[kanisha]

Fleecewife wrote "whereas this chap has Suffolk and Norfolk horn markings"

In the shetland these are called grey

grey mouflon is the same markings as described for the soay but a much paler hue there is less contrast between the light and dark pattern.  As a single gene pattern this is rare but its perfectly possible to have a sheep that has both mouflon ( gulmoget) and grey patterns the end result is rather similar to a grey mouflon but  derived from  different  genes

[woollyval]

Fascinating!!!!

Mallows....is he/she reg Shetland or could there be a xbred in the mix? I know from owning some many years ago that pedigree shetlands have paper pedigrees with several generations on them?

[Fleecewife]

Hi Kanisha
 
My point was that he doesn't have mouflon type markings, where jaykay had suggested he is 'grey mouflon moorit'.
 
I like to imagine the Shetland Islanders getting together on those long winter evenings and thinking up every different colour variation they have ever seen then giving each one a name - just to confuse non-Shetlanders  .  They probably just call them 'white', 'dark' and 'patterned' when no-one else is around     

[jaykay]

Moorit katmoget would be 1. Katmoget and 2. Brown. And would have brown legs.

Grey moufflon is its own single gene and is dominant to the gulmoget pattern. It's expressed at the Agouti locus (set 1 in my first answer to Mallows) and it's possible, though rare, to have both 1. grey moufflon and 2. brown genes, which is what I'm suggesting the lamb has.

A normal grey gulmoget would have 1. gulmoget and 2. black

Here's a grey moufflon moorit, though not a Shetland

They probably just call them 'white', 'dark' and 'patterned' when no-one else is around

[YorkshireLass]

Apparently "splodgy" is not approved terminology either 

[jaykay]

Lol, you've never seen so many complicated names for all the different varieties of 'splodgy' 

Mallows lamb may not be grey moufflon moorit. It's just my best guess for the black legs and pale moorit body. Happy to hear other suggestions?

[Mallows Flock]

Christ..... I think I have just entered the wrong lamb into the show!!!!!!! LOL

[bigchicken]

Its grey

[jaykay]

Well, that would make sense, since the tup was grey.

They do say grey is the most variable colour.

[Mallows Flock]

This is the dam's pedigree (for the lamb with black legs and head)
http://www.ppdb.org.uk/sss/sheep/pedigree?id=camaron
The Sire is currently being registered by the previous owner so I don't have his full pedigree yet but I can post his parent's pedigree!

[Mallows Flock]

This is my sire's dad's pedigree
http://www.ppdb.org.uk/sss/sheep/pedigree?id=hillend+xavier
this is my sire's mother's pedigree
http://www.ppdb.org.uk/sss/sheep/pedigree?id=apshill+bella

[jaykay]

Ok, no grey moufflon there so that was wrong.

There is a bit of moorit way back. But the interesting thing is that there is just that one emsket animal, mostly they are blacks (grey katmogets are genetically black katmogets) so how come the lamb is grey?

[Mallows Flock]

LOL... you have me on that one...but seeing as I have NO understanding of this genetic malarky you could tell me it was sky-blue-pink and I would believe you 
So, we are saying she is a 'grey'. I have to admit, earlier on in the year she literally looked grey underneath and reddish brown on top her fleece.

[jaykay]

Sounds like it.

Have you got a photo of her dad?

[kanisha]

Hi Ok you are so going to wish you never asked

there is another explanation which involves another gene
to use Jaykays parlance another set.

this one is still under investigation but alot of the work has been done on north american shetlands and it looks as if there is also a  possible dilution gene in sheep.
they go through a stage where they look like this. see photos below... however I would stress this is only one possible explanation for the colouration you describe...