ABSTRACT
Positioning and soundness of a sheep's teeth receive much attention both from purebred breeders in the selection of future breeding animals and from commercial producers in culling decisions. Sheep incisors are much like human incisors in that there are sets of both "baby" and "permanent" teeth. Baby teeth are replaced in pairs so that a sheep's age is often determined by the number of permanent teeth present. Despite the importance that breeders and producers attach to tooth and jaw soundness in sheep, little research has been directed toward the subject. Among the ewes observed for teeth eruption, about 800 were marked to study tooth-wear rate. Loose or missing teeth will make ewes less competitive than full-mouth ewes. However, even under conditions of very intensive grazing, broken-mouth ewes perform well if managed as a group with similar ewes, producers may wish to consider adjusting management to cater to a group of such ewes where conditions allow.
