Genetics Can be a Funny Thing

Earlier today, Aunt Lisa sent a text message to us with a picture of what she found in the barn...

It's another Natural Colored ram lamb! 

But wait!  Here is his twin sister...

Yep, she is all white; just like the set we had last year.  Here is where the story becomes interesting...it is NOT the same set of parents as last year's set, but there is relation.  The ewe that lambed the Natural Colored last year (Crackerjack), is the mother of the ewe that lambed this year's set.  The rams (fathers) of these Natural Colors are NOT the same.

The Natural Colored gene is a recessive gene; therefore both the mother and father must be carriers of the recessive gene to produce a Natural Colored lamb.  If you think back to basic biology and Punnett squares, you might be able to understand it all...maybe.

In this example, the upper case W is the dominate gene for white lambs, and the lower case w is the recessive gene for non-white (black) lambs.  There is a 75% chance that this set of parents will have produce a white lamb, and a 25% chance they will have a black lamb.  Also, you will notice that there is a chance that their lamb would not be a carrier of the recessive gene (WW), and there is a chance that the white lamb would be a carrier of the recessive gene (Ww).

Now, if you are really into biology, and are curious what could happen if we used one of these Natural Colored Rams...I made some Punnett Squares to demonstrate what could happen.

Should the ewe not be a carrier of the recessive gene (WW), you would get a white lamb, and it would be a carrier of the recessive gene.  If the ewe was a carrier of the recessive gene (Ww), then you would have a 50% chance of getting a white lamb, and a 50% of getting another Natural Colored.

Until next time...