A post about different types of shedding. I am fairly strict on not only basic shed ability of our sheep, but also how & when they shed. I have learned that pregnant ewes that lamb Jan.-May will often shed after they lamb (approx. 2-3 weeks). Our ewes are lambing in June, so they have started shedding now. Shedding takes energy, thus they are not putting energy into birthing and lactating. I have one ewe lamb (first time mom) that had SUCH a heavy winter coat, which is good for our winters, but take a lot more energy to shed. She has gone into the perfect shed, by letting go of her back hair first. This hair is hard to rub off, so when it releases on it's own, that means this ewe has excellent shed ability (genetically) rather than being able to rub her hair off. (This is the ewe with the brown heart on her back, and she is very pregnant with 5 weeks to go!!). The next form of shedding I look for is all the hair coming off in an uniform manner. Which is the second picture of another ewe lamb (1st pregnancy). She has been shedding for the last 2 weeks, with only a few loose tufts on her bum (if I pick at these, they come off exceptionally easy), thus I would consider this line of ewes to be genetically predisposed to good shed ability.
The third picture is of a ewe lamb that is slowly "rubbing" her coat off, but it takes her time and energy to work at this, thus I wonder about her genetic shed ability. These sheep all shed, but different lines have different shedding processes.
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Why it is so easy for me to keep an eye on our sheep :)
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