Do Sheep Have Teeth?

Yes, sheep have teeth both on the top and the bottom of their mouth. They don’t have teeth at the front of their top palate, but they will develop them on the bottom and the sides. The main purpose of their teeth is for chewing.

Just because sheep don’t have teeth at the front at the top, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have teeth at all. In fact, sheep do have teeth. They have 32 permanent teeth both on top and bottom. They have molar and premolar teeth at the top and they also have incisors at the bottom that will help them grab foods.

Do Sheep Have Teeth on the Top and Bottom?

Most sheep don’t have teeth at the front of their top palate because they develop a fibrous pad there that will help them grab foods such as grass or leaves.

However, they still develop teeth at the back, which are meant to help them chew their foods.

Sheep don’t have incisors at the top just like they do at the bottom of their mouth. That’s because they don’t need these incisors because they don’t eat foods that require a lot of chewing with the front teeth.

They are primarily herbivorous animals, so these teeth don’t come useful to them.

Instead, they develop a fibrous pad at the front of the mouth. This pad is soft and without teeth, and it will help the sheep graze grass and leaves. This is an important part of their mouth as it enables them to make sure they can eat the foods that they prefer eating.

This fibrous pad makes it seem as though they don’t have teeth at all in their top palate, but that’s not true. They still have premolar and molar teeth there, but they are just not as pronounced as other teeth. These molars are important for their dieting because they help them chew their food easily.

Sheep have premolars and molars at the top of their mouth, which is vital to help them chew foods. But even though these molars are made for chewing, sheep rarely chew their foods entirely. They will do it quickly and then let the food pass into their stomach, which is what happens because they are ruminants.

How do Sheep Eat?

Sheep eat quickly by chewing grass and leaves they eat quickly and then let the foods pass up into their stomach. Inside the stomach, the food will ferment and very slowly digest. After some period, the food will come back into the mouth where it will be chewed up completely before it is digested.

Sheep are ruminants. This means that they have a four-chambered stomach that allows them to eat their foods differently than other animals. They don’t chew their food completely at first, but they will do it quickly and digest the foods later on. The digestion will mostly happen inside the stomach.

Because sheep don’t have digestive enzymes, they need to digest their foods differently. They have four chambers inside their stomach. Most of the digestion will happen inside the rumen, which is a special chamber of their stomach where their food will ferment, and then it will form a thick layer.

Sheep mostly eat grasses and leaves, as well as legumes and grains. These foods are best suited to their ruminant lifestyle. Like other ruminants, which include goats and cows, sheep will spend most of their time chewing the food they have already digested to some degree, which is inside their stomach.

After some time, this food will be regurgitated by the sheep and chewed again. After this chewing period, the food will become slowly digested by their digestive system. The ruminant digestive system allows the sheep to not have incisors at the front, as they don’t eat meats and other tough foods.

How Many Teeth do Sheep Have?

Sheep have 32 permanent teeth altogether. They don’t have teeth at the front portion of their top palate, but they have them at the back. They have all the teeth at the bottom of their mouth.

You can easily tell the age of sheep by simply looking at their teeth. Simply, the more teeth a sheep has, the more it has aged. Sheep teeth might take up to 38 months to fully develop, but they will grow slowly and gradually. At first, a sheep will be born without any teeth or with some smaller teeth.

The teeth will slowly start to develop over the coming weeks and months. At 15 months of age, the sheep might only grow several teeth or only two teeth, but these will start to multiply as the sheep ages.

The bottom incisors take up a lot of damage from chewing the food, so it’s also possible to tell the age of the sheep by looking at the incisors. The more worn out they are, the older the sheep is. It’s also crucial to help the sheep keep their teeth in good shape, which enables them to chew easily.

Sheep will grow eight incisors on the bottom of the mouth including 24 premolars and molars at the top and the bottom. The role of the premolars and molars is to help the sheep chew their foods. They won’t do a lot of chewing since sheep will only chew their foods quickly and briefly.

Their permanent teeth are always fixed and will stay there until the sheep dies or if one or another tooth falls out. Tooth care is important for the sheep, but since they eat grasses and other friendly foods for teeth, they are unlikely to lose teeth because they don’t eat any tough foods.

More Articles About Sheep:

• Do Sheep Make Good Pets?
• How do Sheep Sleep?
• Rams vs Bucks (Who Would Win in a Fight?)
• How Much Wool Does a Sheep Produce?
• How Many Sheep are in a Flock?

Final Thoughts

Sheep do have teeth, even though it might appear as they don’t have teeth at the front of their mouth. This is where a fibrous pad is located, which helps the sheep graze grass and other foods they eat. For chewing, sheep will use their premolars and molars to do most of their job for them.