Moorit in Sheep Breeds
We are over 20% of the way there! Thank you to all the backers so far, I appreciate your support! I also encourage those of you interested in this project to donate, every little bit helps!
Moorit has been present in sheep for hundreds of years. Moorit is an old Icelandic word that roughly translates as ‘as red as the moors’. The moorit mutation results in a sheep with brown fleece, skin, nose leather, hair, etc. There are many different shades of brown ranging from a light fawn to dark chocolate, all of which generally fall under a Moorit classification. These different Moorit shades are thought to be the result of various modifier genes. Because of these modifiers it can sometimes be very difficult for breeders to distinguish between a very light black and a very dark brown. We hope to find the mutations responsible for brown versus black, regardless of shade. Then breeders can use a DNA test, since the DNA of the animal won't change, to conclusively determine if their sheep is truly moorit.
While selection in most sheep breeds has been towards a pure white fleece, several breeds still have moorit as an option for fleece color. Some of these breeds are considered ‘primitive’ or ‘unimproved’ because they have not been under intense selection pressure for production traits. Some of these breeds include: Icelandic, Shetland, Castlemilk Moorit and these interesting looking ones called Manx Loaghtan native to the Isle of Man. There are some other breeds moorit is found in that we will be investigating such as the Finnsheep and Romeldale/CVM. Because moorit is a recessive trait it is possible for it to hide in breeds for a long period of time before being discovered. Many of these breeds sell fleeces prized by hand-spinners, both for their quality and rarity, because Moorit is a relatively rare color. I look forward to discovering with you if the mutation is the same across all these different breeds or different mutations arose after each breed was developed.
5 comments