Can anyone tell me with reasonable certainty what the natural expected lifespan of a healthy Border Leicester sheep is? Thanks!

-- DavidL from Mass. (owlhouse2@cs.com), December 07, 2001

Answers

if it tastes good,, shouldnt last long

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), December 07, 2001.

Sheep will live until they have the slightest excuse to die. :)

-- Earthmama (earthmama@yahoo.com), December 07, 2001.

In Australia, a sheep goes through stages of lamb, then two-tooth (two adult teeth), four-tooth, and six-tooth. After that, they sort of hover until about six or six-and-a-half years, when they become classified as "broken mouth" because their teeth are beginning to break down. At this stage, in a dry spell they'll starve. In our dry climate, this happens because they often have to eat grass down to the ground, and sometimes they'll even chase the roots underground - not good for teeth (or pastures). If you keep them on good pasture and don't overgraze, you can do much better. Often, people will buy broken-mouth sheep from good breeding lines on harsh western land, take them east to better grazing, and expect to average anything up to another four lambs (years) out of them. So - I haven't given you an exact answer, but with good pasture and feed, 10-12 years is easily achievable.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 07, 2001.

I would have estimated maybe a year or so less than Don's estimate. I am intrigued by Earthmama's comment as I generally consider sheep to be quite hardy animals, so what is it Earthmama that kills yours off?

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 07, 2001.

The old shepherd's saying is that sheep are born looking for a place to die. But if they survive that first critical period of life and have good diet and maintenance they can live for about 10 yrs.

-- Patricia Ramsey (WOOLSPIN@AOL.COM), December 07, 2001.

I'll allow that John has experience of a different climate than that I know. My figures may well apply to sheep who have been on restricted diets (like Indian fakirs), and therefore will not apply to sheep that have "lived life to the full" on full diets and full pastures. I don't think it drops the maximum age, but it may mean that sheep who have "lived fast" on lush pasture will tend to "die young". Still, given the chance, they'll do better than sheep dying in a Western drought.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 07, 2001.

I would also say around twelve years, but of course there are exceptions. We have one Tunis ewe here who is fifteen. She gave us triplets at 12 years and than we retired her. Our SHEEP magazine recently had a story on Butterfly the Queen, a California Varigeted Mutant who lived to 19. She had given birth to almost 40 lambs in her life and died shortly after her last set were born.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), December 07, 2001.

Don's got it right - a ewe is as old as it's teeth. W. Oregon soil lacks selenium and other minerals, so we fed loose mineral salt on hay. Neighbouring sheep farmers found that a bit labour intensive and put out hard salt blocks for the sheep to gnaw. Our ewes routinely outlived and out-lambed theirs. However, they ate a lot more venison than we did. Good fortune to you. David.

-- David in OR (dggriff@casco.net), December 07, 2001.

Earthmama! Right on! LOL

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), December 07, 2001.

John: I curious as to how you define hardy. Seems to me that sheep need a round the clock caregiver, a shepard. I'm hardpressed to think of another animal that has received so much attention. What animals do you consider less hardy than sheep?

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), December 08, 2001.

Well, John, I was just makin a little funny, but since you asked....

I've raised pretty much every variety of livestock over the years, many of em (including sheep) in large numbers. I raised sheep for 9 years, and my experience was that although they generally did well, in comparison to every other kind of animal I raised, sheep were the most likely to die. The problem did not seem to be that they were taken ill frequently, but rather that the least little discomfort would cause them to say something like "Well, I have a toothache, so I accept the fact that we all must die eventually. Good-bye" or "These damn lambs are taking too long to come out, I think I'll die instead!"

They just seemed to have very little will to live, and can change in one day from seemingly happy, healthy, silly sheep to helpless, apathetic invalids. Now while it can be very Zen to accept one's eventual fate with dignity, there is something to be said for giving a bit of a struggle first.

Just my experience, John; I'm sure others have had quite the opposite.

Blessings,

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), December 08, 2001.

Sheep that are crosses "mutts" hehe usually out live and out lamb purebreds. They are hardier and don't need so much intensive care. I finally found the right breed of sheep for me. The California Reds. All the people that I know that have them have never lost an ewe to lambing, they never have had to help one lamb and the lambs are strong and healthy from the get go. This breed was started from crossing the Tunnis and Barbados so they are lamb producers and the wool is strong with an oatmeal color and flecked with cinnamon hair. Just wonderfull! Not uncommon for these to live a productive life of 15 years.

-- miller (smillers@snowcrest.net), December 08, 2001.