Sheep Terms
Sheep Facts Sheep usually give birth once a year and have 1-3 lambs. Ewes typically give birth to twins. Sheep grow two teeth a year until they have eight. One sheep produces eight to ten pounds of wool per year, enough to make a man's suit. One pound of wool can make ten miles of yarn. Sheep are the only source of lanolin - grease that comes from wool before it has been washed. Lanolin is used in lotions and cosmetics. The small intestines from 11 sheep are needed to make one tennis racket.
Banding The method of putting a rubber band on the tail or scrotum to castrate or to dock.
Bloat Term used to describe a secure distention of the abdomen by gas.
Buck Term that is used as slang for ram.
Carding The preparation of fibers to prepare them for spinning.
Castrate Removing of the testicles of a male animal.
Dam The female parent.
Dock The process of removing or shorting the tail of a animal.
Ewe A female sheep of any age.
Fleece The wool from a sheep.
Graft The process of taking a lamb and putting it with a ewe that is not its natural mother.
Lamb A young sheep of either sex.
Mutton The meat from a sheep older than one year of age.
Pelt The skin of an animal with the hair attached.
Ram Uncastrated male sheep.
Scours Bacterial infection in animals that result in diarrhea.
Scrapie A disease in sheep and goats that shuts down the central nervous system which causes the animal to scratch and become unaware.
Scurs Small horns that are just breaking through the skin.
Shear The cutting of sheep's wool.
Wether A castrated male sheep.
Yearling A sheep animal approximately one year of age.