General types of information
Demographic Data
This category includes census-like information such as the sheep's Name,
Sex, Date of Birth, Ear Tag, Sire, Dam, Other registrations, Breeder, Owner, etc.
This sort of data is objective and generally easy to come by. Most of the
animals recorded in the OFP database are well-described in this respect.
Phenotypic Data
In this category we use descriptive or phenotypic term associated with particular genetic
traits. We are currently tracking five characteristics. The first three — pattern,
color, spotting — are each principally determined by a specific single gene. The other
two traits, fleece characteristics and horn type, on the other hand, are determined by more
than one gene.
Demographic Data Fields
Fields marked in
red are required
- NAME
- The full formal name, as it appears in registration documents: Flock Prefix +
Name, e.g., Saltmarsh Romeo. If the sheep hasn’t been registered elsewhere, we still
need a flock prefix and name. No two sheep can have the same full formal name, that is,
Prefix + Name
- SEX & STATUS
- Ewe, ram, wether
- DATE OF BIRTH
- OK if exact date not known, best available data
- SIRE
- Full formal name
- DAM
- Full formal name
- BIRTH NUMBER
- 1 = single, 2 = twin, 3 = triplet
- BIRTH SIBLINGS
- Names of other twin or other triplets
- DATE OF DEATH
- CAUSE OF DEATH
- E.g., failure to thrive, tetanus, coyote, stillborn, whatever
- REGISTRATIONS
- Registration numbers are sometimes useful for linking up different breeders’
flocks into a unified pedigree. We can keep track of up to three separate registrations.
If the animal has been birth notified with the RBST but not registered, please provide
the birth notification number.
- SCRAPIE TAG NUMBER
- Also optional, also a useful additional means of tracing sheep
- OTHER FARM ID TAGS
- For your convenience if you use baby tags or have some other internal system
you’d like to have appear on profiles and other reports
- BREEDER
- Person/farm who owned the dam at time of conception
- CURRENT OWNER
- Name
- PRIOR OWNER
- Name
- OWNER BEFORE THAT
- Name
Phenotypic Data Fields
Six general physical characteristics, or phenotyes, are currently tracked in
the Open Flockbook Database.
- PATTERN
- This describes the distribution of pigment in the
wool and pigmented areas on the body. We expect only two alternatives:
- Wild
- The common "agouti" or "mouflon" appearance
characterized by a lighter belly and rump
- Self
- The rarer "non-agouti" or "self-
colored" uniformly colored pattern
(Any splotches of white
about the head and elsewhere are described under Spotting, below)
- COLOR
- In this field we indicate the phase of the animal,
i.e. is it light or dark, as well as a more subjective description of its
fleece color. It can be tricky to distinguish the light and dark animals on
the basis of overall fleece color alone, especially if viewed from a
distance, and more especially if the fleece has been bleached by the
weather. The surest way to make the call between light and dark is to look
closely at the skin around the edge of the animal’s eyes and lips. Example Is that skin area light brown or tan
(indicating light phase), or is it dark brown, as though the animal were
wearing eyeliner (dark phase)? This distinction should be fairly obvious;
let us know if you encounter a sheep that is difficult to classify. Follow
this link to a table of Color
Terms.
- SPOTTING
- Does the animal have patches of white on its head and
elsewhere? If so, where is the spotting and how big is it? We are interested
as well in transient white spots that disappear as the animal matures.
- FLEECE
- For breeders who want to keep track of animals with
particularly long and luxurious fleece. Please use whatever terms you want
us to use in tracking; we will work with those of you who have these sheep
to find consistent terminology.
- HORN TYPE
- In this field we indicate whether the animal is
polled, scurred or horned; provide a general description of the scurs or
horns, length and shape; and the age of the animal when the observations
were made. In our system, "polled" means the complete absence of
horns. Scurred animals have horns that are button like, short, misshapen,
round, or otherwise funky.
- MARKINGS
- This is where we put descriptive information that
doesn’t fit in the five categories above, using a free form format. Anything
remarkable or unusual goes here, in whatever terms serve.