Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sheep Bell

I had a close encounter of the sheep kind this morning. This friendly fellow walked over to the fence to say hello, accompanied by the most charming clanging of his sheep bell.


The bell is a reproduction of the 1898 Saigne Legier Chiantel Fondeur bell, which was originally produced in Switzerland. I bet it would make a lively holiday decoration, sourced here.



His horns had seen better days, as had his friend's (below). I thought he was a rare three-horned sheep, but my son thinks that one of his horns got split at some point.



I thought you might enjoy seeing this very rough video of the sheep walking up to greet me. Isn't he sweet, with his thick body and skinny legs?


 

Can anyone identify the breed of sheep?

6 comments:

Tracy said...

I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to identify the sheep breed, but if you love to see images of beautiful sheep, here's a book for you to track down:

http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Sheep-Portraits-Champion-Breeds/dp/0312385129

Gorgeous, weird, and wonderful heritage breeds of sheep, photographed expertly.

Sonia / COZY MEMORIES said...

aw what a cutie :) I washed the short video over & over :) with two little ones next to me eheh
sorry I don't know the name of the breed, but it's an adorable one !
PLUS, I loved hearing your voice ! xoxo

TJ said...

My friends raise a breed called Navajo Churro sheep. They often have more than two horns--four horns are especially prized! Jacob sheep also have 4 horns (I think your photo looks more like a Jacob--but I'm not an expert =)

Rebecca said...

Good guess -- yes, it's a Jacob sheep. :) Both the males and females have 2-4 horns, usually even numbered, but there are lines that have odd numbers of horns as well. The black and white pattern makes it a Jacob (rather than a Navajo-Churro). Both are very nice, hardy breeds whose wool is prized for spinning.

Demon Eight said...

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