What would happen to a sheep if its winter coat was not sheared?

Question

What would happen to a sheep if its winter coat was not sheared?

Answer 1

The wool on a sheep is not actually a 'winter coat', unlike some animals that grow extra hair in winter. Sheep's wool grows all year round, and does not fall off by itself if they aren't shorn.

I have seen two sheep that hadn't been shorn for five years, one on a neighbouring property/ranch to the one where I grew up and one at a country show. Both of them had wool that was about 20 cm/8 inches in length.

Oddly enough, neither of them had been fly blown, but both were wool blind. Along with being shorn every year, sheep should also be crutched once a year to prevent fly strike and wool-blindness. Crutching is when the face and around the tail is shorn. This is done about six months after shearing, so will tide them over until the next shearing time. As another poster said, sheep become prone to being fly blown, aka fly struck, if they are left unshorn, particularly around the tail. Becoming "wool blind" is what happens when sheep can't see because of wool growing in front of their eyes. Crutching also fixes this problem, but obviously if a sheep's owner hasn't bothered to get it shorn for 5 years, they also haven't bothered to get it crutched.

Normally, people who run sheep look after them well enough that this sort of thing doesn't happen, but to answer your question, if the sheep was left unshorn for a long period of time, it would normally die due to becoming fly blown or becoming wool blind, which would interfere with it finding food and water. I believe the two sheep that I've seen, that survived five years without being shorn, were very lucky to still be alive. I don't think many would survive that long.

Answer 2

Makes them highly susceptible to fly strike. Ideal conditions for blue bottles to lay their eggs and the maggots then go to eat the sheep alive if left untreated.

Sheep have been bred for wool and part of the deal is they have to be sheared.

Answer 3

It would get very hot.

Answer 4

nothing the fur just grows and grows.

the sheep will just drink more water to copmansate

there was one called shreck that hadnt had a shave in 13 yrs then then cut it all off.

sheep was fine

Answer 5

It depends. Wild sheep are never shorn, but have adapted to their climate and region over the years. They also will rub themselves against trees in an effort to help the shedding process.

Domestic sheep are a different story. If someone is raising sheep and lives in a region that gets very hot in the summer, an unshorn sheep could potentially get heatstroke and die. Another drawback to not shearing is if the sheep gives birth, the lamb has a harder time nursing if the ewe has a vast amount of wool. It depends on the breed and where the sheep lives, but I would guess that a sheep who is shorn in the summer is more comfortable than one who is not.

Answer 6

Like all other hair/fur, it will only have a given growth life. Eventually it will fall off in clumps or be rubbed off against fences etc.  

Answer 7

it starts falling off on its own eventually

Answer 8

Sheep should not be neglected to the point where they have to shear themselves by rubbing off their shabby old coat long after they sweltered through the worst of the heat with them on.

Answer 9

In the wild their coats wouldn't be sheared and they would be just fine, therefore...