Station 3 Meet the Sheep Trail
Would you like to be an expert on everything there is to know about Blacknose sheep? Then scan the QR code beside the third member of the stone Cairn family to find out many amazing facts!
The Blacknose sheep are real eyecatchers. Become an expert on Blacknose sheep!
Facts and figures about the sheep:
Blacknose sheep all have horns, both females and males.
Here on the Gornergrat you will see a flock of females. The rams are not allowed to go to the alp. This avoids fighting over a group of females.
Blacknose sheep don’t like being milked and don’t give enough milk to be able to use it.
The horns grow throughout their lifetime. The horns give an indication of the approximate age of an animal.
Blacknose sheep are gregarious and should be kept in a group of at least four animals.
The female sheep are called ewes. A full-grown ram can be kept with a maximum of 15 ewes.
Blacknose sheep mature late, i.e. rams at about 5 – 6 months, ewes at about 7 months. Nevertheless, the first lambing should not take place before they are 18 months old.
A lamb is considered a lamb for up to 12 months. The animals are used for meat at the age of 7 – 9 months at the earliest.
Births usually take place without any problems and without help. The Blacknose sheep give birth on average to 1.5 lambs per birth, so every second sheep has twins. Triplets are very rare.
The young animals usually have their faces covered by their wool. But they can still see well through the wool – they are used to it. It also protects their eyes from flies.
The wool is delivered to the domestic wool centre. The payment for the wool does not come close to covering the cost of shearing. You can find out more about how the wool is processed at info point 4.
The annual yield of wool per animal is around 4 kilograms.
The particularly tame and affectionate leaders of a flock usually wear bells.
The requirements for exporting Blacknose sheep from Switzerland are very high and are currently difficult or even impossible to meet.
A ewe weighs about 70 – 90 kilograms, a ram weighs about 80 – 125 kilograms.
The ewes are easy to recognise as they have a mark on their tails. It is a white or light spot at the base of their tail.
The life expectancy of a Blacknose is 12 – 14 years.