Mabel

My friend, Ann Salter, who owns a wonderful fibers arts studio on the Isle of Skye, the Dragonfly Studio, in Skinidin, across Loch Dunvegan from the town of Dunvegan, sent me this picture of one of her lambs born in 2015, Mabel. Ann was not familiar with the Navajo-Churro and looked them up after seeing Churro wool for sale on my Etsy site. She noticed a similar facial pattern of the Churro's face to that of Mabel's. We both started thinking about what relationship this might reveal. 

After reading about Shetland genetics and colored wool and rereading about Churro sheep in M.L. Ryder's, Sheep and Man, here are some connections: they are both primitive breeds, unimproved by not having been bred with Merinos. They are small, hardy, and efficient grazers. They are both multi-colored breeds. These are generally traits shared by primitive breeds. The Churro were chosen by the Spanish to be left around their North and South American colonies because of these traits. They were food and fiber survival kits for subsequent explorers. Not only are they a similar phenotype, similar in how they look to the observer, the expression of these color patterns are due to their genotype, the Agouti gene in particular. The Agouti gene determines where color will be expressed and in what symmetrical pattern. In this case it is the Ab allele of that gene that produces the Badgerface. A Badgerface coloration pattern is the reverse of the natural wild coloration, which is light underneath and dark on the top of the body. 

Please be kind, I'm not a geneticist, if I've made a mistake in my explanation I'd appreciate input. 

I have been studying characteristics of the fleeces of primitive breed sheep for texture and finess as it influences how to spin it into yarn. This is my first foray into genetics and color patterns.