Spot -

Sheep have come a long way in Australia since 44 fat-tailed sheep from the Cape of Good Hope joined Captain Arthur Phillip on the HMS Sirius arriving with the First Fleet in 1788. Tragically these sheep died soon after their arrival. More too arrived in 1791 and 1792, also from the Cape of Good Hope. But it was not until 1797 that the fine woollen Spanish sheep, the Merino, arrived on our shores again from the Cape of Good Hope. By crossbreeding the Merinos with other breeds the first settlers began a historic selective breeding program which formed the basis of today’s famous Merino.

Many early English breeds of sheep were not suited to the harsh Australian conditions, and so the search was on for breeds suitable for producing good quality wool as well as being able to cope with our climatic conditions.

Boosting no famous pedigree but a distinct Merino look is dear little Spot, aptly named due to the distinctive brown spot on her inner right hind leg. This spot made this feisty little girl easily distinguishable when feeding time came for the young orphans here at the Mission during winter of 2005. But the passage of time and a woolly fleece has made finding the spot somewhat difficult, so we have to rely on the memory of her face to distinguish her from her cousins.

Not so strangely enough sheep have been shown to have remarkable memories for the faces of their kin. With a brain structure similar to humans, the face-processing system at work in the sheep brain is comparable to the mechanism by which humans remember and recognize individuals over long periods. This, along with sheep’s ingrained fear of humans and novel situations has serious implications for sheep welfare. Far from dumb or stupid, sheep are admirably equipped to cope in a sheep’s world, if you have any doubt about this try your hand at surviving in ovine (sheep) habitat.