What color?

It would seem an easy task, to look down and say, "What color are these lambs?" Most would say, "Brown." and be done with it. But Shetlands are a breed apart, and so we have eleven colors, and to make it even more interesting we have some 30 different markings (all with Gaelic/Norse names). Now last year, we had Blackjack (a.k.a. Jack) who popped out looking black, and in the light of day worked out to be dark, rich brown. Moorit, as we call it. But these two have only the dark brown hair on their heads in common; on both the fleece is lighter, and on the ram lamb it is lighter than his sister. Oh yeah, Shetlands fade, too. So the birth color is often not the adult color. And the adult color can fade as they age, and change with hormones/seasons. Look at Hattie - she was a black lamb, and has faded with age (being a ripe, old 6 these days) and her fleece has enough black fibers to make the end result a nice silver when spun, but at a glance one would call her "white". And the light coloring around her eyes and muzzle will be gone in a few weeks. Apparently the stress of motherhood turns her almost katmoget...that's one of the marking categories. (*sigh*) Harder than it looks doesn't even begin to cover it...