SHEEP
AgScience I
Miss Whitford
Cheviot
• Origin: Scotland
• Characteristics:
– White faced sheep with
bare heads and legs
– easy lambers
– good milkers
– polled
– small in size
Columbia
• Origin: Wyoming (U.S.)
• Characteristics:
– Lincoln ram x
Rambouillet ewe cross
– known for size and wool
producing ability
– white faced
– polled
– has wool on the legs
Corriedale
• Origin: New Zealand
• Characteristics:
– White face with wool
on face and legs
– Medium sized
– Good mothers
– Polled
– Yield heavy, medium
wool fleeces
Dorset
• Origin: England
• Characteristics:
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White face
Horned or polled
3rd most popular breed
Heavy milkers
Produce more than one
lamb crop a year
– Heavy muscled
carcasses
• Origin: Finland
• Characteristics:
Finnsheep
– White and free of wool
on the head
– Breeds year round
– Produce many
offspring (2-4 lambs
each lambing)
– Reaches sexual
maturity early
– Medium grade, good
wool
Hampshire
• Origin: England
• Characteristics:
– Large, moderately
prolific breeds
– Wool caps
– Black face and legs
– Very good milking
ability and growth
– 2nd most popular breed
– Hard to lamb
Rambouillet
• Origin: France
• Characteristics:
– Large breed
– White faced with wool
on the head and legs
– Polled or horned
– Fine wool
– Good mothers
Shropshire
• Origin: England
• Characteristics:
– Dark face, ears, and
legs
– White on the jaw line
and top of head
– Wool on head and face
– Prolific, matures early
– Heavily muscled
– Medium sized breed
Southdown
• Origin: England
• Characteristics:
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Oldest English breed
Small size
Meaty carcass
Polled
white to light brown
face
– Wool on the legs
– Medium wool
Suffolk
• Origin: England
• Characteristics:
– Most popular breed
– White body with solid
black head and legs
– High carcass quality
– Rapid lamb growth
– Medium wool breed
Sheep Breed- Review
Cheviot
Sheep Breed- Review
Columbia
Sheep Breed- Review
Corriedale
Sheep Breed- Review
Dorset
Sheep Breed- Review
Finnsheep
Sheep Breed- Review
Hampshire
Sheep Breed- Review
Rambouillet
Sheep Breed- Review
Shropshire
Sheep Breed- Review
Southdown
Sheep Breed- Review
Suffolk
Sheep Breeds Quiz
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Sheep Breeds Quiz
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Sheep Breeds Quiz
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Sheep Breeds Quiz- Answers
1. Finnsheep
3. Cheviot
2. Southdown
4. Dorset
Sheep Breeds Quiz- Answers
5. Suffolk
7. Hampshire
6. Shropshire
8. Rambouillet
Sheep Breeds Quiz- Answers
9. Corriedale
10. Columbia
Sheep Terms
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Genus: Ovis
Breeding age male: Ram
Breeding age female: Ewe
Young male: Ram lamb
Young female: Ewe lamb
Newborn: Lamb
Sheep Terms continued
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Group: Flock
Giving birth: Lambing
Prolific: producing large # of offspring
Lamb meat: under 1 year of age
Mutton meat: over one year of age
Docking: cutting off all or part of the tail
– Keeps manure from soiling the wool
• Wether: castrated male sheep
Sheep Facts
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7.8 million sheep in the U.S.
Top 5 sheep and wool production states:
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Texas
California
Wyoming
South Dakota
Colorado
Sheer sheep in the spring
Sheep have 8 teeth
Ideal market lamb is 110-130 lbs
Typical Operations Outside Ohio:
• Western Sheep:
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Largest number of sheep
Land is cheaper – range land
Fewer problems with parasites
White faced breeds are a major influence
(Rambouillet, Columbia)
A Western Operation:
Sheep Mountain Ranch in
Laramie, Wyoming
Typical Operations Outside Ohio:
• Eastern Sheep:
– More farms, but most with fewer than 100 head
– Greater interest in purebreds
– Greater concentration
• More sheep per acre, more parasites, more disease
Typical Operations in Ohio:
• Small family farms
• Purebreds
• Club lambs
Ohio Sheep:
• Ohio is the number one sheep producing
state East of the Mississippi River!
• Number one purebred state in the U.S.
• 12th in overall sheep production
• 260,000 head and 3,600 operations
Australia
• Number one sheep producing country in the world
• Primarily white faced breeds (merino, rambouillet)
• 80 percent of sheep raised for wool
– One wether equals one pound of wool per acre
per year
New Zealand
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Wool Focus- 45 million sheep and 5 million people
Management intensive grazing
Research- cloning/biotechnology
Islands- no major diseases or predators
Control border closely
Breeding
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Gestation Period: 148 days
Breeding season- August - fall
Estrous cycle- every 16 days for 30 hrs.
Use a marking harness on the males to tell
which females have been bred.
• Shear ewes at least 1 month before lambing.
• Dock the lambs tail at 7-10 days
Predators
• Coyotes and wolves
• Dogs (Your family pet!)
• Black Vultures are a rising threat
Predator Control
• Guard dogs (Great Pyrenees)
• Guard llamas, donkeys
• High tensile electric fence
Products:
Meat
Treasure Valley Sheep Producers
Traits of Importance:
Wool
• Wool is less important than it used to be, due to
decreased value
• Staple length
• Grease fleece weight
• Crimp
• Wool fiber diameter
Products:
Wool
Traits of Importance:
Dairy
• Sheep milk is lower in lactose, making it
more palatable for individuals with lactose
intolerance
• Higher protein content
• Products: cheese, yogurt, fluid milk
Products:
Dairy
Products:
By-Products
• Lanolin Products (such as lotions)
• Cosmetics
• Surgical Sutures
Nutrition:
Sources of Feed
• Grow your own:
– Grains (Corn)
– Forages (Pasture, hay)
• Purchase from a feed store
• Purchase from area farmers
Nutrition: Prepared
• Grain additives – Add molasses for palatability,
decreases dust. Add minerals for improved
nutrition content. Add a BOSE (vitamin E and
selenium) loose salt in Ohio. Ohio soils are
selenium deficient.
• Hay – Purchase from an area farmer, feed store or
grow your own.
• Mineral Blocks – Use only molasses mineral
blocks or loose mineral. Sheep chew hard salt
blocks and break their teeth. Do not use blocks
made for cattle – there is too much copper
Sheep Parts
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Muzzle
Face
forehead
poll
Neck
Top of shoulder
Back or rack
Loin
Hip
Rump
Dock
Middle
Twist
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25.
Leg
Hock
Pastern
Hoof
Rear flank
Belly
For flank
Cannon
Knee
Forearm
Breast or brisket
Shoulder
Wholesale cuts of Lamb
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Loin
Leg
Foreshank and breast
Rib
Shoulder
Sheep Feet and Leg Structure
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Side View Front Legs
Correct
Calf-kneed
Weak pasterns
Buck kneed
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Side View Rear Legs
Correct
Sickle-hocked
Post-legged
Sheep Feet and Leg Structure
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Front View
Correct
Splay-footed
Pigeon-Toed
Knock-Kneed
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Rear View
Correct
Bowlegged
Cow-hocked
Sheep Breeds Quiz
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Sheep Breeds Quiz
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Sheep Breeds Quiz
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