Sheep

For other uses, see Sheep (disambiguation).

Sheep

Health points	8
Behavior	Passive
Hitbox size	Adult: Height: 1.3 Blocks Width: 0.9 Blocks Baby: Height: 0.65 Blocks Width: 0.45 Blocks
Spawn	Grass blocks with at least two block spaces above them.
Items usable on	Lead Shears Wheat Dye

Sheep are common passive mobs found in many of the grassy biomes that supply wool and mutton.

Spawning

The majority of sheep are white, with an 81.836% chance of spawning. The light gray, gray and black sheep each have a 5% chance of spawning, or a 15% chance collectively. Brown sheep have an uncommon 3% chance to spawn. Pink sheep have a rare chance (0.164%) of spawning naturally. 5% of all sheep spawn as babies.

Sheep spawn most commonly at mountains biome.

Sheep	Chance
Adult Sheep	95%
Adult White Sheep	77.7442%
Adult Black Sheep Adult Gray Sheep Adult Light Gray Sheep	14.25% (4.75% each)
Adult Brown Sheep	2.85%
Adult Pink Sheep	0.1558%
Baby Sheep	5%
Baby White Sheep	4.0918%
Baby Black Sheep Baby Gray Sheep Baby Light Gray Sheep	0.75% (0.25% each)
Baby Brown Sheep	0.15%
Baby Pink Sheep	0.0082%

If a sheep spawner is placed via /setblock, the sheep model spinning inside appears with one of the six naturally spawning colors. Independently from the displayed color, all six variants are able to spawn, the usual chances apply. To guarantee that sheep always spawn with the desired color, additional NBT tags can be applied to the spawner, utilizing the Color tag.

Natural generation

2 to 3 sheep spawn on grass blocks at the surface at a light level of 7 or higher with at least 2 block space above, except in snowy tundras and wooded badlands plateaus during the world generation. They later spawn individually on grassy biomes. 5% spawn as lambs.

2 sheep may spawn in shepherd houses, butcher houses, and animal pens in villages.

Drops

An adult sheep drops:

• 1 wool of the corresponding color. Sheep that have not regrown their wool do not drop wool.
• 1–2 raw mutton (cooked mutton if killed while on fire). The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 1–5 with Looting III.
• 1–3 if killed by a player or tamed wolf.

When sheared, sheep give 1–3 wool and do not take any damage. A sheared sheep regrows its wool after eating from a grass block.

Upon successful breeding, 1–7 is dropped.

Killing a lamb yields no items nor experience.

Behavior

Sheep wander aimlessly, typically in small flocks of 2-4. Despite this, solitary sheep are still common. Sheep avoid cliffs and hazardous areas if it warrants damage. Sheep emits hoarse bleats in mostly random patterns, but especially when attacked.. If harmed, sheep flee for a few seconds, but make no special attempt to avoid wolves.

Sheep are mostly aloof to other mobs and are not very wary of wolves. Sheep will follow a player holding wheat within 6 blocks but stop following the player when out of this radius.

Adult sheep cannot fit through the gap if the 90-degree intersection of two fences is removed whereas the player (and most other mobs) can get through easily.

Dyeing

Sheep's wool can be dyed by pressing the use key or the interact button while holding any dye. Sheared sheep cannot be dyed until their wool grows back after eating a grass block.

Dyeing changes the color of the sheep's wool permanently or until the sheep is dyed again. The new wool color can be inherited by lambs. (See § Breeding)

If a sheep is dyed and then sheared, it retains its new dyed wool color after the wool regrows. The wool patches that are seen on a sheared sheep always appear white regardless of their actual color.‌^{[JE only]}

The patches keep the original dye color.‌^{[BE only]}

Grazing

Sheep eat grass blocks, changing them into dirt blocks. Sheep can eat grass through partial blocks, as well as from inside minecarts. When a sheared sheep eats a grass block during the daytime, its wool grows back. Therefore, if no grass is available, a sheep cannot regrow its wool after being sheared. They are unable to eat a grass block with tall grass on it but can eat the tall grass, making it disappear. If an adult sheep has the opportunity, the chance of eating grass is ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ per game tick (¹⁄₅₀ for lamb). If /gamerule mobGriefing is set to false, grass blocks remain, but the sheep still regrow their wool.

Evoker "wololo" easter egg

An evoker can also change a sheep's wool color if the evoker isn't engaged in combat and /gamerule mobGriefing is set to true. Then it can change the wool color of any blue sheep within 16 blocks to red. It signals the spell by producing orange color particles () and making a "wololo" sound.

jeb_ sheep easter egg

See also: Easter eggs § Naming_mobs

If a sheep is named jeb_, its wool cycles with interpolation through all dye colors in a similar manner to prismarine. This is purely a visual effect; the sheep still drops wool in its original color when sheared or killed.

Breeding

An example of how a bred sheep inherits a mixture of its parents' colors when possible.

See also: Breeding

Sheep can be bred with wheat, after which they spawn a lamb. They cannot breed for about 5 minutes after the baby sheep appears.

If the parents have compatible wool colors (meaning that the corresponding dye items could be combined into a third dye color), the resulting lamb inherits a mix of their colors (e.g., blue sheep + white sheep = light blue baby sheep).

Otherwise, the baby sheep spawns with the same color as one of the parents, chosen randomly, regardless of whether one or both parents have been sheared.

The 20-minute growth of baby sheep can be slightly accelerated using wheat. Each use takes 10% off the remaining time to grow up. It can also accelerate its own growth by eating grass.

Sounds

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Wololo (Evoker)	Hostile Creatures	?	entity.evoker.prepare_wololo	subtitles.entity.evoker.prepare_wololo	?	?	16
	Sheep baahs	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.sheep.ambient	subtitles.entity.sheep.ambient	?	?	16
	Sheep dies	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.sheep.death	subtitles.entity.sheep.death	?	?	16
	Sheep hurts	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.sheep.hurt	subtitles.entity.sheep.hurt	?	?	16
	Shears click	Players	?	entity.sheep.shear	subtitles.item.shear	?	?	16
	Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.sheep.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	?	?	16

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Translation key
Sheep	sheep	entity.minecraft.sheep

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Translation key
Sheep	sheep	13	entity.sheep.name

Entity data

See also: Chunk format

Sheep have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

• Entity data
  • Additional fields for mobs that can breed see Template:Nbt inherit/breedable/template
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template
  •  Color: The color of the sheep. Default is 0.
  •  Sheared: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the sheep has been shorn.

Sheep color

Main article: Sheep/DV

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Achievements

Main Article: Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		Rainbow Collection	Gather all 16 colors of wool.	All the colors of wool do not have to be in the inventory at the same time, but must have been picked up by the player at least once.	30G	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Husbandry	Breed pairs of one of these 19 mobs: Bee Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breed-able together. Other breed-able mobs, if any, can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/breed_an_animal
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed pairs of each of these 19 mobs: Bee Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breed-able together. Other breed-able mobs, if any, can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/bred_all_animals

History

classic
October 25, 2009					First showcase of sheep on The Word of Notch. Red wool as a drop can be seen.
October 25, 2009					Notch uploaded a video to YouTube of a sheep test.
0.28					Added sheep.
					Sheep currently drop mushrooms when killed.
					Sheep eat grass blocks, turning them into dirt. After eating a random amount of blocks, they regrow their wool.
indev
0.31		December 23, 2009, 1			Sheep no longer spawn naturally.
		February 3, 2010			Sheep now spawn again.
					Sheep now spawn without wool.
					Sheep now drop gray wool upon being hit.
					Sheep no longer drop mushrooms.
					Sheep no longer eat grass.
		February 4, 2010, 2			Sheep now spawn with wool again.
February 19, 2010					Sheep now do not drop anything.[verify]
infdev
June 27, 2010					Sheep now drop white instead of gray wool.
alpha
v1.2.2					In survival multiplayer, hitting sheep drops unobtainable wool. However, casting a fishing rod drops obtainable wool, while the sheep still appears to have wool.
beta
1.2					Sheep can now be dyed - players can now dye sheep to make orange, magenta, light blue, yellow, lime, pink, gray, light gray, cyan, purple, blue, green, brown, red and black sheep.
					Colored sheep now drop their corresponding wool color.
					Sheep can now spawn in the color gray, light gray, or black.
1.4					Sheep can now rarely spawn in the color pink or brown.
1.7					Sheep now drop 2-4 wool when sheared.
					Sheep no longer drop wool when hit.
					Sheep now drop one wool block when killed while not sheared.
1.8		Pre-release			Sheep now flee when attacked.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3			Added baby sheep.
					Sheep can now breed.
					Sheep now have 4 hearts of health (formerly 5 hearts).
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6			Baby sheep from dyed parents are now born dyed instead of always being white.
1.1		11w49a			Sheep now eat grass blocks and tall grass in order to re-grow their wool again. As a counterbalance, shearing sheep now yields 1-3 wool blocks instead of 2-4.
					Spawn eggs are available for sheep in creative mode.
		11w50a			Baby sheep now eat more than adult sheep.
1.2.1		12w07b			The sheep eating animation in multiplayer has been fixed.
					Sheep now have a new AI.
1.4.2		12w32a			Sheep from spawn eggs can now spawn naturally-colored sheep (white, gray, brown, pink, etc.)
		12w38a			Added new step sounds to sheep.
1.4.4		1.4.3-pre			Lambs now have a mix of the parents' colors, if the parents' colors are 'compatible' (able to be crafted together as dyes).
					The colors of sheep have been changed.
1.7.4		13w48b			Sheep named as 'jeb_' cycles now through all possible sheep colors in a fading rainbow effect. They still drop the color wool they were dyed last.
1.8		14w02a			Baby sheep growth can now be accelerated using wheat.
		14w05b			Sheep's wool is no longer visible when they have the Invisibility effect.
		June 30, 2014			Ryan Holtz announces that he's adding mutton as a new drop from sheep.
		14w27a			Sheep now drop raw mutton and—if killed with fire—they drop cooked mutton.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID has been changed from Sheep to sheep.
1.12		17w06a			Sheep now look different when dyed to comply with the wool color changes.
					The colors of baby sheep have been changed.
1.14		18w43a			The textures of sheep have been changed.
					The textures of sheep named 'jeb_' have been changed.
					The textures of baby sheep have been changed.
1.15		19w37a			5% of sheep now spawn as babies.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.2.0					Added sheep.
					Sheep can be sheared.
0.6.0					Added the overlay part of the sheep with wool on its head and body.
					Sheep now display their colors and can be dyed.
					Added baby animals, which includes sheep.
0.6.1					The model of the sheep fur has been changed.
0.7.0					Sheep spawn eggs are now in creative mode.
0.8.0		build 2			If a sheep is dyed a color other than white, the previously white patches on its face.
					When a sheep is sheared, the spots on its body now also change color (currently an exclusive feature).
					The sheep AI has been improved.
0.9.0		build 3			Sheep now graze on tallgrass.
0.11.0		build 1			Sheep coloration is now applied through shaders, rather than different textures.
0.12.0					Sheep are no longer bred using a Feed button as of the release of the Windows 10 Edition.
0.14.0		build 1			Baby zombie jockeys now check for nearby sheep to mount prior to attacking the player, villager or golem.
					Sheep no longer spawn in the snowy tundra biome and its variants.
0.15.0		build 1			Sheep now drop raw mutton and if killed with fire, they drop cooked mutton.
					Sheep named as 'jeb_' cycle now through all possible sheep colors in a fading rainbow effect. They still drop the color wool they were dyed last.
					Baby husks can now mount sheep.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Sheep are now dyed using a Dye button.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			The textures of sheep have been changed. Sheep now look different when dyed to comply with the wool color changes.
					The textures of baby sheep have been changed.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The textures of sheep have been changed.
					The textures of sheep named 'jeb' have been changed.
					The textures of baby sheep have been changed.
					Sheep now spawn in desert village shepherd houses.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Sheep can now spawn in plains, savanna, taiga, snowy taiga and snowy tundra village shepherd houses, butcher houses, and animal pens.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added sheep.
					Sheep can be sheared.
TU5					Sheep now run away when attacked.
TU7					Added baby sheep.
					Sheep can now be bred with wheat.
TU9					Sheep now eat grass blocks and tall grass in order to re-grow their wool. As a counterbalance, shearing sheep yields 1-3 wool blocks instead of 2-4.
					Spawn eggs are now available for sheep in creative mode.
TU14		1.04			Baby sheep can now be spawned by using on an adult form of that mob using a spawn egg.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Sheep now drop raw mutton and—if killed with fire—they drop cooked mutton.
					Baby sheep growth can now be accelerated using wheat.
		1.90			The textures of sheep have been changed.
					The textures of sheep named 'jeb_' have been changed.
					The textures of baby sheep have been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added sheep.
					Added baby sheep.

Prior colors

Main article: Sheep/Old colors

[edit]

Issues

Issues relating to "Sheep" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

• 

  The first screenshot on breeding released by Notch.

• 

  A dying sheep mob.

• 

  Brown, light gray, gray, pink and black are 5 of the naturally spawning colors of a sheep.

• 

  A large flock of sheep.

• 

  A lamb and an adult sheep.

• 

  The sheep grass-eating animation.

• 

  The lamb grass-eating animation.

• 

  Sheep that have been dyed by the player.

• 

  A jeb_ lamb.

• 

  The relative probabilities of naturally spawned sheep colors.

• 

  A sheared lamb next to its parent. Sheared lambs are available only via commands.

• 

  Snowy grass next to a patch of dirt that a sheep has eaten.

• 

  A sheep with a blue head.

• 

  A white lamb that has been sheared (sheared lambs are only available through commands)

• 
• 

  Z-fighting in the sheep's legs while invisible, in Spectator mode.

Bedrock Edition

• 

  The foot of a sheep.

• 

  The sheep's color around their face and overlay when sheared corresponds to their wool color.

• 

  A sheep before Pocket Edition Alpha 0.6.0.

• 

  Pink sheep before Pocket Edition Alpha 0.8.0.

• 

  All of the possible sheep wool colors (dyed by the player.) Sheep have dyed wool remnants.

• 

  A render of an early version of the sheep.

• 

  A yellow sheep during Pocket Edition Alpha 0.7.1.

Official Artwork

• 

  Sheep as shown in the World of Color Update artwork.

• 

References

Entities

View at: Template:Entities/content [edit]