Barbara Bubbles;
ROTFL ;-) Wonderful reply Mark, informative and witty <g>. I'd love to out
you and Sandy head-to-head! (Would a sheep marked K9 get confused? :-D ).

Explains a few things too because where I've lived sheep either never left
the farm or when in a "public" space were only moved short distances from
field to field along a single track roads. Thus, no need for "branding".

Not certain it's an EU directive though. It's been almost a decade since I
lived in NI, but the farmers around here (south Berkshire) don't bother, but
it could have something to do with herd size as no one's into sheep in a big
way here - it's mostly studfarms and riding stables.

Barbara.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark P. Line" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [CONLANG] Sheep 'brands' [was: Cow Brands]


> Barbara Barrett said:
> >> 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.
>
> Sheep are sometimes moved from A to B through the middle of a village and
> along a country road with no fences or hedges on either side. This isn't
> Common Land, but it's still a communal area where flocks can get mixed up.
>
>
> > So where exactly in the North of England was this
> > practice you describe used?
>
> I've seen marked sheep (distinct spray-painted circles on the side, not
> smudgy marks in a series of colors on the top of their hindquarters from
> multiple copulations with differently marked rams) everywhere I went in
> the British isles. Seeing sheep without these marks would have been a
> noticeable event, so I don't remember the specific context of particular
> instances of seeing  marked ones.
>
> North England: Lake District, Peak District, environs of Huddersfield
>
> Scotland: Ayrshire, Skye/Lochalsh
>
> Wales: Brecon Beacons
>
> Cornwall: all over
>
>
> > 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?
>
> No.
>
>
> > 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.
>
> Anything's possible, of course. I'm well known for my complete inability
> to detect bullshit...
>
> So, what are the exact contortions that ram and ewe get into which cause a
> perfectly legible pair of characters like "R9" to be transferred from the
> ram's belly to the ewe's *side*?
>
> (In the age of the European Union, locally differentiated paint splotches
> no longer suffice. Large alphanumeric symbols are being used on the
> animals' sides when a lot of sheep have to be marked cheaply, but tattoos
> and other earmarks are being used as well now. EU legislation requires all
> sheep to be marked -- before they leave the holding area where they were
> born, as I understand it. Maybe your experience in sheep country came
> after they started to use more earmarks and fewer side splotches. My
> extended visits to the areas listed above were in the late 70's and early
> 80's.)
>
>
> Me, I think the sheep have just gotten really good at playing paintball.
> They probably have some sort of scoring system that accounts for the
> alphanumeric hits. You know, like putting your "R9" handle on the
> opponent's side makes her lose face even more, so you get more points from
> the hit. Or something like that.
>
> -- Mark
>