Sheep are ruminants of the genus Ovis which have been domesticated in Asia and Europe since prehistoric times and are reared for their wool and flesh and, in some parts of the world for their milk.
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The milk of sheep is very rich in fat and the protein casien. It is used for cheese-making, either alone or mixed with cow's milk
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Breeds of sheep are divided into the long-woolled (20-30cm) or short-woolled (5-10cm). Hair is the natural covering of sheep - the wool being a primitive type of hair which is composed of two layers, the inner cortex and the outer cuticle (hair having three layers). The cuticle has a rough surface. Sheep naturally have wool next to the skin and hair above (although some breeds of sheep have no wool at all).
The modern forms of wool-bearing sheep have been developed by a long process of selective breeding from their wild ancestors.
The natural diet of sheep is grass throughout the summer and winter. They are also given forage crops or fed under cover. Animals for fattening can be fed cotton cake, bruised barley, hay, swedes, linseed cake, oats, turnips and straw chaff.
LONG-WOOLLED
Leicester, Border
Leicester, Yorkshire Leicester or Wensleydale, Lincoln (the largest breed in England) and the Romney Marsh or Kentish.
SHORT-WOOLLED
Sussex or Southdown, Suffolk
Down, Oxford,
Hampshire, Dorset and Shropshire
Downs, Somerset
and Dorset Horned and the Ryeland (second only to the Merino
for its wool).
MOUNTAIN BREEDS
There are also a number of mountain breeds of sheep in the British Isles, notable among them are the Chevoits (long-bodied and white faced) and the Blackface (extremely hardy small animals with black or mottled faces and legs, large spiral horns and a long tail).
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Sheep, Their Breeds,Management and Diseases
by W Youatt, c1840
Portland Sheep
by Morris, 1983
Shepherds of Britain
by AL Gossett, 1910
Livestock of the Farm
, 1922
A History of British Livestock Husbandry to 1700
by R Trow-Smith, 1957
Recommend a Book for this Page
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