A Word About Sheep

I like sheep. They’re not smart or cuddly or friendly, but they do look pretty good in a grassy field or on the slope of a steep hill, especially when there are a lot of them dotting the landscape. The brightly colored splotches on their fuzzy bodies are brands; with the open grazing system that characterizes some parts of the country, sheep from different owners may mingle and will need to be sorted eventually.

I can’t offer too many guarantees for our tour of Ireland, but I can guarantee that you will see sheep, and plenty of them. To quote The Irish Times, “there were 4.7 million sheep in Ireland in 2010, distributed among 32,100 farms, with an average flock of 148.” I would guess that today’s number is not that different. That’s about one sheep for every person in the Republic of Ireland. Once the birthrate for sheep exceeds that for Irish people, there’s going to be trouble.

I’m a knitter and love wool, tweed, weaving, and all of that stuff, so that’s one reason why I like sheep. Sadly though, for those of you interested in buying yarn in Ireland, I must tell you that Irish sheep are bred mainly for meat, and their wool is not suitable for carding or spinning. There are some wonderful Irish yarns, mostly spun and dyed in County Donegal and available everywhere. But the wool comes from Australia and other places. Irish lamb (and beef, for that matter) is famous all over Europe and a good thing to order at restaurants.

When I travel with students in early January, we usually spot some early lambs just born that day and still wet. There’s a lot of commotion on the bus when this happens and a lot of high-pitched “Oooooh! Newborn lambs!” and the like. With everyone moving over to the side where the lambs were spotted, we sometimes think the bus will roll over. I would estimate that more than half the students buy some kind of stuffed lamb toy or other sheep paraphernalia while in Ireland.

Here is a sample of my sheep obsession and a glimpse of what you’ll be seeing out the bus windows during our travels.