Sheep "brands" [was: Cow Brands]

> Mark Mentioned;
<snip>
> I've seen sheep "branding" in the north of England, but they use splotches
> of paint in different colors. AFAIK, the choice of colors are only locally
> significant, worked out among the affected owners in an area -- no formal
> registration or anything like cattle brands.
Barbara Babbles;
I've lived in "sheep country" (Southern England/Scotland/Northern Ireland)
most of my adult life and I've never seen or heard of using paint/dye on
sheep for this purpose. While I don't doubt your veracity Mark, I find it
hard to imagine an area where such marking would be needed, except on Common
Land. But,  Common Land  that is still used for grazing rather than
recreation, is almost non existent nowadays. Indeed because Common Land is
always used by folk walking their dogs it'd be rather silly to graze sheep
on it even if grazing was still permitted. Only on Common Land would it be
possible for herds to mix; except for the commons, every square inch of the
UK is owned by someone. So where exactly in the North of England was this
practice you describe used?

Are you by any chance confusing the practice of marking impregnated ewes by
painting the belly of the Ram with dye which is transferred to the ewe
during sex? The farmer then knows not only which ewes have been impregnated
but also by using a different colour for each ram which bloodline produced
which lambs.

If this was the case the coloured splodge would usually be on the ewe's
hindquarters: but not always. Sometimes a farmer will mark a ewe on the head
that he's keeping an eye on for one reason or another so as he can spot her
easily and remove her from the herd as soon as markings show on her
hindquarters.

Marking sheep with colours=owners would preclude using this simple way of
sorting  out impregnated sheep - unless there were a lot colours and the
farmers didn't mind if X's ram impregnated Y's ewe and literally screwed up
their breeding progamme!

On the other hand, Its a tradition in sheep areas to see which local can
come up with the most implausible explanation for the sheep markings that a
tourist believes.

I recall showing a tourist around County Enniskillen with my landlady's son
Sandy. The tourist asked why the sheep had bright blue or orange paint on
them: before Sandy could spin him a yarn I jumped in and explained the
markings truthfully.

Sandy was visibly disappointed that I'd spoiled his fun until the tourist
pointed at one ewe and asked "Why's that one got paint on its forehead?"; to
which Sandy very quickly replied with a totally straight face; "Ach, sure
that one's Ram likes blow jobs.".  8-)

You can't win.

Barbara

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