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You are here: Home / Animals / How Was the Sheep Important in the History of Agriculture and How Much Wool Does a Sheep Produce in a Year?

How Was the Sheep Important in the History of Agriculture and How Much Wool Does a Sheep Produce in a Year?

July 12, 2020 by Karen Hill

Domesticated sheep have descended from wild sheep native to Asia.

How Was the Sheep Important in the History of Agriculture

Sheep are an important part of the global agricultural economy, but they have been replaced in most part by other livestock species, such as the cow, chicken, and pig.

A sheep’s wool is the most widely used of any animal, and is usually harvested by shearing.

The Spanish Empire gained great wealth breeding the fine-wooled merino sheep, and this helped finance the voyages to the New World by conquistadors.

Wool was one of the first textiles, but its use in the late 20th century declined as the result of the popularity of synthetic fabrics, and prices began to fall dramatically.

These days, the sale of meat from sheep is more profitable than wool production.

A good woolly sheep produces about seven pounds of wool a year.

Give or take a pound or two, that’s enough to make a nice suit.

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Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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