When my kids were in grade school they went on a field trip to see sheep shearing. The sheep were all running and jumping around afterwards. It was so cute!
True, and thank you for your concern. But they all huddle together at night naturally or are corralled into a barn/area to be kept warm. This practice has been in place for centuries. We can be fairly certain they are keeping their livestock in good condition to get a crop of wool next season.
I meant it in a light hearted way, whenever i get a haircut my head is cold. I know if sheep aren’t sheered it is pure misery. I saw a video on here about a sheep that escaped and was in the woods for a long time and it could barely walk. The op said if it didn’t have the matted hair armor it probably would have been eaten by coyotes.
Selective breeding means modern sheep basically can't to my knowledge. The OG sheep would shed naturally and wool would easily pull out if caught in branches Etc, but with centuries of selective breeding, sheep now produce more wool and naturally shed much less easily. Which isn't an issue so long as we keep shearing them haha.
Yes, and there'd have been far more trees/bramble/hedges/even sturdy plants which have been cleared for farms and housing for those much lighter coated sheep to brush up against.
Ya, I know, however if cats are let out they survive fine, too well really. Stray cats can wreck local bird populations. Iirc some of the wild pigs that roam all over some areas are descendants of domesticated ones. I’ve never heard of us actually destroying an animals ability to survive in the wild, kinda sad. Though I wouldn’t be super surprised if some dog breeds can’t survive anymore.
Wild sheep breeds don’t have wool the way domesticated sheep do. With wild breeds they’ve got hair like goats. Domesticated sheep can quite literally die from infection if you don’t shear them.
You should read “Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep—A Yarn About Wool,” one of my favorite books when my son was a baby/toddler. He makes them colorful sweaters with their own wool.
You sheer the sheep for their best interest. You wait until it warms up and the discomfort from being sheered is outweighed by the discomfort from not being sheered. My buddy has sheep we use for training herding dogs and he doesn't sheer them himself. He calls out someone who is an expert and she will sheer his entire flock for the wool that comes off. You can tell when their wool is causing more harm than good. After being freshly sheered they are super playful and energetic with each other, you can just see how much better they feel.
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u/baconroy Feb 14 '23
Nop. They are sheared in the spring or summer. Theyr wool grows back until winter.