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A sheep auto drafter offers a more accurate and less labour intensive method to weigh, draft and record sheep information.
The raising of domestic sheep has existed in nearly every inhabited part of the globe, and the variations in cultures and languages which have kept sheep has produced a vast lexicon of unique terminology used to describe sheep husbandry. A few of the more major terms include:
- Backliner – an externally applied medicine, applied along the backline of a freshly-shorn sheep to control lice or other parasites. In the British Isles called "pour-on".
- Bale – a wool pack containing a specified weight of wool as regulated by industry authorities.
- Bellwether – originally an experienced wether given a bell to lead a flock; now mainly used figuratively for a person acting as a lead and guide.
- Bottle lamb or cade lamb – an orphan lamb reared on a bottle. Also "poddy lamb" or "pet lamb".
- Break – a marked thinning of the fleece, producing distinct weakness in one part of the staple.
- Butt – an underweight bale of greasy wool in a standard wool pack.
- Broken-mouth or broken-mouthed – an old sheep which has lost some of its incisor teeth.
- CFA or cast for age – sheep culled because of their age. Also see "cull ewe".
- Clip – all the wool from a flock (in Australian Wool Classing).
- Comeback – the progeny of a mating of a Merino with a British longwool sheep.
- Cull ewe – a ewe no longer suitable for breeding, and sold for meat.
- Crutching – shearing parts of a sheep (especially the hind end of some woollier breeds such as Merino), to prevent fly-strike. Also see "dagging".
- Dags – clumps of dried dung stuck to the wool of a sheep, which may lead to fly-strike. (Hence "rattle your dags!", meaning "hurry up!", especially used in New Zealand[1][2].)
- Dagging – clipping off dags. Also see "crutching".
- Dip – to immerse sheep in a plunge or shower dip to kill external parasites. Backliners are now replacing dips.
- Draft ewe – a ewe too old for rough grazing (such as moorland), "drafted" (selected) out of the flock to move to better grazing, usually on another farm. Generally spelt "draft", but in British Isles either as "draft" or "draught".
- Drench – an oral veterinary medicine administered by a drenching gun (usually an anthelmintic).
- Driving – walking animals from one place to another.
- Earmark – a distinctive mark clipped out of the ear (or sometimes a tattoo inside the ear) to denote ownership.
- Eartag – plastic or metal tag clipped to ear, with number or name, or (in European Union) the official flock mark.
- Ewe (pronounced /juː/) – a female sheep capable of producing lambs. In areas where "gimmer" or similar terms are used for young females, may refer to a female only after her first lamb. In some areas "yow".
- Fleece – the wool covering of a sheep.
- Flock – a group of sheep (or goats). All the sheep on a property (in Australian Wool Classing); also all the sheep in a region or country. Sometimes called herd or mob.
- Flushing – providing especially nutritious feed in the few weeks before mating to improve fertility, or in the period before birth to increase lamb birth-weight.
- Flushing (eggs/embryo) – removing unfertilised or fertilised egg from an animal; often as part of an embryo transfer procedure.
- Fold (or sheepfold) – a pen in which a flock is kept overnight to keep the sheep safe from predators, or to allow the collection of dung for manure.
- Folding – confining sheep (or other livestock) onto a restricted area for feeding, such as a temporarily fenced part of a root crop field, especially when done repeatedly onto a sequence of areas.
- Foot rot – infectious pododermatitis, a painful hoof disease commonly found in sheep (also goats and cattle), especially when pastured on damp ground.
- Gimmer (pronounced /ˈgɪmɚ/, not /ˈdʒɪmɚ/) – a young female sheep, usually before her first lamb (especially used in the north of England). Also "theave".
- Guard llama – a llama (usually a castrated male) kept with sheep as a guard. The llama will defend the flock from predators such as foxes and dogs.
- Hefting (or heafing) – the instinct in some breeds of keeping to a certain heft (or heaf – a small local area) throughout their lives. Allows different farmers in an extensive landscape such as moorland to graze different areas without the need for fences, the ewes remaining scattered evenly over a wide area. Lambs usually learn their heft from their mothers.
- Hogget or hogg – a young sheep of either sex from about 9 to 18 months of age (until it cuts two teeth). Also the meat of a hogget.
- In lamb – pregnant.
- Ked, or sheep ked – Melophagus ovinus, a species of louse-fly, a nearly flightless biting fly infesting sheep
- Lamb (pronounced /læm/) – a young sheep in its first year. In many eastern countries there is a looser use of the term which may include hoggets. Also the meat of younger sheep.
- Lambing – the process of giving birth in sheep. Also the work of tending lambing ewes (shepherds are said to "lamb" their flocks).
- Lambing jug – a small pen to confine ewes and newly born lambs.
- Lamb marking – the work of earmarking, docking and castration of lambs.
- Lambing percentage – the number of lambs successfully reared in a flock compared with the number of ewes – effectively a measure of the success of lambing and the number of multiple births. May vary from around 100% in a hardy mountain flock (where a ewe may not be able to rear more than one lamb safely), to 150% or more in a well-fed lowland flock (whose ewes can more easily support twins or even triplets).
- Lamb's fry – lamb's liver (as food).
- Livestock guarding dog or livestock guardian dog – a dog bred and trained to guard sheep from predators such as bears, wolves, people or other dogs. Usually a large type of dog, often white and woolly, apparently to allow them to blend in with the sheep. Sometimes given a spiked collar to prevent attack by wolves or dogs. Does not usually herd the sheep. Sometimes called a sheepdog – but also see separate entry for this.
- Lug mark – local term in Cumbria for "earmark".
- Marking knife – A knife with a clamp or hook made for lamb marking.
- Monorchid – a male mammal with only one descended testicle, the other being retained internally. Monorchid sheep are less fertile than full rams, but have leaner meat than wethers.
- Mule – a type of cross-bred sheep, both hardy and suitable for meat (especially in northern England). Usually bred from a Bluefaced Leicester ram on hardy mountain ewes such as Swaledales. May be qualified according to the female parent: for example a Welsh mule is from a Blue-faced Leicester ram and a Welsh Mountain ewe.
- Mulesing – a practice in Australia of cutting off wrinkles from the crutch area of Merinos, to prevent fly-strike. Controversial, and illegal in other parts of the world. Named after a Mr Mules.
- Mob – a group or cohort of sheep of the same breed that have run together under similar environmental conditions since the previous shearing (in Australian Wool Classing).
- Muster – to round up all of the sheep (cattle or horses) into one mob.
- Mutton – the meat of an older sheep. Also an older female sheep to be used for this purpose. May refer to goat meat in eastern countries. Derived from the Anglo-Norman French word mouton ("sheep").
- Old-season lamb – a lamb a year old or more.
- Orf, scabby mouth or contagious ecthyma – a highly contagious viral disease of sheep (and goats) attacking damaged skin areas around the mouth and causing sores, usually affecting lambs in their first year of life.
- Poddy lamb or pet lamb – an orphan lamb reared on a bottle. Also "bottle lamb" or "cade lamb".
Rubbed wool indicating the presence of external parasites on sheep.
- Pour-on – an externally applied medicine, applied along the backline of a freshly-shorn sheep to control lice or other parasites. Also called "backliner".
- Raddle – coloured pigment used to mark sheep for various reasons, such as to show ownership, or to show which lambs belong to which ewe. May be strapped to the chest of a ram, to mark the backs of ewes he tups (different rams may be given different colours). Also a verb ("that ewe's been raddled"). Also "ruddy".
- Ram – an uncastrated adult male sheep. Also tup.
- Riggwelter – a sheep that has fallen onto its back and is unable to get up (usually because of the weight of its fleece).
- Ring – A mob of sheep moving around in a circle.
- Ringing – the removal of a circle of wool from around the pizzle of a male sheep.
- Rooing – removing the fleece by hand-plucking. Done once a year in late spring, when the fleece begins to loosen naturally, especially in some breeds.
- Ruddy – local Cumbrian term for "raddle".
- Scab or sheep scab – a skin disease of sheep caused by attack by the sheep scab mite Psoroptes ovis, a psoroptid mite.
- Scabby mouth – see orf above.
- Shearing – cutting off the fleece, normally done in two pieces by skilled shearers. A sheep may be said to have been either sheared or shorn, depending on dialect.
- Shearling – a yearling sheep before its first shearing. Also see "teg".
- Sheepdog or shepherd dog – a dog used to move and control sheep, often very highly trained. Other types of dog may be used just to guard sheep (see "livestock guarding dog"), and these are sometimes also called sheepdogs.
- Sheep – the species, or members of it. The plural is the same as the singular, and it can also be used as a mass noun. Normally used of individuals of any age, but in some areas only for those of breeding age.
Rollover sheep handler for crutching, foot inspection and paring, general husbandry, udder inspection etc.
- Sheepwalk – an area of rough grazing occupied by a particular flock or forming part of a particular farm.
- Shepherd – a stockperson or farmer who looks after sheep while they are in the pasture.
- Shepherding – the act of shepherding sheep, or sheep husbandry more generally.
- Slink – a very young lamb.
- Stag – a ram castrated after about 6 months of age.
- Store – a sheep (or other meat animal) in good average condition, but not fat. Usually bought by dealers to fatten for resale.
- Sucker – an unweaned lamb.
- Teg – a sheep in its second year. Also see "shearling".
- Theave or theaf (plural of either: theaves) – a young female sheep, usually before her first lamb (used especially in lowland England). Also "gimmer".
- Tup – an alternative term for "ram".
- Tupping – mating in sheep, or the mating season (autumn, for a spring-lambing flock).
- Weaner – a young animal that has been weaned, from its mother, until it is about a year old.
- Wether – a castrated male sheep (or goat).
- Wigging – the removal of wool from around a sheep's eyes to prevent wool blindness.
- Wool-blind – when excessive wool growth interferes with the normal sight of a sheep.
- Wool pack – a standard-sized woven nylon container manufactured to industry specifications for the transportation of wool.
- Yoke – two crossed pieces of timber fixed to the neck of a habitually straying sheep in an attempt to prevent it breaking through hedges and fences.
- Yow (pronounced /jaʊ/) – local form of "ewe" in some areas.
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Plunge dipping sheep
Drenching Merino hoggets
