Thread by @soapachu, Random Sunday sheep thread. The best sheep available, get your freshly-picked sheep [...]

Random Sunday sheep thread. The best sheep available, get your freshly-picked sheep right here!

First up: the Valais Blacknose. Because JUST LOOK AT THEM OMG. They're like living Muppets.

This haughty boi is a Manx Loaghtan (ovis aries. Yes, that aries). Native to the Isle of Man and considered at risk.

Another native British breed, these are Clun Forest. Your basic Mediaeval horse / Doberman mix...

(Literature aside: AE Housman wrote about Clun Forest in 'A Shropshire Lad')

Staying with British natives, we have the Cotswold sheep. Said to have inspired Disney for the sheep illustrated in Mary Poppins*.

*I might have made this up.

Here giving it 'wot you lookin' at mate' vibes, we have the perky Dalesbred. Originally crossed between Scottish Blackface and Swaledale. You best not be looking at their chips.

Also they look like goats wearing big fancy fur coats.

Up next we have the Dorset Down sheep. Which wins some kind of prize for being the most quintessentially SHEEPY sheep.
(Also who knew there was glamour sheep photography?)

One of Britain's oldest native breeds, here we have the splendid Exmoor sheep. I wanna squish those lambs but suspect mum might gore me to death.

Crossing the border into Wales, we get the brilliantly-named Beulah Speckled-Faced sheep. Your ovine version of The Watchmen's Rorschach...

Heading into the EU, we have France's Berrichon du Cher, named for the Oscar-winning pop queen*.

*Might have made this up, too.

Jacob Sheep.
He'll fuck you right up, I reckon. Should really be called Frank Sheep, or Kevin or something.
(Originally bred as an ornamental sheep to graze on the lawns of country houses throughout the mid-C18th. Rich people have always been wack.)

The Black Hawaiian. Which, contrary to the name, is actually from Pennsylvania. Awesome horns, dude.

Back home for a bit and we have the Leicester Longwool. They were really artful about sheep naming, huh? Excellent dreads.

Your basic 80s rock band sheep, the Lincoln. Rumour has it* that this is what inspired Robert Plant's hair.

*Yeah, you know the drill.

Your actual cut-and-shut sheep, this is the Blackheaded Persian.
Despite the name, not originally from Persia/Iraq/Iran, but actually Somalian.

Your classic British sheep - this is the Romney. Most of the sheep you'd see in NZ have been bred from a stock we exported about a hundred years ago. Originally from a Mediaeval longwool breed.

A scene from Leipzig festiva...sorry, this is the Black Welsh Mountain sheep. Your goth / black metal ovine.

Featuring luxury upholstery, a low-drag face and excellently floppy ears, this is the Suffolk.

"When I was...a young boy, my father
took me into the City
to see a marching band..."
This is the Teeswater, originally from Teesdale, east of the Pennines.

Not just home to great cheese, but Wensleydale also produces great sheep.
Look at these bad boys - it's like Guns 'n' Roses released 'Appetite for Lush Pasture'

Back to Europe and we have the permanently-alarmed looking Racka. Bred to survive really harsh Hungarian winters, and not nearly as mean as the horns suggest.

Here we have the excellently-refined looking Najdi. Bred on the Arabian Peninsula and serving Gandalf realness.

The world's smallest sheep breed is the Ouessant, from Brittany. They're quite diddy.

This is the Border Leicester, which basically looks like what happens if you leave a rabbit and a sheep alone too long.

The Beltex. He is Not Fucking Happy.
Universally accepted as one of the least attractive sheep breeds (wait, there are people who rate sheep attractiveness?)

The Mouflon. Your Cindy Crawford of the sheep world - all leg and luxury.
Likely one of the wild ancestors of all modern sheep breeds. There's a reason this looks like a cave painting.

The name's Bond Sheep.
Except clearly this is a bearpig. Originating from NSW, Australia.

This is the Navajo-Churro sheep. The first domesticated sheep introduced into North America. Brought from Southern Spain in 1514, Churro sheep became the mainstay of Spanish ranches and villages along the Rio Grande.

Proving that things can get wild on the islands, this is the Hebridean sheep. Best back away, now.

As grand as its namesake, this is the Romanov.
Originated in the Volga Valley, northeast of Moscow, and yes - the name came from the royal family.

The Awassi. Found in Syria, Iraq and Jordan, and especially adapted to those climates. The wool is very thin and light.

Zwartbles. Basically your draught horse of the sheep world. Hailing from the Netherlands, they're one of the largest sheep breeds and apparently very lively.

Finishing out with the bonkers-looking Castlemilk Moorit
Another primitive breed, this one originated in Dumfriesshire, crossed from Manx Loaghtan, moorit Shetland and wild Mouflon.

So there you go. Some awesome ovines for your Sunday.
If you need more sheep (and who wouldn't?) there's always
Sheep 101.

http://www.sheep101.info/aboutsheep.html

And this just popped into my timeline which seems apposite https://twitter.com/jemmaforte/status/1327926073208795139?s=20