Sheep

Sheep are passive mobs that supply wool when sheared or killed and can be dyed with any of the 16 colors before shearing to produce colored wool. Sheep are 1.25 blocks tall, 0.625 blocks wide and 1.4375 blocks long, and they can naturally spawn with a color other than white. Killing a woolly adult sheep will drop a single block of wool, whereas shearing them yields 1-3 blocks each time. Killing a lamb gives nothing.

Appearance
82% of sheep upon natural generation have white wool. Others can naturally spawn in black, gray, light gray, brown or pink wool. They have light tan skin, are wall-eyed and have a pink square on their face, some see this as an open mouth while others call it a nose. When sheared, the sheep's wool will be gone and will be seen in spots upon the sheep's back in a mottled pattern. However, this will stay white no matter what color the sheep's wool (except in Pocket Edition) is and you can see its tanned skin. Also, when sheared, ears on the head are exposed and can be seen. In the free version of Pocket Edition they can be seen in even a woolly sheep. If you use a splash potion of invisibility on it, its wool will remain visible unless sheared.

Usage
Wool is easiest to obtain from sheep, as it can be tedious to craft wool using four string which is obtained by killing a spider or breaking cobwebs with shears or a sword. Wool can be obtained from sheep by using Shears on the sheep or killing the sheep. Shearing a sheep will produce 1-3 wool (1-4 blocks of wool in the Xbox 360 Edition). If you attack a sheep until it is down to 1 health, then hit it with shears, it is possible to shear the sheep as it dies, and produce more wool than usual. Sheep regrow wool if exposed to grass, and may eat it, turning it into a dirt block; they can also eat tall grass, destroying the block itself. Lambs eat grass a lot more often (20 times) than adults. The sheep's head also moves down and shakes to imitate eating, but a lamb's head goes inside the block.

Sheep will drop one wool when killed even if they are killed by fire, cacti or wolves. Wool can also be crafted using 4 pieces of string, but it is less hazardous for the player to shear sheep rather than hunt down spiders constantly. However, if you have a spider farm, this can be more useful in the long run, especially if you leave your computer on overnight. However, the string will have to be crafted into wool, and string takes up 4 times as much space, so it is advised to have a large storage device at the ready. A large sheep farm, on the other hand, can produce wool much more quickly.

Beds can be important items on higher difficulties, especially when just starting as they allow you to avoid the danger of night. Thus, it is wise to shear/kill sheep in the first day on Survival.

A block of white wool can be crafted with a unit of dye to produce colored wool. However, a much more efficient method is to apply the unit of dye directly to an un-sheared sheep by right-clicking on a sheep (any color) while holding it. The dyed sheep can drop 1-4 blocks of colored wool when sheared. When the dyed sheep regrows its wool it will retain the dyed color, supplying an endless supply of colored wool. For this reason, sheep farms can produce infinite amounts of wool and sheep when bred. So if you like to decorate, sheep farms are recommended. (Do keep in mind that in the console and pocket versions, coloured wool cannot be bonemeal bleached.) However, if you have a surplus of clay, wool is practically useless because you can harden and paint clay.

Currently, sheep, along with horses, are the only farm animals that don't drop meat. However, in snapshots 14w27a and beyond, sheep can drop raw mutton which restores 2 hunger points. If the sheep is killed by fire, the sheep drops cooked mutton which restores 6 hunger points.

Behavior
Sheep tend to be one of the lesser intellects in the game, and have been known to walk into lava. Like other passive land mobs, sheep wander around aimlessly, often spawning in flocks of 2–8. They can be heard bleating occasionally, even from some distance away. When they encounter an obstacle, they will often try to jump over it, which may cause some odd, and rather humorous, behaviour at obstacles they cannot overcome. This can be used with Pressure Plates to create constantly flashing redstone pulses, however the mobs will stop jumping after a while. Sheep can swim and make no attempt to stay out of water, therefore a common sight is several sheep bobbing in the sea. A sheep's color has no effect on its behavior. Sheep will eat grass, turning it into dirt. Keeping a sheep near grass will also let its wool grow back. The regrown wool will be of the same color as before the sheep was sheared, regardless of the original color. Packs of wolves may attack lone sheep. If you are trying to capture a sheep for breeding or shearing, it will follow you as long as you are holding wheat or have affixed a lead to it. Keep in mind the wheat method can get very overwhelming if you are near a large flock of sheep as they will all try to follow you. You might also make a trench with trapdoors to capture farm animals in a wheat-free way, however if there are sheep near there is almost certainly the tall grass that can be used to grow wheat. This however can be used to trap pigs in a carrot-free area, or to trap horses since they cannot be lured without the expensive lead.

Breeding


Sheep can be bred with wheat and can be bred every 5 minutes. If the parents have 'compatible' wool colors (meaning that the corresponding dye items could be combined into a third dye color), the resulting lamb will be a mix of their colors (e.g., blue sheep + white sheep = light blue lamb). Otherwise, the lamb will be the same color as one of the parents, chosen at random. It doesn't matter if either parent has been sheared. This can be used to obtain large quantities of colored wool, rather than relying heavily on potentially rare dyes. (Lapis Lazuli requires fairly deep mining/trading, and most of the others may be absent from your local biomes.)

The majority of sheep are white, with a 81.836% chance of spawning. The light grey, dark grey, and black sheep have a 5% chance of spawning. Using a spawn egg to get one of these sheep types lies at a reasonable 15%. Brown sheep have an uncommon 3% chance to spawn. Pink sheep have a 0.164% of naturally spawning - it is more common to find a zombie/skeleton wearing any diamond armor. Because of this, it is much easier to just use dyes.

Note that if you spawn sheep using cheats or command blocks and specify wool color a white sheep will still have the same chance as usual to spawn grey, light grey, black, brown or pink. If a custom made villager buying different color wool for different prices is made the offer for white wool will also apply to all other colors, even if the color white is specified. Note: As of 14w02a this has changed.

Trivia



 * Sheep were the second mob to spawn with both a separate body and armor file (used for the wool), the first being the pig.
 * Sheep were the second-to-last mob added in Survival Test, before Giants.
 * If you damage the sheep 7 hits (3 1/2 hearts) you can get up to 4 wool blocks by clicking both mouse buttons at the same time while holding shears, though it requires practice as you have 1/20 of a second between each mouse click.
 * Sheep are the first mob that give a block as a drop; the Elder Guardian is the second as it drops a sponge.
 * If a sheep spawner is placed via, there will be a black sheep model spinning inside, and it will spawn only naturally spawning sheep colors; unless you add custom NBT tags to determine color. If custom NBT tags are added to determine color a white sheep still has the usual chance of being a different colour.
 * Lambs can be dyed as with adult sheep.
 * Currently, if one were to sprint and knock back a sheep while the sheep is in its grass eating stance, it will eat the grass it gets knocked into, and it will take no attempt to run away after/while eating.
 * Sheep can eat grass through slabs, snow, and other partial blocks, and also while moving in minecarts, allowing for more elegant sheep farms (green is not a creative color!)
 * The bottom of the feet to sheep aren't rotated 180 degrees, as the sheep's hoof is split in the front.
 * Sheep cannot fit through the gap if the 90 degree intersection of two fences is removed whereas the player can get through easily. This means you can have a sheep pen without needing a fence gate, although since this would allow creepers, skeletons & zombies to enter, it is not advisable.
 * Lambs grow seemingly faster than other baby animals.
 * Sheep were originally planned to drop meat when killed. it was added a bit late in 1.8.
 * There are 3 sound files for sheep. There is a "meheheh-heheheh" sound, a "meheheheh" sound, and a third "Behhh!"
 * The third "Behhh!" seems to be used slightly more often if the sheep takes damage, and also sounds more like a "Baa" as it gets lower pitched.
 * Surprisingly, when a sheep walks or runs on ice it actually moves slower than it normally would. This is most likely due to ice being "slippery".
 * When a sheep is spawned on a fence, it will not fall off the fence but it can move to any adjacent fences.You can make it fall off the fence by leading it off with wheat.
 * When a sheep is spawned on a wall, it will fall into it. (You are clicking on the visible part of the block, however the sheep is spawned inside the .05 of the top and ignores it and passes through it)
 * In the free version of Pocket Edition, ears can be seen in the sheep's woolly state.
 * When spawning sheep in Pocket Edition, it will be as if they spawned naturally: 81.836% are white, 15% are grey or black, 3% are brown, and 0.164% are pink.
 * It is impossible to have an upside down rainbow sheep, since that would require it having two names.