Below are a few of the more common terms.
A–C •
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 pressed
wool as regulated by industry authorities. •
Band – a flock with a large number of sheep, generally 1000, which graze on rangeland. •
Bell sheep – a sheep (usually a rough, wrinkly one) caught by a shearer, just before the end of a shearing run. •
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. •
Black wool – Any wool that is not white, but not necessarily black. •
Board – the floor where the shearing stands are in a wool shed. •
Bottle lamb or
cade lamb – an orphan lamb reared on a bottle. Also
poddy lamb or
pet lamb. •
Boxed – when different mobs of sheep are mixed. •
Break – a marked thinning of the fleece, producing distinct weakness in one part of the staple. •
Broken-mouth or
broken-mouthed – a sheep which has lost or broken some of its incisor teeth, usually after the age of about six years. •
Broad – wool which is on the strong side for its quality number, or for its type. •
Broomie – a
roustabout in a shearing shed. •
Cast – unable to regain footing, possibly due to lying in a hollow with legs facing uphill and/or having a heavy fleece. Also see
riggwelter. •
CFA or
cast for age – sheep culled because of their age. Also see
cull ewe,
killer. •
Chilver – a female lamb •
Clip – all the wool from a flock (in Australian
Wool Classing). •
Clipping – cutting off the wool: see
shearing and
rooing. •
Comeback – the progeny of a mating of a
Merino with a British longwool sheep. •
Creep feeding - Allowing lambs access to special, high-quality feed before weaning •
Crimp – the natural wave formation seen in wool. Usually the closer the crimps, the finer the wool. •
Crutching – shearing parts of a sheep (especially the hind end of some woollier breeds such as
Merino), to prevent
fly-strike. Also see
dagging. •
Cull ewe – a ewe no longer suitable for breeding, and sold for meat. Also see
killer. •
Cut-out – the completion of shearing a flock.) •
Dagging – clipping off dags. Also see
crutching. • '''Devil's Grip''' – a serious conformation defect, appearing as a depression behind the withers. •
Dewlap – the upper fold under the neck of a Merino sheep. •
Dipping – immersing sheep in a plunge or shower
dip to kill external parasites. Backliners are now replacing dipping. •
Docking – removing the tail of a sheep to prevent
fly-strike. See also
crutching,
dagging. •
Downs – breeds of sheep belonging to the short wool group. •
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 the
British Isles either as "draft" or "draught". •
Drench – an oral veterinary medicine administered by a drenching gun (usually an
anthelmintic). •
Driving or
droving – walking animals from one place to another. •
Dry Sheep Equivalent – (DSE) is a standard unit used in Australia to compare energy requirements between different classes and species of animals. A DSE is the amount of energy required to maintain a 45 to 50 kg Merino wether. •
Eaning - the act of giving birth in sheep. See
lambing. •
Earmark – a distinctive mark clipped out of the ear (or sometimes a tattoo inside the ear) to denote ownership and/or age. •
Ear tag – plastic or metal tag clipped to ear, with identification number, name or
electronic chip. •
Ewe – 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. •
Eye dog – a type of sheepdog (
qv) which uses eye contact as a primary technique to herd sheep. See also
huntaway. •
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. •
Fly strike or
myiasis – infestation of the wool, skin and eventually flesh with
blowfly or botfly maggots, rapidly causing injury or death. Usually (but not always) occurs where the wool has become contaminated by dung or urine, or at the site of an injury. Also see
crutching,
dagging,
Mulesing. •
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.
G–K •
Gimmer (, not ) – a young female sheep, usually before her first lamb (especially used in the north of
England and
Scotland). Also
theave. • '''Graziers' alert
or graziers' warning''' – a cold-weather warning issued by the weather bureau to sheep graziers. •
Greasy – a sheep shearer. •
Hogget,
hogg or
hog – a young sheep of either sex from about 9 to 18 months of age (until it cuts two permanent teeth); a yearling sheep, as yet unshorn. Also the meat of a hogget. Also
teg,
old-season lamb,
shearling. •
Hoof-shears – implement similar to
secateurs, used to trim the hooves of sheep. •
Huntaway – a type of sheepdog (
qv) which uses barking as a primary technique to herd sheep. Named for a
New Zealand breed of dog. See also
eye dog. •
In lamb – pregnant. •
Joining – the placing of rams with ewes for
mating (see
tupping). •
Ked, or
sheep ked –
Melophagus ovinus, a species of
louse-fly, a nearly flightless biting fly infesting sheep. •
Kemp – a short, white, hollow, hairy fibre usually found about the head and legs of sheep. •
Killer – a sheep that has been selected for slaughter on an Australian property. Also see
cull ewe.
L–N •
Lamb – 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 or
lambing pen – 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 that have been mated – 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 served as a culinary dish. •
Lamb fries – lamb testicles when served as a culinary dish. •
Lanolin – a thick yellow greasy substance in wool, secreted by the sheep's skin. Also called
wool fat,
wool wax,
wool grease,
adeps lanae or
yolk. Extracted from raw wool and used for various purposes. •
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
muster the sheep. Sometimes called a
sheepdog – but also see separate entry for this. •
Lug mark – local term in
Cumbria for
earmark. in rural
Australia •
Marking knife – a knife with a clamp or hook made for lamb marking. •
Myiasis – see
fly strike. •
Micron – one millionth of a metre, a measure of fibre diameter of wool in
wool measurement. Term used in preference to "
micrometre", the
SI name for the same unit. •
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). •
Wigging – the removal of wool from around a sheep's eyes to prevent wool-blindness. •
Wool-blindness – when excessive wool growth interferes with the normal sight of a sheep. •
Woolcock – a husband of sheep •
Wool-grease – see
lanolin. •
Wool pack – a standard-sized woven nylon container manufactured to industry specifications for the transportation of wool. •
Woolsack – a ceremonial cushion used by the
Lord Speaker of the
UK House of Lords, filled with wool to symbolise the importance of the wool trade for the prosperity of the country. •
Yoke – two crossed pieces of timber or a forked branch fixed to the neck of a habitually straying sheep in an attempt to prevent it breaking through hedges and fences. •
Yolk – see
lanolin. •
Yow – local form of
ewe in some areas, Cornish farmers use Yow. ==See also==