Farmville Sheep Breeding: How to Breed a Masked Sheep

If you have already read my article, How to Breed a Flashing Sheep, you are well on your way to breeding you first Masked sheep.  Since both the Flashing sheep and the Masked sheep are coded the same as sheep colors, they follow a lot of the same rules.  However, some differences exist, so I have provided a summary of the rules that you will need to follow for the best and fastest results when breeding Masked sheep.  The concepts that you need to remember when breeding are gender, color, design, and sequence selection. 

1.     Obtaining a Lamb: Since the origins of the first Masked sheep are still unknown to me and to anyone I’ve ever asked, I cannot tell you how to produce a Masked sheep from scratch.  So the first step to breeding a Masked sheep is to ask one of your Farmville neighbors to send you a Masked lamb. 

2.     Gender Selection:  Before asking a friend for a lamb, you should be aware of the sheep gender differences.  If you want to breed a particular design, it is best to ask your neighbor to send you a boy lamb since the design gene is strongest in the Ram.  However, if you want to breed a particular color, you should ask for a girl lamb with the desired base color.  Since the Mask feature in sheep is coded similar to a color, it is best to ask for a girl lamb.  It is not impossible to get the mask from breeding a Masked Ram, but it is considerably more difficult.

3.     Color: Once you have your first Masked sheep, you are ready to breed it.  If you have an Ewe, you should have no problem breeding Masked sheep.  However, if you do run into difficulty, make sure the Ram you are using has a lighter color.  Since lighter colors are less dominant, you will have better chances of the Masked color being selected in the resulting lamb.  Another note on color is that you will know that you have a masked lamb by the albino or extremely bright appearance of the lamb.  If that sounds confusing now, you will recognize the difference between a regular lamb and a masked lamb when you see one.

4.     Design: When breeding your Masked sheep, always be aware that the design will most likely be the design of the Ram.  So if you have a Masked Ewe and a Camo Ram, it is likely you will get a Camo Masked sheep.  The design does not make a lot of difference when breeding Masked sheep.  However, if you run into any difficulty in breeding, you will have better chances if you use a Ram with the same design of the Masked Ewe and vice versa.  You will also have better chances using no design when coupling with the Masked sheep.  This just simplifies things since different designs are more likely to create mutations or exceptions to the general rules.

5.     Sequence Selection: Finally, one of the most important aspects in breeding a Masked Sheep is the sequence selection when breeding.  If you have a Masked Ewe and a non Masked Ram, you should select the Ewe first and then the Ram.  Selecting the Ewe first favors the Ewe’s color as well as the Ewe’s gender.  This will give you better chances of getting a Masked color in the lamb.  However, if you have a Mask Ram and a non-mask Ewe, breeding may be more difficult, but not impossible.  Be sure to select the Ram first in this instance, which will give preference to the Ram’s color and gender.  If you get another Mask Ram, do not worry; just keep selecting the Ram first until you get a Masked Ewe.

Tips for Breeding a Masked Ram
If you were fortunate enough to get a Masked sheep from one of your friends but you got a Ram instead of an Ewe, you can still get the Masked feature but you will have to work harder to do so.  The first thing you should try is to couple the Masked Ram with an Ewe with light colors or with a white Ewe.  Second, you should select the Ram first.  If you get a non-Masked Ram from this, keep trying but with another sheep.  Once you get a non-Masked Ewe, place that new Ewe in with your Masked Ram.  This may sound like incest, but for the purpose of Farmville sheep breeding, it works nicely since it compounds the DNA and also forces a mutation.  You will be more likely to get another Masked sheep from doing this, and hopefully it will be an Ewe.  Once you get your Masked Ewe, use this instead of the Ram.  Only use the Ram if you want to couple it with a Masked Ewe and have better chances of getting a Masked lamb.

Once you have a good base of Masked sheep, you can start having fun with breeding all of the different possibilities.  Since the Masked feature acts in the same way as a base color, you can make many combinations of designs and base colors to create the most interesting and neat looking sheep.  Remember also that Zynga changes how things work from time to time, so feel free to post a comment if you discover any variations or changes to these rules.

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Farmville Sheep Breeding: How to Get Rare Designs and Colors

 The rules in this article no longer apply.  For the new sheep breeding patterns, refer to New Farmville Sheep Breeding Patterns  - added May/2011.

I know I’m not the only one who has been beating their head against the wall, breeding sheep one after another in attempt to produce one of the rare types of sheep designs.  No matter what I try, I fail to discover the key to breeding a Star Sheep, a Belted Sheep, a Camo Sheep, a Masked Sheep or a Flashing Sheep without one of these sheep already being on my farm.  After trying so many combinations, I finally started to ask around for answers.  To my relief, the answer I found from everyone I asked was that they got their rare sheep designs from one of their Farmville friends.  So I stopped trying to reinvent the wheel and asked my neighbors to send me a lamb so I could start breeding these beauties as well.

Though, sharing lambs may seem easy, you can only adopt one lamb per day, so you want to assure that you are sharing the lamb, which has the design or color your neighbor is looking for.  Likewise, knowing what to ask for, will assure your neighbor gives you the type of lamb, which gives you what you are looking for.  In order to breed and share the rare designs and colors, take note of the breeding rules below.

Lamb Request Rules

1.     If you are asking your neighbor for a particular design, be sure to ask for a Ram.  Though it is possible to try and try and finally get a particular design from an Ewe, you will waste love potion, bottles and your time doing this.  Ask for a Ram with the particular design since the Ram determines the design.

2.     If you are requesting a particular color or special feature, be sure to ask your neighbor for an Ewe with that base color or feature since the base color comes from the Ewe whereas the secondary color comes from the Ram.  The base color in a camo design, is the inner color.  In a star or Polka dot sheep, the base color is the body and not the star or Polka dot color.  One way to know that you have the correct base color is that the lamb color will correspond to the base color of the Ewe.  Be aware also, that the flashing, masked, and split color features are coded like colors.  So if you want to capture those and be able to breed these features easily, ask your neighbor for a flashing, masked, or split color Ewe.
BASE COLOR - GREEN/ SECONDARY-BLACK
BASE COLOR-BLACK/ SECONDARY-RED

So remember:
Ram=Design, secondary color
Ewe=Base color, special features
Breading New Designs

Once you receive a Ram with the rare design, you will want to breed it and create other sheep with that design.  One good practice when doing this is to name sheep by the description of parents.  For Example: Black with Purple Polka dot Ram + Green Ewe could be BlkPrpPokaRam+GrEwe.  By naming your sheep you don’t have to worry about forgetting what combinations you have already tried.  You can also check your sheep names to identify which sheep have particular DNA that may not be visible.

So if your friend sends you a Ram, match it with any Ewe but preferably a plain color at first.  The resulting sheep should be the design of the Ram.  If you don’t get the design on the first try, select the Ewe first when breeding and then the select the Ram.
If you friend sends you an Ewe, try breeding the Ewe with different designs and colors in attempt to force a mutation.  You can also try selecting the Ram first and then the Ewe when breeding.  The best thing will always be to get the Ram instead of an Ewe since the Ram carries the dominant gene for sheep design.

Breeding New Color
After receiving an Ewe with the base color you are looking for, breed this Ewe with a Ram and the resulting sheep will have the Ram’s design and the Ewe’s base color.  For best results pick the Ewe before the Ram when breeding.
If you receive a Ram with the new base color, getting that color to appear in a sheep will be a matter of luck.  Try combing it with other rare colors and designs to fish for a mutation.  Try selecting the Ram first each time since this will have a better chance of favoring the Ram color.  I have had the best luck with breeding the Ram with its offspring of the same design which compounds the DNA.  If you do this, be sure also to select the Ram before the Ewe when breeding.  None of these methods guarantee that you will capture the color, so the best thing is to get the Ewe.

Successful Lamb Sharing
Now that you have the rare sheep design or colors, you can share these designs and colors with your friends.  Though this may seem simple, you want to assure you are sharing the right lamb.

Sharing Designs
If you want to share a design, Breed your Ram with the desired design with an Ewe with the same design.  This will assure that there is not chance of a mutation.  You can be 100% sure that your friend will receive the right sheep design.

Sharing Color
Sharing a color is a lot easier since the base color will be reflected in the lamb color.  If your friend wants the bright green color, your lamb will be green.  You will figure out the corresponding colors when breeding your own sheep.  For best results, breed the Ewe with the desired base color with a simple color of Ram.  The colors in the Ram should not be other rare colors, which will compete with the Ewe’s color.  Once you get the correct color of girl lamb, you know that it is safe to share.
Note: With respect to special features, the lamb will often look distinctly different.  The flashing color will have a rust or autumn color of lamb, the mask color will have an albino or extremely bright color of lamb, the electric will have the base color plus a faint outline, and the split color lamb will be a split color sheep.  Here are some examples of what they may look like.

Flashing Sheep Lamb Masked Sheep Lamb

Electric Sheep Lamb Split Color Sheep Lamb

Though there are always exceptions to rules and as well as the chance that Zynga may change things, these are presently the best rules to follow in order to get the right type of rare design or color you want and to share the right type as well. 

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Farmville Sheep Breeding Patterns

The rules in this article no longer apply.  For the new sheep breeding patterns, refer to New Farmville Sheep Breeding Patterns  - added May/2011.
 
As Farmville’s sheep breeding is still in its infancy, it is not surprising that there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how it works.  Some of the most common questions are how to get different sheep designs, how to determine new sheep colors, and how to get new lamb colors.  Though I am unaware of the origins of sheep designs such as Stars, Belted, and Camo, these designs can generally be obtained by asking your neighbors for a ram with this design.  However, with respect to color, I have been able to identify patterns in how the different sheep designs interact with each other while breeding.  I have also discovered which colors will result after coupling different designs of sheep.  Here is a breakdown of these patterns:

Design and Color Basics
The design is determined by the design of the Ram
The base color is determined by the base color of the Ewe
The second and third color is determined by the second and third color of the Ram
Lamb color corresponds to the base color of the Ewe and will be the base color of the resulting Sheep.
Example1: Ewe base color =red/Lamb = red/Resulting Sheep base color=red
Here you see a reddish color lamb (will make a flashing sheep)
This is the reddish sheep (flashing). Notice the base color is red like the lamb.

Example Key
1.     = base color
2.     = secondary color
3.     = third color

Example2: 1-White 2-Green Camo Ram + 1-Red 2-Purple Camo Ewe = Red lamb = 1-Red 2-Green Camo Sheep

Note: The ram’s secondary color is Green so green becomes the secondary color of the resulting sheep.
Example3: (Polka dot color is secondary) 1-White 2-Purple Polka dot Ram+ 1-Black 2-Green Ewe = black lamb = 1-Black 2-Purple Polka dot Sheep

Note: Notice the Polka dot design is selected since the Ram is a Polka dot design.  This is the most frequent result when selecting the Ewe first in breeding; however, it is possible to get the design of the Ewe if try several times using and select the Ram first when breeding.

Creating a Mutation in Base or Lamb Color
You can produce a new lamb color by matching two different designs of multi-color sheep, which are very different colors from each other.  Often a new color of lamb will appear from such a union.  This is not an exact science since you do not know what the new base color will be until you see the lamb color.
Though there are likely plenty of other rules that apply to sheep breeding, these are some that you can start using right away in order to make your desired colors of sheep.
Note: The tests used for discovering these patterns were done by selecting the Ewe for breeding first and then the Ram.  Selecting the Ram first may switch up the color and pattern rules at times. Furthermore, be aware that there will always be exceptions that are not listed here and Zynga will often changes how things work.

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