Starting from Monday 3rd October and finishing on 30th October. 4 weeks of educating, promoting, researching and showcasing everything wool and it starts with a sheep!

So here are some not so woolly facts about sheep

The act of breeding sheep is known as Tupping.

Adult males are called Rams, whilst adult females are called Ewes. Baby sheep are called Lambs.

When giving birth, most Ewes give birth to twins.

Sheep are born with long tails, they get cut off to prevent infection

New-born sheep can walk within minutes after they are born, but are dependent on their mother’s milk until the 6th month of age.

If a Ram has been castrated, it is often called a Wether.

Studies have shown that around 8% of all male sheep are attracted to the same gender.

A group of sheep is known as a flock, herd, or mob.

Female sheep (ewes) are very caring mothers and form deep bonds with their lambs that can recognise them by their call (bleat) when they wander too far away.

Sheep will stay in maternal groups for life.

Sheep breeders put chalk on the male sheep, which leaves a chalk mark on the females it’s mated with to monitor reproduction.

Sheep have very good memories. They can remember at least 50 individual sheep and humans for years. They do this by using a similar neural process and part of the brain that humans use to remember.

sheep can be empathetic and help one another

Sheep have been shown to display emotions, some of which can be studied by observing the position of their ears.

The eyes of a sheep are placed on its head in such a way that they have a field of vision of around 300 degrees. This allows the sheep to see behind themselves – without having to turn their head!

The shape of an animal’s eye tells whether it’s hunter or prey, sheep have horizontal pupils so they can better see predators while grazing

Adult sheep have approximately 32 teeth

Sheep don’t have teeth on their upper jaw, but they have a special top lip that is  divided into two parts called a philtrum

“Gummers” is the name for sheep that lost all of their teeth due to old age.

Due to human interaction, domestic Sheep have evolved to require humans to shear them. Their wool never sheds.

The average sheep produces 8-lbs of wool per year. When done correctly, shearing does not hurt sheep

Sheared sheep don’t recognize each other and fight for a few days to re -establish a hierarchy.

If a sheep were to be put on its back, it would be unable to get back upright!

Sheep will follow a leader. If you can get one sheep moving, then the rest will most likely follow

Contrary to popular belief, sheep are extremely intelligent animals capable of problem solving. They are considered to have a similar IQ level to cattle and are nearly as clever as pigs.

Like various other species including humans, sheep make different vocalisations to communicate different emotions. They also display and recognise emotion by facial expressions.

Researchers discovered that sheep prefer to go through doors with a picture of a smiling human over a door with a picture of an angry human.

Sheep have a good sense of smell and taste for selecting plants. They recognize different species and can categorize them according to similarity. They learn which are beneficial and which to avoid.

Sheep are known to self-medicate when they have some illnesses. They will eat specific plants when ill that can cure them.

Sheep prefer to drink from running water, instead of water from a trough.

The exact lifespan of sheep depends on a lot of different factors, including species. Generally, however, they will live around 10 to 12 years.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest age recorded for a sheep so far was 28 years and 51 weeks.

Sheep can also be kept as house pets, although they do require time outdoors and need to be kept in a herd of at least three.

The Merino is the world’s oldest sheep breed and the most influential. This renowned breed is known by all and originated in Spain in the early 12th century.

Chris the sheep avoided shearing for years. The fleece was so massive, Chris could barely walk. It took five shearers 42 minutes to remove 89 pounds of wool, which set an (unofficial) world record for most wool.

Shaun the sheep was created by Nick Park, the creator of the character, - The word Shaun, when spoken with an English accent, sounds like shorn. And what is a sheep when its fur has been shaved off?

Dolly the sheep - Dolly wasn’t the first animal to be cloned—research on cloning had been going on since the mid-20th century—but she was the first example of successful cloning of a mammal from an adult cell, rather than a more malleable embryo.

After her death The Roslin Institute donated Dolly’s body to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she has become one of the museum’s most popular exhibits. Dolly is back on display in the museum after an extensive gallery refurbishment, alongside an interactive exhibit on the ethics of creating transgenic animals featuring current research from The Roslin Institute.

The largest member of the sheep family, argali weighs up to 400 pounds and stands over five feet tall at the shoulder. They are native to Central Asia and can be found in countries like Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The smallest sheep breed in the world is the Ouessant sheep, which only reaches about 19 inches tall.

Egyptians believed that sheep were sacred. They even had them mummified when they died, just like humans.

Sheep served a large number of purposes in ancient Egypt. They were used to extract meat, milk, wool, and skin. Rams also played an important role in the religion of ancient Egypt. Rams were associated with the two Egyptian Gods, Amun and Khnum and also regarded as symbols of fertility.

The ancient Sumerians (4000 – 2000 BCE), who are thought to have developed the first form of writing (Cuneiform script), immortalised sheep in the form of gods in their religion.

Lamb has the lowest cholesterol of all the red meats.  It packs a powerful punch of essential nutrients, with high levels of zinc, niacin, selenium, vitamin B12 and three times the omega 3 fatty acids than beef.

Sheep’s milk is often used to make cheese. Some of the more popular cheeses made from their milk are Feta, Pecorino, and Manchego.

Sheep have an important role in soil regeneration 

Apple seeds are poisonous to the sheep. So, whilst feeding an apple to the sheep, make sure they don’t eat apple’s seeds.

Cabbage is such a vegetable that makes the sheep infertile, and it cannot give birth to a child.

There are approximately 900 different species of sheep in the world.

Many sheep lovers from around the world have declared October 29th to be Hug A Sheep Day!

China has the most sheep of any country, followed by India and Australia.

Haggis is a tasty dish, made using sheep pluck (the lungs, hearts, and liver). The cooked minced offal is mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasonings and encased in the sheep stomach. 

‘Paddywhack’ is the nuchal ligament or tendon in the midline of the neck of sheep or cattle (generally any quadruped) which relieves the animal of the weight of its head often dried to make a dog treat.

The North Ronaldsay is a breed of sheep which lives on a beach and eats seaweed.