Dying sheep unethical?

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jessie15273

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Our barn theme for 4h is "Candy Lambs" like candy land. Every family is doing a place ex mccanns marshmallow mansion. My cousin and I are doing cousins cotton candy cottage.


We want to tie in our costume class with the theme. Would it be ok to dye our sheep with food coloring? What do you think?
 
Personally, I don't think it would be unethical but even food coloring is going to stain the wool, I would use it with the assumption that it isn't going to wash out. I speak from years of experience with kids and food coloring.

You could also make an outfit and glue candy to it.

Have you ever seen the racing sheep (you can look it up on youtube)? They wear spandex outfits, something like that and then attach things to it. That way, no one would have an issue, it is another costume and you could make it really realistic.
 
This makes me wonder if it's safe to stain bunnies pretty colors with Kool-Aid...
 
I dye dogs all the time, there are laws against dying animals in some states though, so check your statutes. Yes, koolaid will not come out but you only need to have it on the surface of the coat. You'll need about five times as much food coloring as you think. I would apply the food coloring with an airbrush tool, this will keep it on the surface and be easier to clip off afterwards. If you decide to do it try it on a sheep you AREN'T taking to the fair first. There are several creative grooming sites I would recommend you check out also. The costume/coat will be much easier/faster to do.
 
LauraNJ":xbednkbb said:
Personally, I don't think it would be unethical but even food coloring is going to stain the wool, I would use it with the assumption that it isn't going to wash out. I speak from years of experience with kids and food coloring.

You could also make an outfit and glue candy to it.

Have you ever seen the racing sheep (you can look it up on youtube)? They wear spandex outfits, something like that and then attach things to it. That way, no one would have an issue, it is another costume and you could make it really realistic.
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My friend shears my sheep, so he takes the wool, but for ours he throws it away, apparently our sheep have bad quality wool, that isn't worth keeping anyways. The spandex things are a good idea, but we were going for cotton candy sheep, so wool would be a good texture for that. I'll keep the spandex thin in mind for next year haha
 
Kyle@theHeathertoft":168ddpdn said:
Also if you do dye them, even if it's just food coloring, wear latex or rubber gloves. ;)
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And garbage bags over old clothes cause your color is going to go everywhere.

I trust we don't need to beg for pics?
 
You can get pet friendly dye at a Groomers' supply.... and i think if it doesn't hurt them then the term 'ethical' doesn't even need to enter the conversation. It's is just a big word tossed around nowadays, that means something different to each person! Have fun with your sheep and I bet there will be other interestingly coloured sheep there as well :) and YES we will need PICS!! Now THAT would be "unethical" LOL :)
 
My kids are a bit old for Candyland, so I don't know the place names. If your choice is not set in stone, you could make an easy jellybean costume by tying balloons to their wool, or you could wind red ribbon around them to make them into candy canes.
 
Provided the animal isn't stressed beyond normal handling by the dying process I don't see any ethical problems even though some are against dying animals of any type with anything. I've debated things I could do to our red shiba with white if she had more patience and didn't find baths to be torture. We have a devil costume for her that my mom dressed her in last halloween. My dark akita doesn't lend well to dying and she'd probably remove costumes in an instant.
 
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Here they are!
 
I love it!!! The red one came out especially awesome. :D So bright and cheerful!!!

Man, I would love to do that sometime. Plus a few cute little bows or something.......... yeah I love cute stuff. :)
 
Very nicely done! How did you keep it off of their faces? Painter's blue masking tape? :lol:
 
To dye them, I put the dye in a misting bottle. I did more of a stream setting near the face, then just rubbed it around with a towel. The lighting isn't doing the blue one justice in that picture. It's actually a nice bright blue
 
Sorry to come in so late but we used livestock marker spray paint for the sheep and goats when I worked at a sale barn. It was just a line, X, or O to mark who the seller was or what families went together but the stuff fades off in a month or 2. Just an idea if anyone else wants colored animals ;)
 

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