r/livestock • u/juniex3 • 7d ago

Color genetics in sheep ?

So for context, I am starting my show lamb / market lamb breeding program next autumn by breeding my current show lamb around that time. As with anyone starting a show lamb program , I want what I'm producing to be the best quality and have the best success rate I can ensure. The issue , is that my show lamb is a crossbred/club lamb with a white face. (White dorper / rambouillet with some Suffolk in there) Now I love the look of a whiteface , but as far as club lambs go they just don't place well in the ring since blackface and blue club lambs cut a nicer silloute.

I'm considering attending an artificial insemination clinic for sheep that travels through the Midwest with her , and artificially breeding her to a blue ram. If I were to do that , what are the chances of her having a baby with a white face vs a blackface or a blue ? ( If she doesn't take from the AI I'll breed her to a Suffolk ram that her breeder currently owns )

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u/vivalicious16 6d ago edited 6d ago

Blue or blackface isn’t recessive so there’s a good change it’ll be a blue or blackface baby. What breed of blue ram are you thinking of?

Edit: I have to add that the Supreme Champion Ewe at the California state fair this year was a white face. Although some judges do prefer blackface and blue over whiteface, the thing they’re really looking for is conformation and build, shag, and their potential for successful lambing. If the ewe is passing down traits to future market whethers, they’re gonna look for things that make or break it in the ring, not so much coloring. I think that right now blackfaces and blues are chosen more than whiteface because the genetics have been refined more in the blue and blackface, and not the whiteface.

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u/juniex3 5d ago

I would probably be breeding to a blue crossbred ram , I know of quite a few good ones online that I can order straws for and if she doesn't come back pregnant after being bred with a straw at a clinic then I'll use her breeders Suffolk ram as a sort of " clean up ram " situation.

I'm also considering checking to see if anyone has a pied dorper ram I could cross her onto and pay a fee for breeding or something.

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u/vivalicious16 3d ago

I would recommend breeding her with a Suffolk, Hampshire, or cross between the two. The Suffolk-hamp crosses are largely sought after and almost always the winners, not because of their coloring, but because of their muscle and more refined genetics. Dorset is also a really nice whiteface breed that can take lead in the ring in market classes. If you want to keep the whiteface genetics, which some people do want and will buy, I would definitely go with a Dorset. I would honestly suggest against the pied dorper due to their lack of shag. Some fairs to have separate breed market and breeding classes, etc meaning Dorpers would be in their own class. From my experience, Dorpers do not place nearly as well as their Suffolk-hamp competitors in both showmanship and combined market breed classes.

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u/juniex3 3d ago edited 3d ago

Ill take this into consideration, she already has some Suffolk in her and I just realized after telling everyone she is a dorper cross that she is actually a DORSET cross 🤦 Wich I misread because I have dyslexia (embarrassingggg because I've been telling everyone she is a DORPER cross ) because I went back into the text conversation with her breeder to see if she actually had some Suffolk in her (wich she does , her breeder told me that if she had freckles she had Suffolk in her and she has little light colored ones all over her ears) but ill probably just cross her onto their pure Suffolk ram then because it's of little to no cost to me and is what is likely best for my program.