The Military Reindeer

[Pat Holscher]

Animal Transportation for Field Artillery

I found this while looking for data on dog sleds, and there is a bit on reindeer.

Note the information on the “zembourek,” a small cannon mounted on a camel.

Also, note the use of goats and sheep as draft animals. I had heard of goats being used, but never sheep. Is this common?

http://sill-www.army.mil/famag/1925/MAY ... 71_286.pdf

Interesting article.

Sheep? I cannot imagine a situation in which sheep would make any sort of useful beast of burden.

[Couvi]

Pat,

Sheep may have some use as pack animals, after all, dogs have been used for millennium, but I can’t imagine that sheep are smart enough to use in draft. It does conjure up a very strange mental picture, though.

[Pat Holscher]

Pat,

Sheep may have some use as pack animals, after all, dogs have been used for millennium, but I can’t imagine that sheep are smart enough to use in draft. It does conjure up a very strange mental picture, though.

I have a friend who has pack goats, and loves them. Sheep, however, strikes me as really odd.

I am sure a sheep can carry something. But generally, sheep are hazed, rather than driven. Sheepherders generally have to allow sheep to believe they're escaping. Of course, they're herd instinct is extremely strong, so if you put a pack on one, I suppose you could be confident it'd stay with the bunch.

The thought of the lanolin on the pack load is a bit disgusting, however. Contrary to the cartoon image of sheep being all white and fluffy, they're greasy. Sheep wool is pretty darned icky until the lanolin is worked out.

[mnhorse]

A packsheep maybe, perhaps one of the so called hair sheep, there are several varieties of sheep that do not produce wool as we know it, but rather have hair more like a goat. These hair sheep are more primative that the European ones most of us are acustomed to seeing.
They should be no more difficult to pack that, say a Llama.

The herd instinct is strong, but not all breeds are that way. As I recall the Merino based breeds are the most "herd minded". The English cross-breeds my father raised were was wild as deer and would scatter when pushed by a dog or boy on horseback . Dad gathered them. like horses, a pail with some grain.
Richard

[Pat Holscher]

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infoc ... 328061.jpg

(Thanks go to Charles Gregory of the WWII List for the link to the Atlantic feature with this photo, and others I posted today).

[Pat Holscher]

http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneo_image_ ... =&zoom=YES

[Pat Holscher]

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[Pat Holscher]

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[Pat Holscher]

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