horn guy has scurs. How big they grow may take quite awhile to know, but as long as they stay clear, go ahead and use him if you like him! He will pass on a polled gene to some of his offspring, if he is indeed scurred.
Wow, how fun is this! I see a smiling picture of Michelle, along with her sage words of wisdom!
Thanks for your advice, Michelle. Just like the modified gene, I hadn't meant to learn anything about polled genes, but if I have to, I will!
Hi Gail,
He certainly looks scurred to me. They will probably be snail scurs or larger.
Bluebell has known poll carriers in her maternal pedigree, Z6399, Z4092 behind Dailley Jay. Might be where it is coming from, although I need the registered names of Frazier's sire and dame to exclude him. I didn't see him in the database...
Juliann
Interesting how different the polled gene is in sheep than in goats. In goats, a polled goat only gets these little rounded bumps on top of its head where the horns would have grown.
This is great, Gail! So fun to catch up with you this way. Nice horse picture--ahhh. Life in the country.
Hi Deborah,
Horn genetics operate very differently in sheep and goats. The HO locus is even on a different chromosome for both breeds. :)
Post a Comment