Sheep Provide All Kinds Of Society Needs

In order to understand sheep farming and the dynamics that come with it, it is important first that we know some of the characteristics of sheep. Sheep are primarily kept as farm animals mainly for their wool, meat, and to some extent their by products like cheese and milk. These characteristics of sheep must be carefully considered if you intend to understand their behavior and how to effectively manage them. Sheep are gregarious animals, they are better kept in numbers and that makes them social creatures.

These animals have a strong sense of flocking. If kept in a good number of four or more they will exhibit flocking dynamics that would make them easier to control or when herding. However, keep in mind as well that when sheep are kept in solitary or their numbers dwindle or natural predators are absent, the same flocking behavior may be lost or momentarily stopped. At this instance, you would need the services of a herd dog that with their in-bred herding skills will greatly help in your herding and keeping your sheep flock within sight.

 Domestic sheep are descendants of the wild sheep of Europe and Asia. Today there are more than 200 breeds of sheep throughout the world. Only 30 or 40 breeds are of major importance, however.

The breeds of sheep most common In the United States can best be classified according to the kind of wool they produce. The breeds are grouped as fine-wool, medium-wool, longwool, and crossbred-wool sheep.

Sheep are raised either for wool or meat. Meat from sheep less than a year old is called lamb. Meat from older sheep is called mutton. Medium-wool and long-wool sheep are used more for meat than for wool. They are raised chiefly in the East and the Middle West.

In Texas and the mountain states of the West, sheep are raised mainly for wool. Western sheep ranches often are very large. They may have as many as 10,000 acres of land and 1,000 or 2,000 sheep. The sheep ranges must be large because in the dry parts of the West there is not much grass for each acre of land. A large range area is needed to give the sheep enough grass. The sheep eat grass right down to the roots, and time must be allowed for the grass to grow back where they have grazed. Thus they must be moved to other grazing areas fairly often. In the past flocks of sheep were taken by shepherds into the wilds to graze. Now the usual practice is to graze the sheep on fenced-in pasture land. Sheep are often taken to pasture in trucks.

The sheep usually are rounded up twice a year for shearing, in the spring and in the fall. At the time of fall shearing, the lambs are separated from the ewes, or mother sheep. The lambs are considered old enough to be on their own.