James, I read your posting to the list about a "polled" ram siring horned offspring. You indicated that you were culling the ram and it's offspring. Just curious, how did you determine that it was the ram that was carrying the horned trait? My 4 ewes (3 obviously? from horned background-heavy scurs) just produced 11 lambs (6 rams, 5 ewes) by a horned sire. Only 2 of the ram lambs are showing horns at 1 month of age. The others have twin cow-licks (but so do the ewe lambs) and at least one has hard spots. I'll be watching the development of the other 4 with interest. I'm curious if there are records of "polled" rams being produced from horned stock??
Also, even though this is only my second lamb crop, I now have 2 lambs (out of a total of 20 from the last two breedings) that have white feet (one has one white hind foot, the other has white on both hind feet). The sire and 2 mamas have white tipped tails but no other white. Go figure. I'm not sure which side of the family has a history of white feet. Ear size is another thing I'm mystified by. Last lambing the "little ear" lambs outnumbered the normal ear lambs. This recent crop I only have a few "little ear" lambs. It has been way too long since I attended genetics class. Any idea if horns, white feet and little ears are dominant or recessive traits. I guess by selecting for the traits I prefer and keeping good records.........time will tell. John Carlton Double J Farms [EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
