Colors

Purebred Icelandic sheep in Virginia’s heartland

The Two Basic Colors: Black and Moorit

Genetically, all Icelandic sheep are either black or moorit (brown). Even if other patterns (such as the genes for white, gray, or spotting) alter or cover up the base color, it is still there and the sheep can pass it on to her offspring.

Identifying Moorit:

Moorit lambs look almost black when they are born, but quickly lighten up to their true color. The three photos below show a moorit ewe lamb, immediately after birth, then at 17 days, then at 65 days. See how much her color changed?

A good way to tell for sure whether your newborn lamb is black or moorit is to look at the skin around its eyes. On a moorit lamb, that skin will be a rusty brownish color, while on a black lamb it will be pure black.

A black ewe and her fleece

A moorit ram and his fleece

Color Dominance:

Black is dominant over moorit, which means that if a sheep carries even one black gene, she will be black.

A sheep that is homozygous black (carries two genes for black) can only have black-based lambs.

A sheep that is heterozygous black (carries one black gene plus a hidden moorit gene) can pass either gene on to her offspring, meaning that it is possible for her to have either black or moorit-based lambs.

A sheep must have two moorit genes (one from each parent) to be moorit. This means if the sheep LOOKS moorit, you automatically know that she is homozygous for the moorit gene, and that is the only color gene she can pass to her lambs.

Main Color Genetics Page

The Two Basic Colors

The Six Patterns

Spots

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