What's the difference between sheep and goats?

sheep101.info logo

Separating the Sheep from the Goats


Sheep and goats have various physical differences.

Pygmy goat 
Pygmy Buck
wool sheep 
Lincoln Rams


Most goats have hair coats that do not require shearing or combing. Most sheep grow wool and need to be sheared annually. Lamb tails are usually docked; goat tails are not.


Goats in Brazil
Native Goats in Brazil

Polled ram 
Katahdin Ram


Goats naturally have horns. Some goats have beards. Many breeds of sheep are naturally hornless (polled). Some rams have manes.

 

Goat with horns 
Kiko Buck

 

Merino ram 
Rambouillet x Merino ram


Goat horns are more narrow, upright, and less curved than sheep horns.
Sheep tend to curl their horns in loops on the sides of their heads.



Young Boer Buck 
Boer Buck


Sheep head 
Lincoln Ram

Male goats have glands beneath their tail. Male goats have an odor, especially during the mating season. Sheep have face or tear glands beneath the eyes and "foot" or "scent" glands between the hooves.

Go BACK


. . . New Words . .

Gland - an organ that makes one or more substances, such as hormones, digestive juices, sweat, tears, saliva, or milk.

Buck - male goat.

Polled - naturally hornless.


 


Choose a topic from the drop down list



This web site is optimized for screen resolutions of 1024 x 768 and higher. You can change your screen resolution by right clicking your mouse on the desktop, then clicking on properties, followed by settings. The web site contains a lot of images and pages may take awhile to load on computers with slow connections.

About the SITE | SITE MAP | About the PHOTOS | About GEORGE

Last updated 15-Feb-2005 by Susan Schoenian.

 

Bouncing sheep Go baaaaa . . . ck to Sheep 101 home page

Sheep 101 is affiliated with sheepandgoat.com and baalands.com.