Farming in Space: SHEEP

I have got a big rotating space station (radius is 5 km and length is 30 km) which provides its occupants the luxury of full terran gravity and atmosphere. The biggest part of the cylinder's inner surface is covered by forest (which provides us with oxygen), small lakes, fields and farmland. Now, I have decided to get into the wool and mutton business. A transport ship with 50 Rhön sheep, each originating from a different herd, 45 of them being female and 5 being male, all 2 to 3 years old, has just arrived. The sheep were separated into 5 herds of 9 female sheep and 1 male and marked using colors to control breeding.

My questions are:

• Since there are no seasons on a space station, can my sheep breed all year round? I would like to do it herd-wise, meaning that one herd will be lambing in January and February, one in march and April and so on.

• Do my sheep need to adapt to the Coriolis effect? Will they behave strangely and stop giving milk/breeding when they notice that they actually are in a rotating cylinder?

• What is actually the minimum size of a sheep herd for genetic sustainability? Do I have to let the 5 herds interbreed?

• What adaptions to the environment of a space station will the sheep produce after thousands of years?

• I have chosen Rhön sheep because they are adapted to bad weather and cold environments; they also are able of using the sparse vegetation that will probably be available in my space station before a full biological system is worked out. Is any other type of sheep better? Should I use multiple different sheep breeds?

posted over 8 years ago

MedwedianPresident2‭

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