[Jacob-list] Genetics and Tail Lengths

[Hettick, Heather]

Laura,

I cross with an Icelandic ram and always get nice short tails.  Maybe not as short as Icelandics and a bit woolier but short, no more than a couple inches at birth and maybe 5 or 6 inches as adults.  I don't have any that are less than half Icelandic and I've crossed to pure Jacobs, Jacob/Tunis crosses, a Lincoln/BFL and two ¾ Texels - one who is part Finn and the other is part Dorper.  All the lambs have shorter tails and I didn't have to dock anyone this year!  I like a long dock so it looks like a short tail.  I have one undocked Tunis/Jacob and I really don't her tail, plus she hasn't lambed in two years and is on the cull list for that reason.  We have three ewes docked to nothing and I don't like that much either, although they have not had problems because of it.  I'm pretty sure my 2012 lambs are all double coated too, except for maybe one of the twins with dorper in him.  I have seen occasional single coated crosses to Jacobs though.

Maybe you get the long tail because you are breeding back to a Jacob?  Does the ¾ Icelandic ewe have a short tail?


Heather Hettick
Moonstruck Farm
Creston, OH
www.moonstruckfarm.wordpress.com<http://www.moonstruckfarm.wordpress.com>

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