Encyclopedia
The
domestic sheep , the most common species of the
sheep genus , is a woolly
ruminant quadruped which probably descends from the wild
mouflon of south-central and south-west
Asia. Sheep breeders refer to female sheep as
ewes, intact males as
rams,
castrated males as
wethers, yearlings as
hoggets, and younger sheep as
lambs. In sheep husbandry, a group of sheep is called a
flock or
mob. See other specialised vocabulary below.
Etymology
Modern English "
sheep" comes from
Old English "
sceap", ultimately from Common West Germanic "
*skępan", and within the Indo-European languages, unique to West Germanic languages. North and East
Germanic languages use word with a different root, and most
Indo-European languages use a term related to "
ewe" for "
sheep".
Cultural significance
Sheep have had associations with many cultures, especially in the
Mediterranean area and Britain, where they form the most common type of
livestock in pastoralism. Selective breeding of sheep has frequently occurred and in
Egyptian Mythology the ram was the symbol of
Heryshaf.
A wide symbology relates to sheep in ancient art, traditions and culture.
Judaism uses many sheep references including the
Passover lamb.
Christianity uses sheep-related images, such as: Christ as the good shepherd, or as the sacrificed Lamb of God ; the
bishop's
Pastoral; the lion lying down with the lamb. Greek Easter celebrations traditionally feature a meal of Paschal lamb. Sheep also have considerable importance in Arab culture, with Eid ul-Adha being a major festival in
Islam when a sheep is sacrificed yearly.
Herding sheep plays an important historico-symbolic part in the
Jewish and
Christian faiths, since
Abraham,
Jacob,
Moses, and
King David all worked as
shepherds.
The ram is the first sign of the Western
zodiac, in which it is known as
Aries. The sheep also forms one of the animals associated with the 12-year cycle of in the Chinese zodiac, related to the Chinese calendar. Chinese tradition associates each animal with certain personality traits. See: Sheep .
The raising of sheep for wool and meat became a major industry in colonial
Australia and
New Zealand and remains significant. As a result, sheep and
sheep shearing have become an important part of the folklore and cultural tradition of these two countries. In New Zealand, sheep outnumber the human population 12 to 1.
Sheep are often associated with obedience due to the widespread perception that they lack intelligence and their undoubted herd mentality, hence the pejorative connotation of the adjective 'ovine'. In
George Orwell's satirical novel
Animal Farm is a satirical [i] novella [i] by George Orwell [i], ostensibly a ...
, sheep are used to represent the ignorant and uneducated masses of revolutionary
Russia. The sheep are unable to be taught the subtleties of revolutionary ideology and can only be taught repetitive slogans such as "Four legs good, two legs bad" which they bleat in unison at rallies. The rock group
Pink Floyd wrote a song using
sheep as a symbol for ordinary people, that is, everyone who isn't a pig or dog. People who accept overbearing governments have been pejoratively referred to as "sheeple."
Breeds
There are many
breeds of sheep, but these are generally sub-classable as
wool class, hair class and sheep meat breeds.
Farmers develop wool breeds for superior wool quantity and quality , wool staple length and degree of crimp in the fiber. Major wool breeds include
Merino, Rambouillet,
Romney and Lincoln. Drysdale is a sheep bred specifically for
carpet wool.
Breeds of meat sheep include
Suffolk,
Hampshire,
Dorset, Columbia, and
Texel.
Breeders of dual-purpose wool class sheep concentrate on fast growth, multiple births, ease of lambing and hardiness. An easy-care sheep is the
Coopworth that has long wool and good lamb meat production qualities. Another dual-use breed is the Corriedale. Sometimes sheep are used for both purposes equally and cross-breeding is practiced to maximise both outputs. For example,
Merino ewes providing wool may be crossed with
Suffolk rams to produce lambs which are robust and suitable for the meat market.
The Finnish Landrace sheep has a reputation for multiple births.
Hair class sheep are the original class of sheep in the world, developed for meat and leather. They are prolific and highly resistant to disease and parasites. Dorpers and Kahtahdins are composite breeds of wool and hair crosses with different degrees of wool/hair mixes within the hair class. True hair sheep such as
St. Croix,
Barbados Blackbelly,
Mouflon, Santa Inez and Royal White shed their protective down fiber to an all hair coat in the Spring/Summer. Hair class sheep are becoming more popular for their no-shear aspects.
Economic importance
Raising sheep occupied many farmers in ancient economies, given that this animal can give
milk ,
wool, sheepskin and
meat. In the 21st century, sheep retain considerable importance in the economies of several countries. After
China, the largest producers of sheep are in the southern hemisphere:
Australia,
New Zealand and the
Patagonian regions of
Argentina,
Uruguay and
Chile.
Other countries may produce a very small proportion of the world market, but sheep nonetheless play an important role in their economy. In some places, like
Sardinia, sheep-breeding has become the principal and characteristic activity.
In the UK, the importance of the wool trade was so significant that in the upper chamber of parliament , the
Lord Chancellor sits on a bench known as the
Woolsack. This is, as its name suggests, a sack of wool and confers the importance of the wool trade to the English economy at the time of its installation many centuries ago.
The economic importance of sheep in much of the
United States has declined as it has become, in some cases, economically unviable to ranch sheep for wool.
Texas has by far the most sheep of any state , but now has only about one-tenth of the almost 11 million sheep it had in the 1940s.
Even in the 21st century, in some situations, sheep can provide a return on investment of up to 400% of their cost annually . Sheep breeding has played a role in several historic conflicts, such as the Scottish Highland Clearances, the American range wars, and the English "enclosing of the commons".
Domestication
Domestic sheep are descended from the
mouflon that is found from the mountains of
Turkey to southern
Iran. Evidence for domestication dates to
9000 BCE in
Iraq. It has been found by
DNA analysis to be one of two ancestors of domestic sheep. Although the second ancestor has not been identified, both the urial and argali have been ruled out. The urial is found from northeastern Iran to northwestern India. It has a higher number of
chromosomes than domestic sheep which makes it an unlikely ancestor of the latter, but it interbreeds with the mouflon. The argali sheep of inner Asia has 56 chromosomes and the Siberian snow sheep has 52 chromosomes.
Evidence of early domesticated sheep have been found in PPNB
Jericho and Zawi Chemi Shanidar. The fleece-bearing sheep are only found since the
Bronze Age. Primitive breeds, like the Scottish
Soay sheep have to be plucked , instead of sheared, as the kemps are still longer than the soft fleece, or the fleece must be collected from the field after it falls out. The European mouflon found on
Corsica and
Sardinia as well as the Cretan and the extinct Cypriot wild sheep are possibly descended from early domestic sheep that turned feral.
Cuisine
Chefs and diners commonly know sheep
meat prepared for food as
lamb or
mutton .
Ewes' milk is used in the production of
cheese and
yogurt in many upland parts of the world. Well known sheepmilk cheeses include the Roquefort of France, the brocciu of
Corsica, the
pecorino of
Italy and the
feta cheese of
Greece. Sheepmilk contains no
lactose, and thus does not trigger
lactose intolerance in humans.
Sheep
testicles, sometimes euphemistically called prairie oysters, are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world.
Behaviour
Some breeds of sheep exhibit a strong flocking behaviour. This was used as an example to Israelites in the Christian bible to instruct them to obey their
shepherd, or
master. Flocking behaviour is advantageous to non-predatory animals; the strongest animals fight their way to the center of the flock which offers them great protection from predators. It can be disadvantageous when food sources are limited and sheep are almost as prone to overgrazing a pasture as goats. In
Iceland, where sheep have no natural predators, and grasses grow slowly, none of the various breeds of sheep exhibit a strong flocking behaviour.
Sheep flocking behaviour is so prevalent in some
English breeds that special names apply to the different roles sheep play in a flock. One calls a sheep that roams furthest away from the others an
outlier, a term originally used to refer to someone who lives far from where they work. This sheep ventures further away from the safety of the flock to graze, due to a larger flight zone or a weakness that prevents it from obtaining enough
forage when with the flock. Another sheep, the bellwether, leads the others. Traditionally this was a castrated ram with a
bell hung off a string around its neck. The tendency to act as an outlier, bellwether or to fight for the middle of the flock stays with sheep throughout their adulthood; that is unless they have a scary experience which causes them to increase their flight zone.
Homosexual behaviour in male sheep is associated with variations in cerebral mass distribution and chemical activity. A study reported in
Endocrinology concluded that biological factors are in play; this study replicated similar findings in humans. It shows that approximately 10% of males exhibit male sexual preference, and that the brains of these males are different.
According to a spokesperson of the British National Sheep Association, "Sheep are quite intelligent creatures and have more brainpower than people are willing to give them credit for." For example, sheep in
Yorkshire,
England found a way to get over
cattle grids by rolling on their backs. A study published in
National Geographic showed a sheep can remember the faces of fifty other sheep for over two years.
Sheep can become hefted to one particular pasture so they do not roam far from home. Since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the
United Kingdom, transplanted sheep have had to be trained to stay in their grazing area.
Glossary
This is a glossary of terms that relate to
sheep and
domestic sheep. Note that some terms have localised meanings which may be used only in one geographical region, or may mean slightly different things in different areas.
- Chevon — goat meat. A term used mainly in Eastern countries.
- Cryptorchid — a male sheep that has its testes pushed into its kidney cavity to have infertility but with increased production of lean meat due to testosterone.
- Ewe — a female sheep, capable of producing lambs.
- Hoggett — a sheep which by virtue of its age and development is no longer a lamb, but not yet mutton. esp. in relation to meat breeds.
- Lamb — a young sheep, generally unweaned. In many Eastern countries, there is a less strict definition of lamb which may include older hoggetts. Also used to refer specifically to the meat of such a sheep.
- Mutton — an older female sheep to be used for meat. Also used to refer specifically to the meat
The terms
lamb,
hoggett or
mutton are used to describe the meat of a domestic sheep [i]...
of such a sheep. May refer to
goat meat in eastern countries. Derived from the French word
Mouton .
- Ram — a male sheep.
- Old-season lamb — a lamb a year old or more.
- Ovine — member of the genus Ovis.
- Slink — a very young lamb.
- Sucker — an unweaned lamb.
- Teg — a sheep in its second year.
- Wether — a castrated male sheep.
See also
References
External links
-
-
- A Glossary of sheep terms
Further reading
- Juliet Clutton-Brock. A natural history of domesticated animals .
- Journal of Heredity. 1998 Mar-Apr;89:113-20. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that domestic sheep are derived from two different ancestral maternal sources: no evidence for contributions from urial and argali sheep. Hiendleder S, Mainz K, Plante Y, Lewalski H.
