Domestic Animals on Stamps

I use Domestic Animals as a catch-all for any animal that people keep and care for. Farm animals are possibly the most important, but pets and working animals have a huge part of our lives too.

There is some over-lap in the categories from farm to pet to working animals. A child's pet dog may also help herd sheep. A pack animal such as donkey or mule may also be a pet. And can we exclude cats from the list of working animals, if a farm cat catches mice? Not to mention the "gifts" of dead birds brought home by many.

Some of the stamps shown here may be from sets of stamps, or individual ones, issued for other reasons, with the domestic animal being a part of the scene. An example would be the bull on US #1328, which also contains corn, and was issued to celebrate Nebraska statehood.

Farm Animals

This category also includes animals found on farms in parts of the world other than North America & Europe.

The following set from New Zealand was issued in 1995 in both 40¢ and 45¢, in booklets of 10, 2 rows of 5. Straight edges are found on the top of the top row of stamps, and the bottom of the bottom row. It has a continuous design background in each row; top row has a green border at bottom, and the bottom row has a tan border at bottom.These are typical farm animals in much of the world, although the variety of each species may change with country and climate.

• #1283 sheep - for wool or meat
• #1284 Deer are not usually though of as domestic animals, but they can be raised for venison.
• #1285 horses - for riding in this day and age, but for work in previous times (plowing, pulling wagons)
• #1286 cattle - these are dairy cows

• #1287 goats - this stamp was the last one of the top row in the booklet, hence the green bottom border. Goats give milk and meat.
• #1288 turkey - a bird native to North America
• #1289 ducks - for eggs and meat
• #1290 chickens - for eggs and meat

• #1291 pigs - for meat
• #1292 Border collie, which could be a pet or a working dog herding sheep.

• #1529 Bull at 55b
• #1530 Pig at 1l
• #1531 Cow at 1.35l

And here's a partial set from Bulgaria:

• #3583 Chicken with chicks, 30s value
• #3584 Horse, 40s value
• #3585 Goat, 62s value
• #3589 Bull, 2l value
• #3591 Cow, 10l value

Domestic Animals in Traditional Farm Work

Prior to the Second World War all denominations in Canadian stamps below 10-cents had been reserved for displaying the King’s portrait. In the wartime issue of 1942 an exception was made in the designs of the 4- cent and 8-cent denominations.

#253 Grain Elevator 4¢ (see notes on this in Farm Crops under Domestic Plants). The next 3 stamps show cattle and horses in farm settings.

• #256 Dairy Cattle - 8¢ brown - This was issued to illustrate Canada's agricultural industry, showing cattle in a farm setting. After Germany took over the European continent, Canada became one of Britain's main sources of food.
• #268 - 8¢ brown - Eastern Canada farm scene was issued in 1946 illustrating the vital farm products and farm activities. It shows a farmer with horses drawing a plow, with house, barn and silo behind.
• US #286 - 2¢ copper red, issued in 1898 - A farmer plowing, using horses.

Horses used to do much of the draught work on farms until machines were developed. Other domestic animals were also used.

Oxen were often used to pull plows or carts.

• US #958 - Issued in 1948, this shows a pioneer wagon pulled by oxen, moving westward in the expansion of the USA.
• US #981 - A Red River oxcart & pioneer celebrates the Minnesota Territorial Centennial in 1949.
• A stamp from Bangladesh with oxen pulling the plow. This scene repeats in the Developing Countries of the world.

Cattle

Aside from dairy farms, there are also beef cattle. Both kinds provide skins for leather too. Two of the stamps below show beef cattle as part of another context.

• US #1328 - A bull & cob of corn for Nebraska statehood
• US #1504 - A bull & cattle in the distance in "Rural America"
• Argentina #440 - the face of a bull, to indicate cattle breeding in the country

This set from Great Britain shows their cattle breeds.

• #1044 Highland Cow, 16 p – This breed was begun in Scotland, creating beef cattle that have a long coat of hair for insulation, and long horns.
• #1045 Chillingham Wild Bull, 20 ½ p - Chillingham Cattle are a rare breed of livestock that live in a large enclosed park at Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England. The herd consists of about 90 animals in Chillingham, and another 20 on Crown Estate in northern Scotland. They are white with upright horns, and red ears.
• #1046 Hereford Bull, 26p – A beef cattle breed originally from Herefordshire, England. They have white face and reddish body.

• #1047 Welsh Black Bull, 28p – As the name implies, it is black, and originated in Wales. These are used for beef; they can browse as well as graze the land.
• #1048 Irish Moiled Cow, 31p – This is a rare breed originating in Ireland; “moiled” refers to the dome on the polled or hornless head. They are used for meat and dairy products.

• Sudan #153 A small herd of livestock, in 55 mms value
• Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania #233 Rinderpest Campaign, 30c, from 1971 - This stamp mentions the Rinderpest Campaign by the Organization of African Unity. Rinderpest was a viral infection of cattle that frequently had an 80-90% fatality rate, and sometime 100%. It probably originated in Asia but had reached Egypt by 3000 BC, and later spread with European colonization. The campaign to wipe it out was apparently successful (note the hypodermic needle); the UN plans an official announcement on its eradication in 2011.

Sheep

Farmers raise sheep for wool and for meat. Both Australia and New Zealand are known for these products, but sheep are raised on every inhabited continent.

• US #1423 has the label "America's wool".
• Russia #4371 from 1975 is about Astrakhan fur, the very curly and usually black or grey wool of the karakul lambs from Astrakhan.

• Australia #147 - 2d from 1934 - Merino sheep, known for their long wool.
• Australia #172 = 5d from 1934 - Merino sheep as well.
• Argentina #442 - 30c Merino sheep. Pictures all look the same, don't they?

• #1014 - 40¢ Coopworth
• #1016 - 80¢ Corriedale
• #1017 - $1.00 Drysdale
• #1018 - $1.50 South Suffolk

Australia also had a set of different sheep raised there, issued in 1989.

• #1136 - 39¢ Merino
• #1137 - 39¢ Poll Dorset
• #1138 - 85¢ Polwarth
• #1139 - $1.00 Corriedale

• #841 Wicklow Cheviot, 32p – This breed started in Northumberland, England, and is used for both meat and wool.
• #842 Donegal Blackface, a ram at 38p – This breed has thick wool, and the characteristic black face. The horns curl quite a bit.
• #843 Galway Breed, at 52p – This domestic breed from Galway is used for meat. They are hornless and have white faces

A couple more sheep stamps:

• Falkland Islands #107 is ½ d value
• Australia #576 - $4.00 value stamp, a painting entitled "Shearing the Rams" by Tom Roberts.

• Mali #16 – herd of sheep with shepherd. ‘Elevage’ along the top means animal husbandry
• Romania #1527 Sheep at 20b
• Romania #1528 Merino Ram at 40b

Goats are used for milk and meat, and will eat almost anything. Angora, also called mohair, is the wool from angora goats.

• Goat in bas relief, from India.
• Goat on Bulgaria #3585, a more realistic appearing picture of the animal
• Mohair is a fine wool shorn from angora goats, shown here in Basutoland #71

'Non-standard' Domestic Animals

There are other domestic animals native to certain parts of the world that have been domesticated for centuries, but are not part of the usual menagerie on European type farms.

• Vicuña - from Peru, a relative of the llama, it produces fine light wool.
• Camel - This stamp from Eritrea has a dromedary camel.
• Camel - This mounted camel from Sudan (#12), is also a dromedary camel (one hump), from western Asia.
• Bactrian camel shown on Czech stamp #1113, about a zoo.

Horses are popular on stamps from many countries. These are from Poland.

• #1191 - 50 gr, Arabian mares & foals
• #1194 - 1.55 zt, Arab stallion (pink background)
• #1196 - 4 zt, Mixed breeds (green background)

See my page on horses for more about the different activities for which people train them.

Elephants

Elephants (Elephas maximus) are used by humans for timber-carrying, as a mount in war, in ceremonies, and for carrying people. They are generally captured from the wild as youngsters; that is more economical than to breed them in captivity. They are the biggest domestic animals, and it takes a great deal of skill to work with them. because they can be trained, I include them as domestic animals.

• #273 - Wild herd from Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), 50¢
• #318 - Procession for the Royal Visit 1954, also from Ceylon, a 10¢ stamp; those shown are wearing coverings.
• #58 from Burma - an Asian elephant working with teak. King George VI is in the cameo.

• Kenya #30 - a wild African elephant
• Zaire #1431 - African elephants being ridden by Game Wardens

Fowl

Some countries which are not known for their farming issued stamps, presumably to sell to collectors.

• US #968 - Issued in 1948 to acknowledge the Centenary of the American Poultry Industry.
• Poland #2098 - farmyard geese

• France #3020 Chicken with chicks, .50€.
• Bulgaria #1599 Chick & egg shell, & incubator, 1s value
• India #840 Chick hatching from one of several eggs

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