Baa, Ram, Ewe! An A to Z of sheep terminology

This is a basic A to Z of sheep terminology, it’s by no means exhaustive though as there are hundreds of obscure and technical terms that farmers and shepherds use, let me know if you can think of any that aren’t here.

Aries

The sign of the sheep, and the second half of its scientific name: Ovis aries

Artiodactyla

Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, meaning ‘even toed’.

Bottle lamb

An orphaned lamb which has been reared on a bottle, also known as a cade lamb or pet lamb.

Broken mouth

An older sheep, generally around 6 years old, which has broken or lost some of its incisor teeth.

Cast

An inability to regain footing, usually because the sheep was lying in a hollow, or has a wet and heavy fleece, also known as ‘riggweltered’ or ‘rigged’.

Crutching

The removal of wool from the rear end of the sheep to prevent fly-strike, this will be done before tupping and is also known as dagging.

Cull ewe

A ewe who is sold for meat as it is no longer fit for breeding.

Clipping

The removal of wool, also known as shearing.

Down breed

A breed of sheep with short wool.

Draft ewe

A ewe which is too old for rough grazing on upland or hill pastures so is moved to gentler grazing on the lowland.

Dipping

The full immersion of a sheep in a chemical wash to kill external parasites, now largely replaced by injectable and pour-on insecticides (see pour-ons), the chemicals in sheep dip are associated with some health problems in farmers which have carried out sheep dipping for many seasons. If a pub sells a farmer a sub standard pint it might be criticised as selling ‘sheep dip’!

Drench

A veterinary medicine which is administered orally with a drenching gun, a special long-necked drenching bottle may be used for individual sheep.

Dags

Pieces of dried dung which have become stuck to the wool on the rear end of a sheep, this can lead to fly-strike.

Dagging

The removal of dags.

Ewe

A female sheep who has given birth.

Foot rot

A painful, infectious, hoof disease which is common to sheep, especially those kept on wet ground.

Fly-strike

An infestation of blowfly maggots, affecting the wool, skin and eventually the flesh.

Flushing

Removal of fertilised and unfertilised eggs from a ewe, usually as part of an embryo transfer programme.

Gimmer

A female sheep in her second year who has not yet had her first lamb, also known as a theave.

Greasy wool

Wool which has been shorn, but still contains lanolin.

Gestation period

The length of a pregnancy, in sheep this is about 147 days.

Hogg / Hogget

The name for a lamb between the January after its birth until its first adult teeth appear, usually at 18 months, also known as a shearling or teg.

Hoof shears

A tool used to trim hooves.

Hefting

The instinct of certain breeds, especially hill breeds, to remain in a small area, ‘heft’, without the need for fences.

In lamb

Pregnant.

Jacobson’s organ

Olfactory sense organ also known as the vomeronasal organ which can detect specific chemical compounds, including pheromones given off by ewes in season. Also
used by ewes to recognise their lambs, and vice -versa.

Ked

A species of louse which infests sheep, also known as melophagus ovinus.

Lamb

A sheep in its first year.

Lambing

The process of a sheep giving birth.

Lambing pen

A small pen used to keep a ewe and her newborn lambs together, promoting bonding.

Lambing percentage

The number of lambs weaned in a flock compared to the number of ewes who mated. This is a calculation of lamb and ewe mortality rates and not to be confused with the number of ewes giving birth versus the number of lambs born.

Lanolin

A thick, yellow grease found in sheep’s wool, it is secreted by the sheep’s skin make the fleece water resistant, it is often extracted for use in the cosmetic industry, it is also known as wool fat, wool grease or wool wax.

Mule

A crossbred ewe, usually a cross between a Border or Bluefaced Leicester tup and a hill breed ewe, known as a Welsh Mule if from a Welsh Mountain ewe, or a Scotch Mule if from a Blackface ewe, (there are various local terms), Mules usually go on to produce fat lambs.

Mutton

Meat which comes from an older sheep, currently gaining popularity because of its flavour.

Notifiable Disease

A disease which farmers are required by law to bring immediately to the attention of DEFRA, (the Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) such as Foot and Mouth.

Ovis

The genus under which sheep fall

Pour-ons

A medicine which is applied externally along the back of the sheep, usually to prevent external parasites, Spot-ons are similar products which are applied as a spot on the back of the sheep’s neck, rather like flea treatment for cats.

Q fever

Coxiella burnetti This is a bacterial disease that can cause abortions in sheep, humans can catch it by breathing in dust in barns, it causes flu like symptoms in humans but can lead to more severe problems.

Raddle

A coloured dye which is used to mark a sheep’s fleece for various reasons, applied to a ram’s chest at tupping time in order to identify which ewes have been mated, or ‘covered’.

Ram

A male sheep who has not been castrated, also known as a Tup.

Rooing

The removal of a sheep’s fleece by hand-plucking.

Shepherd’s crook

A stick with a hook at one end, used to catch sheep by the leg or neck, different regions have different styles of crook.

Scrapie

A wasting disease which affects sheep, also known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, (TSE), it is similar to BSE, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in cattle, spongiform simply means the brain of the animal ends up resembling a sponge. Efforts have been made in the U.K. to breed a sheep resistant to scrapie.

Shearling

A young sheep before its first shearing.

Store

A sheep that is not yet ready for slaughter, usually sold on for further fattening, this is usually a weaned lamb, Bentham and Skipton auction markets hold regular store lamb sales.

Shearing

Removal of the fleece.

Scab, or Sheep scab

A type of mange which affects sheep, caused by the sheep scab mite psoroptes ovis, this is an example of a notifiable disease.

Tup

See Ram.

Tupping

The mating season in sheep, young farmers will also use the term to describe going out on the ‘pull’ on a Friday night!

Terminal sire

A tup used on ewes to breed fat lambs for slaughter, terminal tups are usually down breeds.

Teaser

A ram who has had a vasectomy, these rams have all the hormones, but cannot reproduce, they’re introduced to ewes to bring them into season, before an non-vasectomised ram is introduced.

Ungulate

Sheep are classed as ungulates, which means cloven hooved, this class also contains horses, cows, deer, pigs and strangely enough whales, although they lost their hooves millions of years ago.

V handler

A V handler uses two conveyor belts to create a V shape that lifts sheep from the ground and brings them to an ideal working height for vets to inspect them.

Wether

A male sheep who has been castrated.

Wool-blindness

When a sheep has too much wool on its face it can interfere with its ability to see properly.

X, crossbred (I know, it’s cheating!)

Sheep and Goats are related, both are in the subfamily Caprinae, so they can be crossbred, however the offspring is always infertile, such crosses are commonly called ‘geep’.

Yearlings

A yearling is a sheep between 1 and 2 years of age, a yearling ewe is called a hogget, shearling or gimmer

Zero grazing

A method of raising livestock in pens where most of their feed is supplied from elsewhere and taken to the pen.

A B-H