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Yen1969 t1_iz10g2f wrote

Reply to comment by melodien in Did sheep fur always just endlessly grow or was that something that was selectively bred? Were they originally naturally adapted to be going through a lot of foliage and thickets and stuff that would keep their coat relatively trimmed? by EuroTraschBozos

Another minor point:

Most wool sheep can still shed their wool, but it is usually a sign of being stressed or sick. I expect that if left to "go back wild", the first n generations of sheep will probably shed their wool when heat stressed in the summer. Not at all healthy for them, but those that survive from being easier/faster to shed would likely begin to self-correct back to become shedding sheep again.

Source: I have a small Southdown flock and used to have Dorper/Katahdin crosses. We had one ewe that lost around 70% of her wool mid winter last year from an illness. We saved her, but not the twins she carried.

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wolf1moon t1_iz15nlb wrote

Wasn't there an escaped sheep that just kept growing? When they caught it a few years later, it was a complete wreck of wool

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WantsToBeUnmade t1_iz1d4mw wrote

>I expect that if left to "go back wild", the first n generations of sheep will probably shed their wool when heat stressed in the summer.

It's a reasonable expectation, but turns out they don't lose their wool to heat stress. It happens regularly in Australia that a sheep escapes or isn't picked up for whatever reason at shearing time, and then survives for years without being shorn. The record is a ram named Chris whose fleece weighed 41kg (90.2 lbs.)

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/25/mammoth-woolly-baarack-the-overgrown-sheep-shorn-of-his-35kg-fleece

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Level9TraumaCenter t1_iz1f4qn wrote

After ~200 years, the Santa Cruz Island sheep were similar in that they established an unmanaged population. The Nature Conservancy reclaimed the island from non-native grazing species, and Santa Cruz sheep were either captured or exterminated.

I don't know much about them other than what Google has to say, but I can't see anyone claiming they shed their coat, just that "Sheep have little or no wool on their bellies, faces, and legs, and many have short, woolless 'rat' tails."

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WantsToBeUnmade t1_iz65puk wrote

The Santa Cruz sheep were also regularly rounded up and shorn. They were also culled often. They were feral in as much as no one was actively managing or feeding them, but the fleece was valuable and the locals took advantage of that.

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