h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Sheep - The Swiss Army Knife of Livestock - A19810316
Author: Matt [What's the UnderGuide? Find out here A1103329 ] - U168592

This is a Flea Maraket Rescue.

The original Entry is here: A1343053

The Original PR threads are here:

F635570?thread=329315

and here:

F635570?thread=382778

The orignal author has been contacted and credited.

Enjoy.

Hi Matt, another nice rescue.
Don't know whether it's of any relevance to you: in Germany, sheep are essential for the maintenmace of the many dikes along the North Sea. And I've recently seen a report on TV that there is a special breed from the UK which does not eat the young christmas trees, so these sheep are kept on christmas tree plantations in Germany. I can't recall the name of this breed, though.

Ok, I've done a few reserches: the breed is Shropshire Sheep.

Matt, can you explain why Ovis aries is onomatopaeic? Doesn't sound like a sheepy noise to me.

I'd argue the whole Market Value section though...

At the bottom of the ladder they're in no way a good moneyspinner or wage earner... In fact, if you happen to be lucky enough to farm in certain areas of the country, you're financially better off by _not_ having any sheep on your land. (The Lake District ESA scheme's actually paying farmers _not_ to graze sheep on certain fells).

I htink I've addressed everyone's points in a manner of speaking (I want to try and keep the original author's voice in there as much as I can).

I'll be adding a few more links in as I go too

There we go, some more info and refinement - think it's coming along nicely now.

I like it Matt!

"fudges and other chocolates" - I wouldn't call fudge a type of chocolate, personally.

There are a few points where you says sheeps when I believe it should be "sheep's".

Also, you might like to mention that in medieval times, sheepskin was used to make parchment (and calfskin to make vellum, which was basically the same thing). The skins were taken - the fresher the better - cleaned, scraped and stretched, then cut to size and made into books.

Lovin' it - didn't Macca and Wings have a song about Mary and her little lamb when I was in primary 6

Perhaps that's just a bad memory.

Cheers Elentari - I'll fish out those rogue sheeps (they might be from the original) and add something about vellum

Fizzy - Thanks, and yes you're not imagining it

"the skin is flame-proof ... it does the same for you as what it did for its previous owner."

Ever heard this one: How do you make a sheep go woof?

ooo, there's an interesting bit from the original I missed out on! Asbestos sheep anyone?

Will fix up that fur-pa (see what I did there? oh dear, I wet myself sometimes...)

"I've seen sheep burning off the Shoulder of Mutton"

Maybe not.

Well I'm sure Rutger was 'thinking' it...

Sheared this and picked off all the dags, added a few links and so forth, think I'm done. Any more comments?

The words sheep and intelligence should not be used in the same sentance without the words 'total lack of' between them.

Against that they are incredibly edible - if you buy a sheep's head, make sure they leave the eyes in, that way it'll see you through the week.

Must admit I'm still not that happy with the 'Market Value' section...

The tone of it makes one think that sheep are a gold mine, whereas they're anything but that...

A small flock of sheep wouldn't keep a shepherd busy - in fact to keep him from going bankrupt at all in England today you're looking at many hundreds of sheep - or even into the thousands - just to keep a family-run farm going. I know it's supposed to be a tongue in cheek look at sheep - but I really do feel that paragraph gives the whole wrong impression.

Nobody's making much money out of sheep (with the possible exception of supermarket shareholders).

Not a problem Whisky, have twidled that abit - see what you think now

Great!

Thanks for that!

No problem, think it reads better now anyways too!