SHEEP more useful than a Swiss Army knife

Sheep by-products are used in places most consumers wouldn't think to look. In fact, many people couldn't get through the day without sheep and other animal products. Getting up and dressed in the morning utilizes lanolin. Where would we be without mouthwash, soap, deodorant, and of course, gel? Not to mention lotion, cosmetics, perfumes and hair spray. Moving to breakfast, if you like to eat on fine bone china, that comes from sheep, too. Bone tissue is ground to make the necessary ingredients for some of the world's finest china. If they check their purse or wallet, it's quite possible it's made from sheep leather. On a cold day they may even need to put on their wool- lined gloves and jackets before leaving the house. Of course, many pants, suits, sweaters, socks, ties, shirts, underwear, skits, blouses and other types of clothing are made of wool.

Driving to work also involves sheep products. Many drivers sit on sheepskin seat covers for comfort. If you have car with leather upholstery, it came from animals and some of them may be sheep. In addition, stearic acid obtained from the animal's fat is added to car tires to make them run cooler. Glycol, another animal-based chemical, is found in brake fluid and glycerol is one of the main ingredients to make asphalt stick together. If you listen to the radio on the way to work or take in a concert later in the evening, they are hearing sheep in action. Sheep by-products are used to make strings for instruments such as violins and drum heads .

Sitting down to dinner by candlelight includes sheep. Tallow candles are kind of messy, but they're the real thing, and they're made from sheep. Modern candles use stearic acid and paraffin, which also come from sheep. Serving wine and cheese before dinner is nice and the cheese is available because of the sheep rennet used in its making. The fancy carving set for the leg of lamb comes from horn and bone tissue, and softening agents in baked goods, as well as plasticizers in shortening, are made from sheep by-products. Desserts like ice cream and yogurt contain gelatin, a protein product made from horns, hooves and bones.

Should you decide to photograph a memorable evening, they will again be using animal gelatin processed into photographic film. Chewing gum to "freshen your breath" after dinner, utilizes fatty acids from sheep. If spending the evening by candlelight doesn't thrill you sporting events abound. With baseball season upon us, it seems only appropriate to consider the contribution of sheep to one of America's favorite pastimes. Hot dogs are cased in sheep intestines and the ball is stuffed with wool. It's also sewn with wool thread. The rubber lining is made with stearic acid and the cork center contains processed blood. Sheep couldn't get more American if they tried.

For people who are not feeling well, sheep provide cough medicine, insulin, pepsin, spinephrine, ACTH, cortisone, hormones, glandular extracts, suppositories and surgical sutures made from intestines. Animal cartilage also is used for orthopedic reconstruction and other animal products serve as protective media for freezing red blood cells, sperm cells, eye comea and other living tissues.

People who entertain in their Southwestern-style homes also have sheep and sheep producers to thank. They supply skulls, bones and other animal parts for sculpture and home decoration. Bones are used for jewelry, including earrings and tie-tacks. Other decorations provided by sheep help create an aura in a home. Navajo-style wool throw rugs add warmth and elegance to the room as do pelts and paint. Carpeting is also a nice touch, especially durable wool-blend carpet which utilizes more than 1.7 billion pounds of wool a year. Adobe brick, which surrounds the outside of Southwestern-style homes, is made with glycerin, also derived from animal fat. Concerned, label- reading American consumers can see that animal products are all around us, in our cars, food and homes. Even if we became vegetarians, we would still rely heavily on animal by-products. Perhaps in the future, synthetic materials will be developed to take the place of all animal by-products in our daily lives and we will have no need for them. But even if those have been developed, there is nothing like the "dyed in the wool real thing."

PRODUCTS MADE FROM SHEEP

While providing a continued supply of meat to the tables of American consumers, sheep and lambs also provide significant by-products used by a number of American industries. These by-products are used in the manufacturing of many consumer items which are enjoyed by and contribute to the health and convenience of people from all walks of life.