A Comprehensive Analysis of the Behavioral Habits and Characteristics of Sheep

Sheep are commonly raised animals. They have full bodies and dense wool. Their heads are short. Males have large spiral horns, while females have no horns or only small ones. The coat color is white. Sheep are now raised all over the world. They are timid by nature. They come into estrus in autumn and winter. The gestation period of females is 145—152 days. Each litter produces 1—5 lambs. Their lifespan is 10—15 years. Sheep are resistant to thirst and can provide humans with products such as meat and wool.

Strong flocking behavior

Sheep have a strong flocking instinct; when disturbed, they lean on each other and crowd together. When driven, they follow the "lead sheep" and make calls to stay in contact. However, because of their strong gregarious behavior, when flocks are close together, they easily mix. Therefore, mixing of flocks should be avoided in management. The strength of gregarious behavior differs among sheep breeds; coarse-wool breeds are the strongest, and wool breeds are stronger than dual-purpose meat-and-wool breeds.

Strong foraging ability and a wide range of feed utilization

Sheep have a relatively narrow mouth, thin and flexible lips, and sharp teeth, allowing them to nibble short grass close to the ground and make use of many forages and feeds that other livestock cannot use. Moreover, sheep have strong, powerful limbs and hard hooves, and can graze while walking. They use a wide range of forages and feeds, such as various pasture grasses, shrubs, agricultural by-products, and cereal grains. Experiments have shown that sheep can consume 80% of the plant species offered as feed, and their utilization of crude fiber
can reach 50%-80%.

Fond of cleanliness

Sheep have a habit of loving cleanliness. Sheep prefer to eat clean feed and drink cool, hygienic water. Once forage or drinking water is contaminated or has an off odor, they are unwilling to eat or drink it. Therefore, when supplementary feeding indoors, feed should be given in small amounts and replenished frequently to avoid wasting forage. Routine feeding management should be strengthened, attention should be paid to the cleanliness and hygiene of sheep forage and feed, troughs should be swept frequently, and drinking water should be changed frequently.

Fond of dryness, afraid of damp heat

Sheep are suited to living in dry, cool environments. Damp, stuffy sheep sheds and low-lying, damp grazing land easily cause sheep to contract parasitic and infectious diseases, leading to a decline in wool quality, an increase in foot rot, and effects on sheep growth and development. Sheep have underdeveloped sweat glands and poor heat dissipation, so in hot weather the effects of damp heat on the sheep's body should be avoided, especially in southern China, where high temperature and high humidity are an important factor affecting the development of sheep production. In addition to building sheep sheds as much as possible on sloping land with high, dry terrain, good ventilation, and smooth drainage, sheep beds should also be built inside the pens or the sheep sheds should be built as raised pens with slatted floors.

Gentle temperament, timid and easily startled

Sheep are gentle by temperament and are the most timid of all livestock species, with poor self-defense ability. Sudden fright easily causes "flock stampedes." Once sheep are startled, they do not easily gain weight, so handlers should normally be gentle with sheep and should not shout loudly or strike them, so as not to cause fright at the same time.

Keen sense of smell and hearing

Sheep have a keen sense of smell. Ewes mainly rely on smell to identify their own lambs, with vision and hearing playing auxiliary roles. After giving birth, the ewe licks dry the amniotic fluid on the lamb's body surface and becomes familiar with the lamb's odor. When a lamb suckles, the ewe always first sniffs the lamb's hindquarters to identify by odor whether it is her own lamb. Taking advantage of this characteristic, when fostering lambs, as long as the amniotic fluid of the foster ewe is smeared on the orphan lamb or lambs from multiple births to be fostered, fostering will mostly succeed. Individual sheep have their own odor, and a flock has a group odor. Once two flocks mix, sheep can distinguish by odor whether others are from the same flock. During grazing, once separated from the flock or separated from their lambs, they rely on long calls to respond to each other.

Piling-up behavior

Because the wool coat is relatively thick and body heat dissipates slowly, sheep fear heat but not cold. In hot summer weather, there is often a "piling-up" phenomenon. That is, sheep tuck their heads under another sheep's belly to cool off, piling together more and more, becoming hotter and hotter, and the hotter they get, the more they squeeze together, which easily injures the sheep. Therefore, heat-relief measures should be set up in summer to prevent piling up, and sheep should be allowed to rest and cool off; sheep farms should have shading equipment, and trees can be planted or shade shelters built.

Strong disease resistance

Sheep have relatively strong disease resistance. The strength of their disease resistance varies by breed. Generally speaking, coarse-wool sheep have stronger disease resistance than fine-wool sheep and meat-type sheep, and goats have stronger disease resistance than sheep. Sheep in good body condition have a relatively strong tolerance for disease; when the illness is mild, they generally show no symptoms, and some can even still struggle to follow the flock and graze before dying. Therefore, in grazing and confined feeding management, careful observation is necessary to promptly discover sick sheep. If treatment is carried out only after sheep have stopped feeding or ruminating, the therapeutic effect is often poor, bringing great losses to production.

Mating behavior characteristics of sheep

Rams are very sensitive to the pheromones secreted by ewes in estrus. The ram sniffs after the urine from the ewe's vulva and performs the flehmen response, sometimes striking the ewe with its forelimbs and making courtship calls while also performing mounting movements. When ewes are in strong estrus, some actively approach the ram, or stand still when the ram chases them; young ewes are timid and panic when chased by the ram, accepting mating only after the ram chases them persistently. Therefore, because estrus in ewes is not obvious, when carrying out hand mating or artificial insemination, teaser rams should be used to identify ewes in estrus.