"Wool" Equals "Hair" "Leather" Equals "Skin"

 

It is perhaps surprising that more research has not been done on what makes for healthy hair and skin health. When you read the rest of this page it will no longer be surprising to you!

Western Medicine is driven by drugs and disease -- so we, in the West, study abnormality more often than we study "normalcy." We use chemical drugs rather than food to restore or maintain health.

When it comes to doing research on "healthy hair" and "healthy skin" you have to turn away from humans, where drugs and doctors rule the day, to the ranchers who make a living selling the wool and pelts from their sheep! You'll see, as you read, why "sheep" have become the portal to understanding the science of skin. Sheep are raised for the quality of their leather and wool while cattle are raised for the "quality" of the meat for consumption. Few if any care about the healthy hair of a cow! Many people care about the healthy hair (wool) of a sheep!

Even then, you have to turn away from the American Ranchers who are all-consumed with selling expensive meat. After all LAMB is a much more profitable meat to sell than beef!

American ranchers, alone among all the sheep-raising countries, sell more meat then they do wool or leather. It is no surprise that research into the raising of sheep in America has not emphasized wool or leather, but has been concerned only with getting the meat to the plate fast and tender.

Below is a farm/university-oriented study of the components of the feed eaten by US sheep and cattle -- the excerpt shows how concerned (or unconcerned) the researchers are about the components that would lead to possible health of the skin and hair versus components that lead to quick cheap meat in high volume. The quote is part of a larger article and appears in a pop-up window.

Minerals

Values are shown for only certain minerals. Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) are important minerals in most feeding situations. Potassium (K) becomes important as the level of concentrate increases in the ration, or when nonprotein nitrogen is substituted for intact protein. Sulfur (S) also becomes more important as the level of nonprotein nitrogen increases in the ration.

Vitamins

Vitamins have been omitted from the table. Only vitamin A is of general practical importance in cattle and sheep feeding. The vitamin A and carotene in feeds depend largely on maturity and conditions at harvest and the length and conditions of storage. Therefore, it is probably unwise to rely entirely on harvested feeds as a source of vitamin A. Where roughages are being fed that contain good green color or are being fed as immature fresh forages (e.g., pasture), there will probably be sufficient vitamin A. (Source)

People who buy skins or wool, for clothing, are not much interested in diseases of sheep -- ranchers may be, of course. But the buyers of wool are interested in figuring out what is the characteristic of "leather" or "wool" that makes for good quality clothing.

These wool buyers pass on their interests, of course, to the ranchers. The buyers might easily say, "Well, Mr. Rancher, we noticed that the leather (or wool) from sheep in your south pasture has a better quality than the leather from the sheep in your north pasture. Why is that?"

The rancher who wants to increase his income goes looking.

He finds that "red clover" is the most common forage food in the south pasture while "green clover" is the predominant plant growth, and therefore food forage for the sheep in the north pasture.

And so very brilliant "scientific research" is done at this "grass roots" level of commerce.

Eventually some "real" researchers get into the act and tell us, after receiving large government grants, that, "The red clover is a plant very high in sulfur whereas the green clover has less than 20% of the sulfur content per pound of material!"

Incidentally, I have used these types of clover as examples with no claim that they provide differing levels of nutrition to animals or humans. The actual research and findings on different types of forage for sheep is HERE.

One of the main conclusions of studies of what makes for high quality food for foraging animals identifies sulfur as a dominant component. Click here for a list of scientific studies (each available on this web site in pop up windows).

Here is a quote from one:

Why is sulfur so critical in the diet?

The body uses relatively few Anions in the chemistry of the manufacture of flesh and blood. When we study the major elements, phosphorus or P is one of the five major elements. (Click here for definitions of "anion.")

When we study the trace elements, sulfur or S is also an anion and the bulk of the rest of the elements are cations. The anions have a positive charge and are often the key element in the structure of the rest of the compound.

The soil is the plant’s stomach. The only way to know if there is sulfur in the soil is to do a soil analysis.

Soil analysis has been one of the key portions of the Pro-Ag consultation service. Since the pressure in some communities has made the reliance on high analysis chemical fertilizers low in sulfur, we have many soils that are low in sulfur. Also many areas of farm land do not receive adequate sulfur even when they are fertilised.

Another factor in the metabolism of sulfur

Photosynthesis is the process that occurs in the leaf of a plant that allows the plant to manufacture food.  The plant must take up nitrogen from the soil in order to have it present in the leaf. Much of the nitrogen comes into the plant as a compound we call nitrates.NO3 .

Now look back at the structure of the amino group in the diagram of cysteine. The amino group requires nitrogen to be associated with two H or hydrogen atoms instead of three O or oxygen atoms. The conversion of nitrate to amino is done in the plant and requires two factors. Sunshine and water. The water supplies the hydrogen. H2O.  The plant’s metabolism releases oxygen. Then energy required for the conversion of nitrate to amino is also a part of the process. 

Plants high in nitrate are incapable of including sulfur in the final product. High nitrate portions of the diet encourage microbes to require the sulfur present in the diet so the animal is deprived of cysteine. 

The bottom line

Until the diet is properly balanced, we cannot expect animals to perform up to their genetic potential. It is quite foolish to attempt to change the animal’s genetic makeup when we aren’t feeding them the correct diet to enable them to perform with their current genetic capability. 

Australian breeders have developed strains of the merino breed through selective breeding to produce the finest wool ever made by any sheep in the world. Now I would hope those same farmers would learn how to best develop the correct diet for those sheep.  (source)

And so goes the research on the Moreno Sheep -- it is a species of sheep that produces very high quality leather -- thus the ranchers are interested in the health of that sheep.

The want the sheep to "live" in order to get as that pelt in the first year of a healthy life, but it is more important that the leather of the sheep has that high quality that brings high prices.

So, the ranchers buy "red clover seed" that has been "horticulturally manipulated" to produce forage of an even higher sulfur content than "regular" red clover. (Or, whatever different types of forage they consume.)

Could this all be true?

Well, this is the page that introduces that concept -- and the various linked pages give you the historical and scientific data that relates.

This page starts you on an exciting journey of discovery and learning if you've never thought much about how "sulfur" plays such an important role in the life of a sheep -- you'd then have to read more science that shows how YOUR skin has many of the same qualities as that of a sheep -- particularly as to what is the most important nutrient for your hair (it also turns out to be the important nutrient for your hair and fingernails).

Start by learning a bit about a single breed of sheep that is well-known as producing the finest quality leather of any sheep -- the "Moreno Sheep."

The full story of this $1,000 leather jacket is linked from the page about "Moreno Sheep" just above.

The beauty of the fiber itself is evident in intense, cold-weather or high-performance applications, where merino distinguishes itself from cotton and polyester fabrics by offering superior breathability, temperature regulation, moisture control, and inherent anti-microbial properties. Unlike "traditional" wool, merino is much finer, softer, and, best of all, itch-free for all but those with severe sensitivities or lanolin allergies. (source)

The American "Lamb Industry" they call it the "Sheep Industry" but it is not well known as a source of healthy leather or wool -- they mostly produce "lamb chops" which are not all that healthy anyway! Click here for the pop up window that describes the American Sheep.

American sheep are more often used as food than for their leather or wool. It is just more profitable to feed sheep cheaply, grown them fast, slaughter them and feed the markets with this relatively expensive type of meat -- "follow the money." It is not a surprise that Americans have not spent much money or energy researching how to make leather or wool more healthy!

U.S. mills use nearly four times as much imported wool as they do domestic wool,

. . .

other countries have instituted stiff measures to improve the quality of their wool and the U.S. lags behind in this area.

Sheep production in the United States is unique among all sheep-producing countries, because the U.S. market emphasis is on meat, rather than wool production.

Three-fourths of the American sheep producer's income is derived from the sale of meat, whereas, in the rest of the world, wool is the primary commodity. Sheep that are processed before the joints in their legs ossify produce meat referred to as "lamb," while older sheep produce mutton. There is a very distinct difference between the two types of meat, and lamb is priced significantly higher. (source)

 

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