In the spring of 2009 we had our first Chestnut Oberhasli. Void of any black markings, we immediately posted our pics of this beautiful goat and were encouraged to get in touch with Dr. Phil Sponenberg DVM PhD at Virginia Tech University. Dr. Sponenberg is a renowned color geneticist and very well published.
Dr. Sponenberg was very intrigued as he had suspected that this was a genetic possibility in the Oberhasli but figured it just had not been made public. He asked if we wanted to participate in a study that was happening in Italy on animals with the Agouti gene and we agreed. That study never resulted in any conclusions but he has taken time to publish an article on Chessie in Dairy Goat Journal with his thoughts about that.
Currently a project to research is a possibility at UC Davis.
We have had a handful of other Chestnut animals over the years and most recently were working with Sir Echo Britsa and Sir Echo Subret 90 VEEE. Subret’s dam and sire were two of our very best and she herself was 8th place RG at the 2019 Nationals! We have been encouraged by Dr. Phil Sponenberg from Virginia State University to continue breeding the chestnuts to contribute to the analysis of the DNA showing this to be a genetic phenomenon. Our good friend Margaret Chamas has taken on the continued breeding development of these Chestnuts at this time.
Owned by Lindsey Cobb, In Theory Farm, North Carolina
We are thrilled to have distributed our breeding pairs to other interested breeders in the US. So far in 2023 there have not been any born here. The efforts to eventually have scientific evidence via molecular level DNA to confirm the natural variation in Oberhasli to produce these colored animals are appreciated!
Please check back often for updates on our Chestnut project and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.