Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Earlier this month, Pa-paw sent a picture of the newest lambs!  Doug and I noticed something strange right away...
The ewe had a set of twins, a girl and boy, but one is black in color!  We raise Dorsets, which is an all-white breed.  After a little research, and talking with a few different sheep breeders, we now know we have a "Natural Colored" Dorset.

Dallas and Reba were able to see the little guy when they spent the weekend with Pa-paw and Ma-maw.  Daddy already asked if we could call "dibs" on showing him this next summer.

Until next time...

2 comments:

Carla said...

So, what does it mean to have a "natural colored" dorset if they are supposed to be white?

Rajean B. said...

That's a good question, and unfortunately, I don't know the best way to answer that. When showing sheep, there is a class for Natural Colored - black fleeced sheep. Any breed can produce a black skinned, black fleeced lamb. It is a recessive gene that makes an appearance every now and then.