I feel like I have had several grey foals born in the past several years. Looking down the barn aisles, I realized I have a lot of grey heads poking out of stalls. So I went and analyzed the frequency of they grey gene in my herd.
Let's see...
17 Mares in barn 1
32 Males in barn 2 (yikes! Go away colt fairy!!!!)
2 Horses in pasture 1
5 Retirees in pasture 5
In Barn 1: 7/17 mares are grey
7/34 alleles are grey (at the grey loci). All are heterozygous.
In Barn 2: 11/32 males are grey
15/64 alleles are grey. 4 are homozygous (3 studs, 1 gelding), the other 11 are heterozygous.
In Pasture 1: 2/2 are grey
2/4 alleles are grey. Both are heterozygous.
In Pasture 5: 1/5 are grey
1/10 alleles are grey. The horse is heterozygous.
So 21 of my 56 Morgans are grey! :O That is a phenotypic frequency of .374 and an allelic frequency of .209. I'm not a fan of greys either, but I don't select for or against the color. With three homozoygous stallions though, one of them being my favorite, the frequency of grey in my horses will only increase! I didn't include the grey local stock I use either. Ack.
They greys are so pretty though! :) I have a soft spot for them since they come in so many cool patterns.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a huge fan of them lol. I'd rather have roans. I love roans.
ReplyDeleteI like the greys, but I have 1 gelding that is homozygous. I gelded him to keep myself from getting more homozygous greys in that breed. I will pick two stallions to use with a mare and based on her color (grey, not grey) I will pick the opposite stallion if she's not grey I will use the grey stallion if either is grey and if she is grey I am more likely to use the non-grey stallion is one is.
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