I see these fun videos of people shearing sheep and talking about how it needs to be done and I grew up on a farm and sheared sheep but why do we actually need to do that like in the wild there is nobody shearing them ?
What happens to sheeps in the wild?
In: 7
“Sheep in the wild” do not exist in their current form. We’ve domesticated sheep, selected them for the ones that grow their coat the fastest, repeatedly, so only the most productive sheep remained in our farms. So now, these productive sheep are not capable of surviving without human intervention, because they’re not the same sheep that would’ve survived at all.
Domestic sheep have been specifically bred to produce more wool. “Wild” sheep don’t have that problem. Feral sheep would have that problem though.
Sheep have been bred to produce more wool and therefore can be in danger without sheering as a result of the extra weight or suffocation. A wild sheep has much less wool and therefore no danger
Domesticated sheep have been bred to *never shed* and will produce their thick winter coat indefinitely.
Great if you plan to harvest a lot of wool, but the sheep will overgrow and eventually die from heat exhaustion or simple overloading if it isn’t shorn regularly.
Their wild ancestors shed their wool naturally to maintain a normal seasonally-appropriate coat.
Sheep have been bred partly for their meat, but also for their wool. So over thousands of years they have been bred so that their coats keep growing and not be shed, and we can take them off to use, and know that they will grow back and they will be cosy next winter. Sheep don’t NEED sheared to survive for a few years, but they generally don’t thrive if they aren’t.
Here’s an article about a sheep who escaped its farm, they don’t know who owned it but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t wild. It’s got a picture of him before he was sheared of his 35kg coat
Domestic sheep are bred to produce more wool and wouldn’t survive in the wild, or it would be very difficult to because they don’t shed. Which makes it difficult to run away from predators because of the weight, easily exhaustion from overheating, and getting caught in branches and other obstacles.
Wild sheep don’t produce that much wool and they shed naturally.
“Wild” sheep don’t really exist anymore, but when they did, they shed their coat regularly to avoid overheating in the summer. Domestic sheep don’t shed, so if they escape their pen, then there is a good chance they will die of heat exhaustion in the summer after a couple of years without shearing.
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