Why do they paint blue marks on sheep?

[Spoilt Bi]

There are sheep in a field near my friends and many of them have blue marks painted on them. Why?

[Lucylastic]

Those are the ones the ram has shagged. They put the ram in the field with a pouch of dye strapped to him. When he's had his way he leaves a stamp on the back of the ewe. They remove those to another field until he's done the lot of 'em.

[blondebimbo]

Those are the ones the ram has shagged. They put the ram in the field with a pouch of dye strapped to him. When he's had his way he leaves a stamp on the back of the ewe. They remove those to another field until he's done the lot of 'em.

I hope this is true

[Joyofsox]

Of course it's true.
The dye they used to use was raddle. So any shagged sheep was said to be raddled.

[none of the above]

At this time of year it could be the ones expecting twins or more are marked after a scan so they know which need more food/attention.

Rams will be "leaving their marks" later in the year generally, so the lambs are born around now.

[Lucylastic]

I was also told that if several rams are in use they will each have a different colour dye so that it can be determined who is Top Gun.

[Winston Smith]

This is all nonsense. The sheep are pretending to be Smurfs.

[himerus]

What next, giant pink rabbits?

[Joyofsox]

What next, giant pink rabbits?

That rather depends on the enthusiasm of the ram.

[H. Franklin Layne]

I thought that males set to be separated for castration were marked, while the stronger, more genetically fit males were left alone. Castrated specimens were to become lamb chops and such.

[jinjin]

What next, giant pink rabbits?

I have read that female rams get along well with male rabbits.

[Moira Mac]

Here in Scotland, it's to identify the farm they are from, different colours from different farms should they go astray.

Boring I know, but true...

[Shona1969]

Here in Scotland, it's to identify the farm they are from, different colours from different farms should they go astray.

Boring I know, but true...

I must admit that's what I'd always thought. Are there any farmers out there?

[Winston Smith]

Here in Scotland, it's to identify the farm they are from, different colours from different farms should they go astray.

Boring I know, but true...

I saw a programme about this the other day. A lot of farms use ear clipping as identification marking. There are different combinations of nicks, tears and holes punched in the sheep's ear and each one is unique to the farm it belongs to. This is used particularly in mountainous areas such as Scotland and North Wales where there is little in the way of boundaries between farms and the sheep more or less roam where they like.

[Lucylastic]

Here we go, from Wikipedia:

"However, by fitting a ram with a chest harness called a marking harness that holds a special crayon (or raddle, sometimes spelled reddle), ewes that have been mounted are marked with a color."

I wouldn't have known that was what raddled meant.