Frequency of color genes in Faeroe Islands sheep.

A color classification was made of 679 sheep, comprising 355 ewes and 324 lambs in two Faeroese flocks. The colors observed were: white without tan (124); white with tan (121); black mouflon (2); gray (134); gray-brown (5); black (251); and brown (42). Among the 434 nonwhite sheep, 210 had white markings. The color alleles found at three loci were as follows. The A locus: Awh(0.20), producing white or tan; Ag(0.14), producing gray; and a (0.66), resulting in self color when homozygous. The B locus: B (0.67), producing black pigment, and b (0.33), producing brown pigment. The S-locus: S (0.30), resulting in solid color, and s (0.70), resulting in spotted color in nonwhite sheep and absence of tan color in white sheep. A significant difference between generations with respect to frequency of colors was found, the lambs showing a significant deficiency of white and gray and a corresponding excess of black and brown. The gene frequency estimates are compared with estimates available for Soay, Corsican, Shetland, Orkney, and Icelandic sheep.