[Scotsdumpy]

One of the interesting things about keeping coloured shetlands is that you never know what colour you'll get (or at least I don't...)

This is Pinkies baby - a four year old ewe, with this years colour permutation!!

[SallyintNorth]

Oh, gorgeous!   

Where's jaykay?  I bet she's got all the genetics mapped out...

[lachlanandmarcus]

Was it a moorit tup cos my wee Tiramisu is very similar colouring out of a white ewe as well. Lovely!!

[Bramblecot]

Lovely .  Quite a few of mine seem to pop out that colour combination, even if their twin is white. 
First time using our ram this year ( woolyval) and we have a real mixture of colours - white, white/caramel, black, black with white patches and various katmoget? shades.  Bundles of fun .  Just so hard to choose who can stay and who has to go

[Scotsdumpy]

we're getting a lot of boys this year so the 'going' is made easier, but I see the lovely fleeces and I'm imagining how they look spun...

[Scotsdumpy]

the tup this year is a strange coloured chap (home bred) - possibly related to the ladies you bought a while ago, so possibly there is some link to yours?
here he is

[Fleecewife]

Currently on the Shetland forum they are discussing what to register the various colour combinations as.  It seems to be beyond complicated and they can't agree amongst themselves.  I think I'm glad that this year my ewes are white and ran with a white tup.  Shouldn't get any surprises 

[Dogwalker]

That's something I want to learn about.
Is there anyway of predicting the possibilities or is it down to chance.
I'd like to get some shetlands and have lots of different colours for spinning.

[Fowlman]

That's the beauty of keeping shetlands not knowing what colours you're going to get.

[Fleecewife]

That's something I want to learn about.
Is there anyway of predicting the possibilities or is it down to chance.
I'd like to get some shetlands and have lots of different colours for spinning.
[/quote
 
 

It's less chance, more ancestry and genetics, but you need to know the colours of every ancestor stretching back forever, then it's an educated guess as to which combination a particular lamb will inherit.  They are talking of putting some better explanations on the Shetland website to help inexperienced owners with identifying colours.  Apparently the colours given on the registration info are not exhaustive.
 
I can understand simple heredity, and a bit of Agouti, spotting gene, modifiers and so on, but beyond that it gets just too complicated.   I can't help but wonder too if the birth colour doesn't change after the first shearing, so you've registered your moggetfaced, krunet, sokket, blue lamb, only to find that it's blotchy grey next year 

[Brucklay]

Love that Fleecewife - doing just that right now - black ewe lambed 2 black lambs oh no she didn't 1 is black and 1 is Grey, the Katmogets are worse, lots of Greys I think but their body fleece colour varies from off white to rust - hence 1 is named Rusty Bum!!

[Anke]

Currently on the Shetland forum they are discussing what to register the various colour combinations as.  It seems to be beyond complicated and they can't agree amongst themselves.  I think I'm glad that this year my ewes are white and ran with a white tup.  Shouldn't get any surprises 

You never know until you check their pedigrees ... a couple of years I had some unexplained katmoget markings, not very strong, but definitely there... turns out the ewes grandsire was katmoget... and her son had markings, ewe lamb was proper white...

[bigchicken]

Yes no doubt they can change colour as they grow older. I once bought a gimmer who was discribed as fawn katmogget in her pedigree, she was just fawn and showed no katmogget but in her older years she is showing the katmogget markings all be it wishy washy and not very distinct. Also I have had krunet lambs that loose the white as they grow older. Much more interesting than most one coloured breeds in my eyes.