Glossary of sheep husbandry

Last updated

A trio of lambs Laemmer1.JPG
A trio of lambs

The raising of domestic sheep has occurred in nearly every inhabited part of the earth, and the variations in cultures and languages which have kept sheep has produced a vast lexicon of unique terminology used to describe sheep husbandry.

Contents

Terms

Below are a few of the more common terms.

A–C

D–F

G–K

L–N

Poddy lambs (orphaned lambs) drinking milk on a sheep station in rural Australia Poddy-lambs-at-a-sheep-station.JPG
Poddy lambs (orphaned lambs) drinking milk on a sheep station in rural Australia

O–R

S

Rollover sheep handler for crutching, foot inspection and paring, general husbandry, udder inspection etc. Sheep handler.JPG
Rollover sheep handler for crutching, foot inspection and paring, general husbandry, udder inspection etc.

T–Z

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wool</span> Textile fiber from the hair of sheep or other mammals

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal wool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merino</span> Breed of sheep

The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed were not allowed, and those who tried risked capital punishment. During the eighteenth century, flocks were sent to the courts of a number of European countries, including France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Prussia, Saxony and Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herdwick</span> Breed of sheep

The Herdwick is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Lake District in North West England. The name "Herdwick" is derived from the Old Norse herdvyck, meaning sheep pasture. Though low in lambing capacity and perceived wool quality when compared to more common commercial breeds, Herdwicks are prized for their robust health, their ability to live solely on forage, and their tendency to be territorial and not to stray over the difficult upland terrain of the Lake District. It is considered that up to 99% of all Herdwick sheep are commercially farmed in the central and western Lake District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheep farming</span> Animal husbandry

Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat, milk, and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin and parchment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manx Loaghtan</span> Breed of sheep

The Manx Loaghtan is a rare breed of sheep native to the Isle of Man. It is sometimes spelled as Loaghtyn or Loghtan. The sheep have dark brown wool and usually four or occasionally six horns.

A sheep shearer is a worker who uses (hand-powered)-blade or machine shears to remove wool from domestic sheep during crutching or shearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheep shearing</span> Process by which wool on a sheep is cut off

Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a shearer. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year. The annual shearing most often occurs in a shearing shed, a facility especially designed to process often hundreds and sometimes more than 3,000 sheep per day. A working group of shearers and accompanying wool workers is known as a shearing gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crutching</span> Sheep husbandry practice

Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep for hygiene purposes. It can also refer to removing wool from the heads of sheep. It does not refer to the process of mulesing—a controversial procedure that involves removing of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep.

<i>Ovis</i> Genus of mammals

Ovis is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wild mouflon of central and southwest Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border Leicester</span> Breed of sheep

The Border Leicester is a British breed of sheep. It is a polled, long-wool sheep and is considered a dual-purpose breed as it is reared both for meat and for wool. It is known for its distinctive upright ears. The sheep are large but docile. They have been exported to other sheep-producing regions, including Australia and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob sheep</span> British breed of domestic sheep

The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origin of the breed is not known; broken-coloured polycerate sheep were present in England by the middle of the seventeenth century, and were widespread a century later. A breed society was formed in 1969, and a flock book was published from 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romney sheep</span> Sheep breed

The Romney, formerly called the Romney Marsh sheep but generally referred to by the local farmers as the Kent, is a breed of sheep originating in England. The Romney is a "long-wool" breed recognized in England by 1800. Exported to other continents, the Romney is an economically important sheep breed, especially to the sheep-meat and wool export trades of New Zealand.

The Finnish Landrace, Finn or Finnsheep is a breed of domestic sheep native to Finland. It is one of several Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds, but is notable for its high incidence of multiple births – it is common for a ewe to have three, four, or even five lambs at once.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poll Merino</span> Breed of sheep

The Poll Merino is a subtype of the Australian Merino breed of domestic sheep, without horns, that was developed in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rambouillet sheep</span> Breed of sheep

The Rambouillet is a breed of sheep. It is also known as the Rambouillet Merino or the French Merino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic sheep reproduction</span>

"Domestic" sheep reproduce like any other animal, with a reproductive process similar to other domestic herd animals. A flock of sheep is mated by a single ram, which has either been chosen by a farmer or has established dominance through physical contests with other rams. Sheep have a breeding season (tupping) in the autumn, though some can breed year-round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheep</span> Domesticated ruminant bred for meat, wool, and milk

Sheep or domestic sheep are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.

The British Milksheep is a robust, dual-purpose sheep commonly known for its milking characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltipoll</span> Breed of sheep

The Wiltipoll is a breed of polled domestic sheep that was developed in Australia from Wiltshire Horn sheep with the infusion of Border Leicester, Perendale, Poll Dorset, and Poll Merino genetics, that are raised for meat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faroe sheep</span> Breed of sheep

The Faroese sheep is a breed of sheep native to the Faroe Islands.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wilkes, G. A., A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, Sydney University Press, N.S.W., 1978, ISBN   0-424-00034-2
  2. Article about use of boluses for electronic marking
  3. MLA, Feedback, September, 2009
  4. Kiwi words and phrases (accessed March 2008) Archived 2010-02-09 at the Wayback Machine )
  5. Shepherd Amanda Owen in Our Yorkshire Farm.
  6. "Chambers – Search Chambers".
  7. "Oxford Languages | the Home of Language Data". Archived from the original on September 29, 2016.
  8. 1 2 The Macquarie Dictionary. North Ryde: Macquarie Library. 1991.
  9. "Wether Sheep: Definition". RaisingSheep.net. Retrieved 5 May 2016.