So You Want to be a Sheepherder Quiz

Answer: Sheep come in many colors

Although most people think of sheep as only being white, there are breeds that are black, brown, grey, and blue.

Answer: All of these

There are several dozen breeds of dogs used around the world to herd sheep. Among them are the Alpine Shepherd Dog, Anatolian Shepherd Dog, German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Catalan Sheepdog, Belgian Sheepdog, Icelandic Sheepdog, Shetland Sheepdog, Pyrenean Shepherd, Shiloh Shepherd, Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Croatian Sheepdog, English Shepherd, Picardy Shepherd and Central Asian Shepherd Dog.

Not to mention the Collie and Puli (which I just did mention).

Answer: Either a blade or electric shears

An expert in shearing can shear a sheep in under two minutes. The world record for sheep shearing is 720 ewes in nine hours, the equivalent of 80 ewes every hour or one ewe every 45 seconds. My barber takes about 15 minutes to cut my hair, but she takes a little more care than the guy who was shearing a sheep every 45 seconds.

Answer: Bummers

An orphan lamb is one whose mother died, did not take to the lamb, or, in the case of twins or triplets, could not feed one of the lambs. Bummers can be hand-raised, adopted by another ewe, or sold to someone who wants to start their own herd or who is only interested in raising one sheep.

Answer: Sheep say "baa", goats say "maa".

Here are some other differences. Goats will nibble at some grass or plant then move on to something else while sheep will graze on the whole plant or all the grass. Sheep are more likely to have worms. Sheep are more panicky. Sheep milk is higher in fat. Most sheep are hornless; most goats have horns.

Answer: An amazing 24-30.

While some breeds and strains may breed year round, most sheep breed from March to the end of May -- about 92 days.

Answer: Docking

If you thought the answer was castration, you are really not cut out to be a sheepherder. Castration involves a totally different appendage.

Answer: Alfalfa hay

Alfalfa hay consists of 16 percent protein, while timothy-grass is 7.5 percent and corn silage only 3 percent. You do not feed Shepherd's pie (either minced lamb or mince ground beef covered with mashed potatoes and cheese) to sheep. You feed it to shepherds.

Answer: Merino

There are basically three types of sheep breeds. Sheep like Merinos and Rambouillets are classified as fine wool breeds. They generally have the best wool for making nice clothes. Long wool breeds like the Romney and Lincoln are sometimes preferred because long wool is easier to work with. Medium wool sheep like the Dorset, Cheviot and Oxford are sometimes known as mutton breeds because they are more often raised for their meat. Medium wool is not as good as fine wool and is therefore used more for carpets and blankets.

Answer: Wool pool

In the US, the average price paid to producers per pound of fleece was $.71 in 2005. Clean wool is more valuable than dirty wool. White wool is more valuable than colored wool because of its dyeability. White wool from sheep with white faces is more valuable than white wool from sheep with black faces because wool from the latter contain some black fibers.