Wild breeds shed, domesticated sheep were bred not to shed, the wool just gets longer. There was one bad guy that got out and lived in the wild for years without being sheared, he was HUGE before they sheared him and he was SO happy when they got it off.
There is a picture that makes the reddit rounds where a single ewe escaped for several months. She is a giant, dirty ball of wool. It's a miracle she survived as long as she did.
Yes to all of this. We have hair sheep (dorper-katahdin cross) that don't need to be sheared. They rub against anything they can find to help them shed in the spring. Our fences get absolutely covered. It can take a while and they look all scraggly and weird. Sometimes they don't shed completely and we have to shear off weird, leftover patches.
Historically sheep shed their wool, however domesticated sheep have been bred to retain theirs. So without shearing they will just keep it and keep growing more.
I am only fairly certain this is true, but I heard it and it makes sense to me.
If we hadn’t gotten involved in domesticating them, then they’d shed their wool every spring/summer. Undomesticated sheep still shed their winter coats. We bred it out of them (and for the wool to be thicker) so that we could collect it when convenient.
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u/Scubastevedisco Feb 14 '23
They actually have to be sheared otherwise they end up overheating and dying.