Contents
- 1 Know the age of the sheep
- 2 Determine the age of the sheep
- 3 facts about sheep
Knowing the age of the sheep
Examination of sheep's teeth is the most common way to make an approximate estimate of their age. This age estimate takes into account the differences between different types of sheep in the time of appearance of permanent teeth. Which may result from a difference in strain, environment, and nutrition.
Determine the age of the sheep
Sheep have 32 permanent teeth, where this number is distributed to include eight incisors in the lower jaw, in addition to six pairs of molars on the upper jaws as well as six molars on the lower jaw, and the upper jaw does not include incisors, and these teeth usually begin to emerge during the age period 1-3 months; The eight deciduous incisors appear in the lower jaw, in addition to three pairs of molars in each of the upper and lower jaws, with a total of 20 teeth.
When sheep reach the age of 9 months, they will have 24 teeth, and they will increase to 32 teeth by the age of one and a half years, with the appearance of the last two pairs of molars in each jaw, and during the subsequent period, which extends between one and a half and up to two years, 3 pairs of deciduous molars will be replaced by permanent, followed by replacement The fourth, fifth, and sixth pairs during the age period of 26 months, 42 months, and 54 months, respectively. It is worth noting that the sheep’s teeth begin to move away from each other at the age between 5-6 years, then the wear increases in the period ranging between 8-10 years. Then the teeth begin to bend from the middle, the wear increases, the distances between the teeth increase, and they begin to fall out of the gums by reaching the age of 9 years.
Facts about sheep
The following points mention some numerical facts related to sheep:
- Sheep live with an average lifespan of 6-11 years.
- Sheep lambs are born with an average weight of 2.3-3.6 kg.
- The average body temperature of sheep is about 39.2 degrees Celsius.
- The average daily consumption of food or fodder for sheep ranges between 1-2 kg.
- Sheep's gestation period ranges from 145-155 days, and they may be able to give birth once or twice a year.
