Farms: Sheep

Sheep eat grass.

They have long hair called wool.

The wool is cut off every year.

The wool is made into warm clothes.

We eat sheep meat.

A Sheep Family A baby sheep is called a lamb. Its father is a ram. Its mother is a ewe (say you).

Sheep farms
Some farms grow sheep. Sheep farms have big grassy paddocks where the sheep live. They eat grass. There are more than 200 different kinds of sheep.

Farmers make sure the animals are fed and that they have plenty of clean water to drink. They have to check their animals to make sure none are sick or injured, and if they are, they must be treated and perhaps a vet may called in to do this.Fences and yards have to be kept in good condition as does all the farm machinery and other equipment.
If there is a drought and there is not enough grass for the sheep, a farmer has to feed them hay.

Sheep are farmed for wool, or meat, or milk.

A large group of sheep together is called a flock of sheep. In Australia a group of sheep is often called a mob.

Wool
Sheep grow thick hair called wool. Some breeds (kinds) of sheep have better wool for making into fabric or knitting yarn. Wool is cut once a year. This is called shearing. The wool is cut close to the sheep's skin, and comes off in one piece. The cut wool is called fleece. The fleece is put into bags called bales and is sold. In factories, the wool is washed, spun into threads called yarn and dyed into lots of colours. Yarn is knitted into clothes, or woven into cloth or rugs. The cloth is made into clothes or blankets.

See the stages of shearing a sheep here
http://www.nywool.com/shearing.html

Read about sheep wool here
http://www.woolisbest.com/kids_corner/index.html

Meat
Some breeds of sheep are grown for meat. Farmers fatten them up. Sheep dogs help the farmer round up the sheep and get them into trucks. The sheep are taken to the market and are sold, and then taken to a place called an abbatoir where they are killed and cut up for meat. People go to butcher shops or supermarkets to buy the meat.

Milk
Some farms raise female sheep for their milk, which is made into cheese.

Life Cycle
Rams have big curved horns. In some breeds, ewes have horns too.

A ewe gives birth about 150 days after mating with a ram. Sometimes a ewe has twin lambs.
Lambs are born in spring.

If you use any of this information in your own work, write it in your notes like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Sheep [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2006)

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Updated October 2009