abomasum. The third compartment of the ruminant stomach; the compartment where digestion takes place.
acquired immunity. Resistance to disease acquired from a young animal’s dam through her colostrum.
afterbirth. The placenta and any fetal membranes expelled from a ewe after kidding.
anestrus. The period of time when a ewe is not having estrous (heat) cycles.
anthelmintic. A substance used to control or destroy internal parasites; a dewormer.
artificial insemination (AI). A process by which semen is deposited within a female’s uterus by artificial means.
banding. Castration by the process of applying a fat rubber ring to a ram lamb’s scrotum using a tool called an elastrator.
black-faced breed. A breed raised primarily for meat.
bleating. Sheep vocalization; also referred to as calling.
bloat. Excessive accumulation of gas in a ruminant’s rumen.
bolus. A large, oval pill; also used to describe a chunk of cud.
booster vaccination. A second or multiple vaccinations given to increase an animal’s resistance to a specific disease.
bottle lamb. A lamb raised on milk or milk replacer from a bottle instead of by her dam; also called a bum, bummer, cade, or poddy lamb.
breech birth. A birth in which the rump of the lamb is presented first.
breed. Sheep of a color, body shape, and other characteristics similar to those of their ancestors, capable of transmitting these characteristics to their own offspring.
britch. The lower thigh of a sheep. Britch wool is very coarse.
bummer lamb. A bottle lamb, usually refers to a bottle-fed orphan.
bunting. The act of a lamb poking her dam’s udder to stimulate milk letdown.
butting. The act of a sheep bashing another sheep (or a human) with his horns or forehead.
carpet wool. Strong or coarse and hairy wools used in the manufacturing of carpets.
caseous lymphadenitis. A contagious, incurable bacterial disease.
cast. When a sheep is unable to regain her footing, she is cast; unless rescued, she will suffocate. Also called cast down. In some places a cast sheep is called a riggwelter.
castrate. Removal of a male’s testes.
cattle panel. A very sturdy large-gauge welded-wire fence panel; sold in various lengths and heights.
CD/T. Toxoid vaccine used to protect against enterotoxemia (caused by Clostridium perfringens types C and D) and tetanus.
CL. See caseous lymphadenitis.
club lamb. A lamb raised as a 4-H or FFA project.
coccidiostat. A chemical substance mixed with feed, bottle-fed milk, or drinking water to control coccidiosis.
colostrum. First milk a ewe gives after birth; high in antibodies, this milk protects newborn lambs against disease; sometimes incorrectly called or spelled colostrums.
conformation. An animal’s body proportions and shape.
cover. To breed (a ram covers a ewe).
creep feeding. To provide supplementary feed to nursing lambs.
crimp. Uniform waviness in an individual lock of fiber.
crook. A staff with a hook at one end, used to direct and catch sheep.
crossbreed. An animal resulting from the mating of two entirely different breeds; also called a crossbred.
crossbreeding. Intentionally mating two or more breeds together as part of a breeding program.
crutching. Removing soiled wool from a ewe’s hindquarters prior to lambing; also called crotching, dagging, or tagging.
cud. Undigested food regurgitated by a ruminant to be chewed and swallowed again.
cull. To eliminate an animal from a herd or breeding program; also the animal thus eliminated.
dag. A manure-encrusted hank of wool, also called a tag.
dam. The female parent.
dehorning. The removal of existing horns.
dental pad. An extension of the gums on the front part of the upper jaw; it is a substitute for top front teeth.
deworming. The use of chemicals or herbs to rid an animal of internal parasites.
disbud. To destroy the emerging horn buds of a lamb by application of a red-hot disbudding iron.
dock. To shorten a lamb’s tail.
drench. To give liquid medicine by mouth; also a liquid medicine given by mouth.
drop spindle. A handheld spike (known as the shaft) with a weight (a whorl) used for handspinning.
dry ewe. A ewe who is neither pregnant nor lactating.
dystocia. Difficulty in giving birth.
ear tag. A plastic or metal identification tag attached to a sheep’s ear using a tagging tool.
elastrator. A pliers-like tool used to apply heavy, O-shaped rubber bands called elastrator bands to a ram lamb’s scrotum for castration.
estrus. The period when a ewe is receptive (she will mate with a ram; e.g., she is “in heat”) and can become pregnant.
estrus cycle. The ewe’s reproductive cycle.
ewe. A female sheep.
felting. The ancient craft of using heat, moisture, and pressure to produce a nonwoven sheet of matted material to produce wool felt.
fiber. Animal or plant matter used in making textile yarns and fabrics.
fiber fineness. Fiber diameter, usually expressed in microns.
fleece. The wool coat sheared from an individual sheep; also a synonym for wool.
flehmen. Curling of the upper lip in order to increase the ability to discern scent.
flight zone. The distance something scary can approach a sheep without the sheep running off.
flock. A group of sheep; sometimes called a herd or mob.
flocking instinct. The need of sheep to flock together as a group.
fly strike. When blowflies or bottle flies lay eggs in manure-encrusted wool or wounds and the eggs hatch into flesh-eating maggots.
fold. An overnight pen where sheep are kept safe from predators; also called a yard.
forage. Grass and the edible parts of browse plants that can be used to feed livestock.
free-choice. Available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; hay and mineral mixes are generally fed free-choice.
freshen. When a ewe lambs and begins to produce milk, especially applied to dairy sheep.
gestation. The length of pregnancy.
grading. The sorting and classification of fibers according to cleanliness, staple length, strength, evenness, and fineness.
grading up. A means of creating sheep of purebred status by breeding a ewe of a different breed to a ram of the desired breed, then their daughters to another ram of the same breed, and so on until reaching the percentage required for purebred registration. Not all registries allow grading up.
graft. A procedure in which a lamb is transferred to and raised by a dam that is not her own mother.
grease. Unprocessed wool as it is shorn directly from the sheep and hasn’t been washed or otherwise cleaned.
guard hair. Long, stiff, generally coarse fiber that projects from the softer undercoat of a double-coated sheep’s fleece.
hair sheep. A sheep with hair instead of wool on her body; some hair sheep grow a short fleece over winter but shed it the following summer.
halter. A rope or leather head harness used to restrain, lead, or tie a sheep.
hank. A 560-yard (512 m) unit of yarn wound on a reel.
heart girth. Circumference of the chest immediately behind the front legs.
heat. Estrus.
immunity. Resistance to a specific disease.
in lamb. Pregnant.
in milk. Lactating.
intramammary infusions. Mastitis medicines inserted directly into a teat through its orifice.
jug. An approximately 4- by 5-foot (1.2 x 1.5 m) pen where a ewe and her lambs are put for the first 24 to 72 hours after kidding.
ked. A wingless fly that sucks sheep’s blood.
kemp. Hard, brittle, opaque, medullated fiber found in the fleece of some sheep.
ketones. Substances found in the blood of late-term pregnant ewes suffering from pregnancy toxemia.
lactation. The period when a ewe is giving milk.
lamb. (n.) A young sheep; also the meat of lambs. (v.) The act of a ewe giving birth.
lanolin. The greasy substance in wool.
livestock guardian. An animal who bonds with, stays with, and protects livestock: usually a dog, donkey, or llama.
market lamb. A lamb raised to be sold as meat.
mastitis. Inflammation of the udder, which also affects the milk.
medullated fiber. Medullated fibers are true hair fibers mixed in with normal wool but which do not have the same spinning and dyeing properties as pure wool; usually found on the faces, head, and legs of wool sheep.
milk letdown. Release of milk by the mammary glands.
milky. Produces enough milk to enable multiple lambs to mature quickly.
mothering pen. See jug.
mule. A type of hardy, crossbred meat sheep created by crossing rams of specific breeds on ewes of different, specific breeds.
mutton. The meat of mature sheep.
nematode. A type of internal parasite; a worm.
omasum. The third part of the ruminant stomach; it’s sandwiched between the reticulum and the abomasum.
open ewe. One who isn’t pregnant.
ovulation. The release of an egg from the ovary.
oxytocin. A naturally occurring hormone important in milk letdown and muscle contraction during the birthing process.
paddock. An enclosed area used for grazing.
papers. A registration certificate.
parrot-mouth. When the lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw and the teeth hit in back of the dental pad; also called an overshot jaw.
pedigree. A certificate documenting an animal’s line of descent.
percentage. Partbred; a crossbred sheep who is at least 50% of a specific breed (for example, a percentage Dorper).
placenta. See afterbirth.
polled. A natural absence of horns.
postpartum. After giving birth.
prepartum. Before giving birth.
purebred. An animal of a recognized breed.
ram. An uncastrated male sheep.
raw wool. Unwashed fleece exactly as it was shorn from the sheep.
registered animal. An animal who has a registration certificate and number issued by a breed association.
reticulum. The second chamber of a ruminant’s stomach.
roman-nosed. The convex profile of breeds such as the Blueface Leicester.
roo. To remove the molting fleece of certain breeds by hand-plucking.
rumen. The first compartment of the stomach of a ruminant, in which microbes break down the cellulose in plants.
ruminant. An animal with a multicompartment stomach.
rumination. The process whereby a cud or bolus of rumen contents is regurgitated, re-chewed, and re-swallowed; “chewing the cud.”
rut. The period during which a ram is interested in breeding ewes.
scouring. Having diarrhea; also washing raw fiber to remove impurities such as dirt, sweat, and grease.
scours. Diarrhea.
scrapie. The sheep and goat version of “mad cow disease”; sometimes incorrectly spelled scrapies.
scurs. Horn buds that have broken the skin but not grown into horns.
seasonal breeders. Ewes who come into heat during only one part of the year; most sheep are seasonal breeders.
second cuts. Short pieces in a fleece caused by re-shearing over an already sheared spot.
settle. Become pregnant.
shear. To remove a sheep’s wool.
sheath. The outer skin covering a male sheep’s penis.
shedding breeds. Hair sheep breeds, such as Dorpers and Katahdins, who grow winter fleece but shed it without needing to be shorn.
sire. The male parent.
skirting. Removing stained or otherwise undesirable portions of a fleece.
slaughter lamb. A lamb produced specifically for the meat market.
sow-mouth. When the lower jaw is longer than the upper and teeth extend forward past the dental pad on the upper jaw; also known as monkey-mouth or undershot jaw.
standing heat. The period during estrus (heat) when a ewe allows a ram to breed her.
staple. A lock of wool.
staple length. The length of a sheared lock of wool obtained by measuring it without stretching or disturbing the crimp.
tag. A manure-encrusted hank of wool, also called a dag.
tender wool. Wool with weak places in the fibers caused by illness, exposure to weather, or poor nutrition.
topknot. Wool from the forehead of a sheep.
total fleece weight. The weight of an entire raw fleece.
UC. Urinary calculi; mineral salt crystals (“stones”) that form in the urinary tract and sometimes block the urethra of male sheep.
udder. The female mammary system.
wether. A castrated male sheep.
white-faced breed. A breed kept primarily for wool production; colored individuals may have black faces but they’re still considered members of a white-faced breed.
yearling. A sheep of either sex who is 1 to 2 years of age, or a sheep who has cut her first set of incisors.