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:

– White face

– Horned or polled

– 3rd most popular breed

– Heavy milkers

– Produce more than one lamb crop a year

– Heavy muscled carcasses

Finnsheep• Origin: Finland• Characteristics:

– 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:

– 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- Answers

1. Finnsheep 2. Southdown

3. Cheviot 4. Dorset

Sheep Breeds Quiz- Answers

5. Suffolk 6. Shropshire

7. Hampshire 8. Rambouillet

Sheep Breeds Quiz- Answers

9. Corriedale 10. Columbia

Sheep Terms

• Genus: Ovis

• Breeding age male: Ram

• Breeding age female: Ewe

• Young male: Ram lamb

• Young female: Ewe lamb

• Newborn: Lamb

Sheep Terms continued

• 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• 7.8 million sheep in the U.S.• Top 5 sheep and wool production states:

1. Texas2. California3. Wyoming4. South Dakota5. Colorado

• Sheer sheep in the spring• Sheep have 8 teeth• Ideal market lamb is 110-130 lbs

Typical Operations Outside Ohio:

• Western Sheep:– 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

• 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• 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

1. Muzzle 2. Face 3. forehead4. poll5. Neck 6. Top of shoulder 7. Back or rack 8. Loin 9. Hip 10. Rump 11. Dock 12. Middle 13. Twist

14. Leg 15. Hock 16. Pastern 17. Hoof 18. Rear flank 19. Belly 20. For flank21. Cannon 22. Knee 23. Forearm 24. Breast or brisket 25. Shoulder

Wholesale cuts of Lamb

1. Loin

2. Leg

3. Foreshank and breast

4. Rib

5. Shoulder

Sheep Feet and Leg Structure

• Side View Front Legs• Correct• Calf-kneed• Weak pasterns• Buck kneed

• Side View Rear Legs• Correct• Sickle-hocked• Post-legged

Sheep Feet and Leg Structure

• Front View• Correct• Splay-footed• Pigeon-Toed• Knock-Kneed

• Rear View• Correct• Bowlegged• Cow-hocked

Sheep Breeds Quiz

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