Why can’t domestic sheep naturally shed their winter coats?

Question

Why can’t domestic sheep naturally shed their winter coats?

In: 11

Answer 1

Some can, it depends entirely on what they were bred for. Hair sheep, as they are known, are generally meat sheep and are about 10% of the sheep hanging around. So, Katahdin sheep and Dorpers are probably ones you’d seen more often (or at least I know 2 people who raise them) but there are probably 20-ish breeds that are hair sheep.

So, wool sheep don’t shed and were bred extensively for that trait. Hair sheep do shed and were in part bred for that.

Google “hair sheep” and see what turns up.