Sheepish Words

You might recall back in May that I talked about the ancient sheep counting system Yan Tan Tethera used in the north of England (see here).

With the prospect of sheep arriving in the fields near where I live in the spring I've been looking at the lexicon of sheep-related words. There are so many!

The father of a lamb is called a Sire, the mother is called a Dam.

A Wether is a castrated male sheep (they are less aggressive than rams). 

A Yearling is an animal between 1 and 2 years of age that may or may not have produced offspring. Alternative nemes from various counties include hogget, theave, or teg.

A Yow is Cumbrian/Northern/Scottish term for a Ewe that has given birth.

A Bred Ewe/Yow is a prganant sheep.

A Cull Yow is a ewe that is too old for breeding. 

A Gimmer is a female sheep under 12 months of age. 

A Mule is a cross breed sheep. The most common mule is a Northern Mule. It’s a cross between a Bluefaced Leicester Tup and a Swaledale yow. 

A Pet Lamb – also known as a bottling lamb or Bummer - are orphaned lambs that are raised by bottle feeding and often come out quite small because of it. Around lambing season you can find many a lamb in a farmers house being bottle fed. 

A Shearling – also known as a Hogg - is a lamb/young sheep that has finished weaning but has yet to have its first shearing. 

A Store is a weaned lamb that is often sold off for fattening. 

A Tup is a term for a Ram in Northern England and Scotland. These are male sheep used for breeding. 

A Jug is a small pen used for just one ewe and her newborn lambs soon after they are born, used to keep an eye on the new family.

A Creep is an area for feeding lambs with an entrance designed to allow lambs in but keep adult sheep out.

If a sheep is Polled it is naturally hornless. When shopping for lambs you may see a listing P-H-Sc. This stands for Polled, Horned, or Scurs, and describes what is on top of the lamb’s head.

A Scur is a small horn, often misshapen, not firmly rooted in the skull.

If you happen to come across a sheep lying on its back with its legs up, it is Cast. You should try to tip or roll it over so that it can get to its feet - if left Cast they can die as they cannot get up. This is often because they are in lamb.  

Rooing or Rooing Off is when a sheep’s fleece starts coming off on its own. Usually in patches, usually your rams, and usually by rubbing it off on fences, trees, etc. A ram rooing off his fleece can end up dragging a great patch of felted wool until it finally tears free, or you cut it off. 

To Skirt means to remove from the sheared fleece the parts that are unusable or undesirable for spinning, i.e. vegetation, manure, urine stained areas, felted areas.

Tags are wool locks that are contaminated with manure.

Roving is wool that is washed and carded into a form ready to be spun.

A Cloud is a washed fluffy form of carded wool ready to be spun. 

Laceweight is a form of yarn that is used for knitting fine, ultra-light weight pieces (1500-3000 yards per pound).

Sportweight is a form of yarn for knitting light to medium weight garments, ideal for hats, socks, mittens, and sweaters (1000-1200 yards per pound). 

DK/Worstedweight is a form of yarn for knitting medium to heavy weight garments, approximately 800-900 yards /pound. 

Batt is a form of carded wool, generally rectangular, used for spinning, felting or quilting. 

And there's so much more ...

All of which is why, if you visit an agricultural show or a livestock auction you’ll rarely hear the word 'Sheep'. Farmers have a wide terminology and vocabulary describing not just the gender, but age and purpose of the sheep.

Fascinating isn't it?