A female sheep is called a ewe. A male sheep is called a ram. A baby sheep is called a lamb. A ram that is castrated so it cannot breed is called wethers.
Sheep are descended from the wild mouflon of Asia. They have been bred over time for wool and meat into several different breeds, like Merino and Suffolk.
Sheep have a thick woolen coat, called a fleece that can be harvested yearly in the spring. Sheep have no upper front teeth (incisors). They have small, split-hooved feet.
They are herbivores, eating only plants and are ruminants. This means that, like cows, the dry food they eat is broken down in their complex stomachs by bacteria and then spit back up again or "regurgitated” to be chewed again. This is called chewing their “cud.”
Sheep mostly give us wool and meat (lamb and mutton), but some cultures raise them for milk and cheese as well. They have been kept in herds or flocks by man for thousands of years.
