TinysMom
Well-Known Member
First of all - I currently have five flemish in my herd. My goal is to work with light grey - with perhaps some white and some black. I know it is possible I might wind up with steel - not sure I understand how that works.
The herd - Nyx is black and her pedigree shows black in the information I have. She's a nice rich black color too.
Sophia is light grey and in he rpedigree going back three generations she only has light grey and white - and I do think sometimes she carries white because sometimes I think I see a pink cast to her eye (hard to explain - but I feel she might be a white carrier since her grand dam was white). She is a beautiful light grey color.
Athena has a steel grey grand dam and some steel greys on her sires side back three generations - but the majority of her pedigree is light grey. Even her breeder said that she was a bit darker than he liked for light grey but she had several strengths as far as body type, etc.
Mercury is light grey and he has white and light grey in his pedigree. I do also suspect him of being a white carrier. He is a repeat breeding of an earlier litter and his older brother has been winning at shows and is just an awesome looking buck. At first he looked so-so but over the past week or so he's really started developing and I'm VERY pleased with his body shape AND color.
Hermes is white. His sire was steel and his dam was light grey. His sire's line is all steel and his dam's line is all light grey. The breeder didn't have his pedigree handy at the time - he was thinking that he carried black - turns out it was steel.
Now when I breed - I will be breeding by more than just color as I will be considering temperament and body type and stuff. But I really could use some advice as I understand nothing about the steel gene.
My plans were to breed Athena (the darker grey doe) to Hermes to lighten up the color plus he has strengths that she didn't have. I was going to breed Sophia - the light grey doe - to Mercury - the light grey buck because they both have very good type and compliment each other well.
I was originally going to breed Nyx (black) to Hermes (white) because I thought he carried black...now I'm leaning towards breeding her to Mercury because both have very nice bodies.
As far as colors go - is there any combination that will minimize steel? Also - I want to keep my blacks nice and black....
Help?
The herd - Nyx is black and her pedigree shows black in the information I have. She's a nice rich black color too.
Sophia is light grey and in he rpedigree going back three generations she only has light grey and white - and I do think sometimes she carries white because sometimes I think I see a pink cast to her eye (hard to explain - but I feel she might be a white carrier since her grand dam was white). She is a beautiful light grey color.
Athena has a steel grey grand dam and some steel greys on her sires side back three generations - but the majority of her pedigree is light grey. Even her breeder said that she was a bit darker than he liked for light grey but she had several strengths as far as body type, etc.
Mercury is light grey and he has white and light grey in his pedigree. I do also suspect him of being a white carrier. He is a repeat breeding of an earlier litter and his older brother has been winning at shows and is just an awesome looking buck. At first he looked so-so but over the past week or so he's really started developing and I'm VERY pleased with his body shape AND color.
Hermes is white. His sire was steel and his dam was light grey. His sire's line is all steel and his dam's line is all light grey. The breeder didn't have his pedigree handy at the time - he was thinking that he carried black - turns out it was steel.
Now when I breed - I will be breeding by more than just color as I will be considering temperament and body type and stuff. But I really could use some advice as I understand nothing about the steel gene.
My plans were to breed Athena (the darker grey doe) to Hermes to lighten up the color plus he has strengths that she didn't have. I was going to breed Sophia - the light grey doe - to Mercury - the light grey buck because they both have very good type and compliment each other well.
I was originally going to breed Nyx (black) to Hermes (white) because I thought he carried black...now I'm leaning towards breeding her to Mercury because both have very nice bodies.
As far as colors go - is there any combination that will minimize steel? Also - I want to keep my blacks nice and black....
Help?
(and yes, I am pouting that I have to wait that long, but it is for the better!).
