#SheepBite
It is said that Eskimos have a hundred words for snow. Exmoor shepherds may have had as many for sheep.
Some will have been in common use in Scotland and some on Exmoor, others used elsewhere in the country. It would be intriguing to know, when the Scottish shepherds brought their #SheepBite words with them, whether any of these new terms became adopted by the Exmoor farmers.
Many #SheepBite words can still be heard on the moor today. If you farm with sheep we’d love to know which ones you still use and what they mean.
Over the coming months we plan to add more and more – why not tell us which ones are your favourites and why you like them?
With thanks to Norah Solesbury for supplying many of the words used by Scottish shepherds.
#Husk or Hooze
A troublesome cough in lambs caused by lungworms most commonly during wet autumn months. Death is caused by anaemia and exhaustion, sometimes after many weeks of illness. When coughing, the lamb with expel large numbers of the parasites into their pasture where they can live for many months and infecting others grazing there. Shepherds used a mix of turpentine and milk with variable results. Husk in older sheep was caused by a different worm, not apparent before butchering. Now, regular worming of sheep prevents the disease.
#Braxy
Often just referred to as the Sickness, Braxy was once a common disease amongst hill sheep, usually affecting younger animals. It may have been the cause of many deaths during the winter months brought on by them eating frozen grass or root crops. With few signs of illness before death, the carcass decays more rapidly than is usual; despite this the meat was often eaten without ill effect to human or dog. Nowadays, sheep are vaccinated against it (see #Drench, below)
#Drench
Nothing to do with the shepherds getting wet! A drench is a liquid medicine given either as a preventative measure or as a cure.
#Drenching Horn (or, nowadays, Gun)
In the days before drenching (dosing) guns were invented, sheep drenches were given via drenching horns made from a sheep’s horn which had been cut lengthways to form a type of shallow spoon. The drenching gun resembles a large metal syringe with a tube which is inserted far into the sheep’s mouth. By this means a prescribed amount of the drench is released down the sheep’s throat.
#Fluke (Liver Fluke)
A parasitic flatworm that completes its life cycle within sheep causing liver damage and in severe cases, sudden death from haemorrhage. Most commonly found in wetter areas as the host is a minute mud snail and, as a consequence is normally more problematic in especially wet years – such as those of 1860-61 and 1879-1880 when over three million sheep died nationally. However, fluke can be transferred to drier pasture by infected animals. Now treated by drugs; in the past, herbal remedies may have been used with varying degrees of success. A cautionary note: watercress should not be gathered from fluke infested streams as they can infect humans when ingested.
#Buist (or Keel or Bust)
Pronounced ‘Bist’: to mark a sheep’s fleece with paint. One of the oldest forms of sheep identification. This would often be with the farmer’s initials and each farm would have its own colour. After shearing, of course, the sheep would need to be rebuisted. The image shows Exmoor Horn sheep belonging to the late Dick French of Brendon Barton, one of the closest farms to Hoar Oak Cottage. The initials A F were his father’s, the + usually denotes a glebe (or tithe) farm
#Buisting Iron
The marking iron used to apply paint to a fleece, sometimes individual letters, sometimes with the ‘complete’ branding mark; attached to a metal shank. There would often be a smaller iron for lambs. Occasionally they would be made from wood as shown in the photo below
#Keel Pot
The pot holding the paint (or paint/tar mix) into which the buisting iron would be dipped. Often sheep were marked with just a daub of paint using a wooden stick (‘keel’ or ‘paddle’)
#Hogg (or Hogget)
From August/September in the year of birth until the next summer when the fleece is sheared (clipped) off, the sheep is a ‘hogg’ (Scotland) or hogget (parts of England/Wales). Does Exmoor say hogg or hogget?
#Wethers (or Wedder Hoggs)
Tup (male) lambs which have been castrated and are being fattened for the market. If kept beyond the stage when they are lambs they become known as ‘wedder hoggs’
#Stell
Stells are open, circular pens – usually made from stone that sheep can wander into freely in bad weather. Still commonly seen in Scotland, Scottish shepherd Robert Tait Little brought his knowledge of them to Exmoor. Click here to find out about the one built at Hoar Oak Cottage
#Lamb
When does a lamb stop being a lamb? Young sheep born in Spring are known as lambs until their first August when they become #hoggs (or #hoggets)
