III.

Sheep and Goats

Sheep are used for wool, meat (mutton and lamb), and to a small extent for milk. Sheep are commonly divided into three types based on whether their wool is fine, medium, or coarse. Perhaps the first animals to be used in husbandry, they were domesticated in southwestern Asia about 11,000 years ago. About 1 billion are now widely distributed throughout the world, with the largest populations in Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe, South America, and the western United States. Commercial sheep farming is usually conducted on large tracts of land, divided into operational units containing 1,000 or more animals per unit. Sheep are also raised as a secondary enterprise on many small farms. They are well adapted to semiarid regions and to land that is too steep or rough for the cultivation of crops.

Goats were first domesticated in the same region as sheep, and for the same uses, but about 1,500 years later. Worldwide population is estimated to be more than 740 million and shows a similar distribution.