Sheep have been kept by Shepard's for over 11,000 years.
900 different breeds of sheep in the world.
Sheep farming is the oldest organized industry.
Some sheep are kept for wool and some for meat.
Female sheep are called ewes and male sheep are called rams.
Neutered male sheep are called wethers.
Most lambs will weigh around the same as a newborn baby when born 9lb.
Lambs will drink their mothers milk until they are 4 months old.
Twins are the most popular. Ewes can also have singles, triplets, quadruplets and even quintuplets.
Lambs can walk minutes after birth.
Lambs are born with 8 milk teeth.
Two teeth will fall out each year until the 8 teeth have been replaced
Some ewes need assistance while giving birth.
Lambs like to waggle their tail when they are happy suckling.
Sheep have a slit on their upper lip which allows selection of preferred leaves off the plants.
There are over one billion sheep in the world.
China has the most sheep in the world.
Sheep have a field vision of around 300 degrees so they can see behind them without turning around their head.
One years fleece is about 8lbs of wool.
Sheep are said to be the original domestic animal.
Lambs have their first shearing of wool at 8 months usually.
They begin to nibble on hay and grass at 2 weeks old.
Sheep consume 4.5lbs of food a day.
75 heart beats per minute.
Puberty starts at around 5 to 8 months.
Gestation is around 145 to 155 days.
The vigorous licking that the ewe does to the lamb is important stimulation for the lamb and helps trigger hormones that trigger the accelerated production of milk in the ewe.
Wild sheep are larger than domesticated sheep.
Lambs symbolise spring and all things pastoral.
Sheep do not have any teeth on their upper front jaw.
The expression ''Lamb of God'' means that Jesus is the son of God.
Lambs often need to be bottle fed by farmers if their mothers do not have a good milk supply.
Sheep are herbivores.
Sheep have four digestive chambers which break down their food.
Dolly was the first cloned sheep.
Sheep love the company of other sheep.
The Egyptians believed sheep were sacred.
Sheep have great memories, they can remember up to 50 individual sheep and humans.
They have poor eyesight but excellent hearing.
Life expectancy is 6 to 11 years.
Sheep milk is more nutritious than cow and goat milk.
Sheep show emotions through the position of their ears.Sheep are extremely intelligent and great at solving problems, they have the same IQ as cattle and are close in intelligence to pigs.
Different noises sheep make display different emotions.
Sheep will eat specific plants when ill to cure themselves.
Sheep are great mothers and form close bonds with their young.
They can recognise their lambs bleat.
A Ram can service 35 ewes per day.
A yearling is between 1 or 2 years old who may or may not have lambed.
One pound of wool can make 10 miles of yarn.
Sheep have 2 teats.
Sheep can be found in desert areas and mountain areas.
Sheep can be milked to make great cheese.
Sheep have 2 digits on each hoof.
Sheep cannot get up if they are lying on their back, if they don't get human help they can die quickly in this position.
Thank You !!!! Your blog has been very helpful :D
ReplyDeleteYour welcome, goodluck with your lambing season.
ReplyDeletedo you have any facts for lambs and when they need to be fed and what they require when they are first born and you raise them by hand.
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
When the lamb is first born it needs to drink colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk produced by the ewe. It’s a highly nutritious energy source that helps the lamb to maintain body temperature and survive. If the newborn lamb does not have access to the mothers milk when first born you will need to give the lamb colostrum that you can buy from a farm supplies store, The colostrum is different to the normal lamb milk replacer. Colostrum contains antibodies that are vital to help protect the newborn lamb against disease. For the first 24 hours the lamb will have a better chance of survival if they are feed colostrum. Lambs will consume around 20 percent of their body weight in milk per day. This would equate to about 38 ounces per day for a 12-pound lamb (12 pounds x 16 ounces per pound x .20 = 38 ounces). This amount should be divided according to how many times the lamb will be fed per day. One- to two-day-old lambs should be fed a minimum of four times a day, while older lambs can be fed only twice. A warm, dry pen is important for the health of artificially reared lambs. Another important aspect of bottle feeding is to get the lambs started on dry feed and water as soon as possible. Have fresh lamb creep feed (20 percent protein) available to these lambs at one week of age.
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