More famous sheep (please keep 'em coming!)

More Famous Sheep

Private Derby. Swaledale ram mascot of the British 95th Derbyshire Regiment (pictured at the right on a vintage postcard from my sheep ephemera collection)

Russell. Who lived in Frogsbottom Field in Rob Scotton’s charming children’s book, Russell the Sheep

Casserole. Kept by the Kennedy family in the Australian TV program, Neighbours, and Chop, the Kennedy's second sheep, introduced after Casserole's funeral

Lily Lamb. From Disney’s Minnie 'n Me

Timmy. A lamb in the Shaun the Sheep spin-off, Timmy Time (Aardman Animations)

Black Sheep. The black sheep of the family, he is a cousin of Cow and Chicken in the Cow & Chicken cartoons

Hiro Sohma. In the Japanese manga comics and anime series, Fruit Basket, Hiro Sohma is a human boy who morphs into the Zodiac ram

Derek the Sheep and Lenny the Sheep. Of the British comic strip, The Beano

Rammie. Mascot of the Derby County Football (rugby) Club in Derby, England

Mary’s little lamb. Who “followed her to school one day, school one day, schol one day...”

Ship. Imaginary friend and “counting sheep” in the Webcomic, Count Your Sheep

Larry the Lamb. Co-star of the British children’s radio series, Toytown, part of the BBC series, Children’s Hour, broadcast from 1922 through 1964.

Maghatch. The witch mouflon in Gary Kilworth’s heroic fantasy novel, Thunder Oak

Mopple the Whale and the other sheep (Othello, Miss Maple, Maude, Zora, Melmoth, Sir Ritchfield, Heather, Cloud, Ramses, Sarah, Lane, Cordelia, Maise, Willow, Fosco, and the Winter Lamb) in Leonie Swann’s wonderful sheep detective novel, Three Bags Full (published as Glennkill in Europe)

Louise the Lamb. Of the British children’s TV program, Muffin the Mule

Chirin. Sheep protagonist of the sad, 1978 Japanese anime film, Ringing Bell (Sanrio)

Georgina, Gogol, and Hubert. Sheep in the British Children’s BBC animated series, Sheeep (yes, with three e’s) aired in 2000

Sergeant Woolly Pullover, Commodore Fleece Cardigan, Major Legger Mutton, Pilot Fluff Pendleton, Master Sargent Cornelius Cannonfodder, Private Bull Bellwether, Commander Missiles Muttonchop, and Lieutenant Sureshot Shearling. R.A.M.S. in the Barnyard Commandos animated series (1984; Marikami-Wolf-Swenson Productions) and action figures collection (Playmates).

Lammy and his evil twin, Rammy. From the video game, UnJammer Lammy

Rain, rain (and more rain)

I haven’t posted anything for awhile because everything is sodden, my pretty black and white lamb is grimy, and is still not much afoot around here anyway.

It’s cold, supposed to be down in the low 30’s overnight, but since the downpour abated (at least for awhile), I put Mopple and Edmund back out with the old sheep this afternoon. I had them back in their former pen for awhile so they’d stay warmer and dryer inside their Port-a-Hut, as opposed to the more open-air field shelter with the old ones. They have lots of wool already and don’t appear to mind getting wet, considering they voluntarily venture out to graze during the worst of it.

If I can’t do something with Mopple soon, I’ll start posting some sheepy fun stuff I’m collecting for the upcoming Storey sheep book, though it may be off in the distant future for awhile. Well, what the heck—might as well post an item this time too.

For your pleasure…

Famous Sheep

Dolly. The world's first cloned sheep

Bonnie. The first cloned sheep's first lamb

Maltilda. The first Australian cloned sheep

Lambchop. Sheri Lewis's wisecracking sidekick

Mrs. Sheep and Lambs. The sheep in Lambert the Sheepish Lion (Disney Studios)

The Toast of Botswana. One of the world's only two scientifically verified geep (half goat, half sheep)

Lisa. The cute German geep born a few years ago.

Dimitri. Balki's toy sheep (Perfect Strangers)

Shaun the Sheep. Wallace and Grommit's sheepy co-star in A Close Shave (Aardman Animations)

George. Sheepy star of the comic strip, Lost Sheep

Shrek. A famous Merino wether who eluded shearers for six years and grew a 60 pound fleece

Harold. The clever sheep (Monty Python's Flying Circus)

Mouth. Hammerhead Hannigan's bowtie-bedecked sidekick in Darkwing Duck (Disney Studios)

The Serta sheep. Out-of-work spokes-sheep for a major mattress company

Lanolin and Bo. Barnyard pals from the U.S. Acres comic strip

Maa. The Very Old Border Leicester ewe in Babe (Universal Pictures)

Bimbaabaa. The lamb in The Little Drummer Boy (a Bass/Rankin film)

Po and Merry. Sheep in the Stray Sheep cartoons

Mishun H. Sugworth. Also known as Mint Sauce, from the cartoon strip of the same name

Danny. Jeremiah's black lamb in So Dear to My Heart (Disney Studios)

Cardigan. Wilbur's friend in Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (Paramount Studios)

Please let me know if you think of additional famous sheep!

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Update: I've been Googling famous sheep tonight and came up with quite a few more names. I'll post them on a supplementary list to follow this one!

The old ones...

Not much afoot here. My neck is bothering me unmercifully (I went to our chiropractor for an adjustment two weeks ago and he put my neck out—it’s a weird story), so I’m not able to be at the computer as much as I’d like to (or for that matter, need to be). I’m nearly finished with the Storey meat goat book update, then will officially start Have a Cow, although I already have about 12,000 words finished, doing some here and there as time permits.

On Sunday, John and Robert, the man we hire to help build fences, put up the dividing fence in the elder sheep pasture, though the gate still needs to be hung. When it is, Edmund and Mopple will move in with the elders. Then the kids (The Red Brothers and Bon Bon’s twins) will have their own paddock and shelter.

Our old ones are Baasha and Dodger. Both are quite arthritic but seem to enjoy their lives and as long as they do, we’ll keep them going.

Baasha is a registered Miniature Cheviot and will be 14 in March. She’s a cutie, my favorite sheep, and mom, grandma, great-grandma, or great-great-grandma to all of our other little sheep. She’s very sweet and gentle—a really stellar little ewe whose sire came from the Brighton flock upon which the Miniature Cheviot breed is based.

We’re not sure how old Dodger is but we’ve had him six years and he was no spring chicken when he moved in. Besides that, he’s a Hampshire wether, a huge meat breed wooly sheep not bred for longevity.

Dodger belonged to a 4-H boy in southern Arkansas who refused to send him to slaughter at the end of the 4-H fair (what a great kid!). Then he and our Wiltshire Horn cross ewe, Angel, performed in “The Witness” (http://www.witnessproductions.com/), the musical Passion play held throughout the summer months in Hot Springs, Arkansas. When they needed a retirement home, Anita Messenger of Liberty Ranch knew I wanted some pet sheep, so they came here to live out the rest of their days.

I'm lucky to have such neat sheep!

Now for something completely different...

Maybe Mopple can learn to pack too! I don’t know why not. I ran across the first quote in this series while doing yak research for Storey’s Have a Cow.

I’d heard of Himalayan pack sheep but never any specifics. Sheep aren’t a supple as goats but they’re just as strong and they follow just as well. I can’t imagine a modern wool breed sheep in fleece wearing a pack saddle (ow!) but a hair sheep? Yeah, I do…

Quotes from books in public domain downloaded for free at Google Books (http://books.google.com/):

The yak-cow and hardy mountain sheep are the favourite beasts of burden in the inner ranges. The little yak-cow, whose bushy tail is manufactured in Europe into lace, patiently toils up the steepest gorges with a heavy burden on her back. The sheep, laden with bags of borax, are driven to marts on the outer ranges near the plains, where they are shorn of their wool, and then return to the interior with a load of grain or salt.

- The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume VI, W.W. Hunter. London: Trübner & Company, 1886

The principal beast of burden in the Himalayas is the Mountain sheep. It is said to comfortably draw a load of about twenty-five pounds and lives entirely on the herbage on the wayside. It has been known to travel a journey of 1000 miles and be little the worse for wear. Animals of this class were used in the Younghusband expedition in Tibet. It is common in the Himalayas to load sheep high up in the mountains with borax and then drive them down to the plains, shear them and return with loads, shear them and return with loads of grain or salt. They stand the severe cold of the higher ranges of Tibet better than any other animal, and are indispensable to the needs of transit of the people there.

- William James Clarke, Modern Sheep: Breeds and Management. Chicago: American Sheep Breeder Company, 1907

In some parts of India the sheep is even used as a beast of burden, carrying loads of 35 to 40 pounds over rough tracks, and up steep crags, where almost no other animal could be employed.

- Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, Volume VII. New York: Collier, 1887

Sheep lips

We went to Hirschs’, the farm store in Thayer (MO) today to pick up feed. I stayed in the truck, organizing some writing material.

When John came out he said, “They have sheep lips, so I bought some.”

My mouth fell open. “Sheep lips?” I said. “Why would you buy sheep lips?”

Turns out he said SheepLix, as in tubs of sheep minerals in a molasses base as manufactured by the Sweetlix Company.

Most resources say it’s best to provide granulated minerals for sheep and goats but our goats simply won’t eat it. I have partial bags of five or six brands in the feed room right now and I’ve tried several more besides. They poop in the granulated mix holders—I know it has to be a game because there are always berries mingling with the minerals. I’m tired of throwing it out on a daily basis, so we’re going back to lix tubs (which the goats love but we’ve never tried with our sheep before today).

The bad thing (besides adding a lot of sugar to their diets) is that the goats smear it all over themselves. Here is a picture of the beautiful Affinity (UP Affinity) that I shot earlier today. Look at that mug—and you should see how much is smeared along her sides!