Goat-sheep hybrid..

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Irish farmer claims to have bred goat-sheep hybrid, or 'geep'

Paddy Murphy says unusual-looking animal was born after he noticed goat mating with his sheep on farm in County Kildare.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... ybrid-geep

To be honest, I'm more interested in if his name is really Paddy Murphy.

Was going to say that I'd be surprised to hear this hasn't happened before, but got the answer to that at the end of the article...

I don't understand how this is even possible. Whether a goat and a sheep had mated or not, I would of thought that their DNA would be too different to be able to produce any offspring. They even have a different number of chromosomes.

Precisely my thoughts - Apparently such progeny is usually stillborn. Amazing it survived and surely it would be sterile.

Now, what could farmers use a 'geep' for anyway? Sure is cute though!

Oh, the name Paddy is really popular in Ireland (& in the UK). It's short for Patrick.

Lovely story, thanks for sharing

Males are the sterile ones. Females can still reproduce but since they have no fertile males of the same hybrid mix they can only breed with either of the 'parent' species. Even then its very difficult to conceive.

The practical uses for a goat/sheep hybrid ... I can't think of any. The wool cant be any better than pure sheep wool and sheep milk is richer than goat milk... the meat of both is equally gamey ... I guess the only real difference is the goat eats anything while the sheep is more selective?

If this thing is real, I have to think this would hardly be the first time a "geep" was born to the world. But I agree with the previous poster, that the product of a sheep/goat union would almost certainly be sterile.

D'aww, that 'geep' critter is really cute. Is that even possible, though, to cross a goat with a sheep?