What Does “A Drift of Sheep” Mean?
“Drift” describes sheep moving slowly and gradually rather than being actively pushed toward a destination, grazing their way across a pasture at their own unhurried pace rather than following a deliberate route set by a shepherd. It’s the same gentle, self-directed sense of movement covered in “drift of cattle,” now applied to an animal even more strongly associated with grazing-led wandering.
This kind of movement is especially common on open hill pasture, where sheep are left largely to graze independently over large stretches of land, drifting gradually toward better grass or water as conditions change through the day or season. Hill farming traditions in parts of the UK still rely on this pattern today, with sheep drifting across unfenced or lightly fenced common land, their general whereabouts tracked by farmers rather than tightly controlled minute to minute.
Example: “A drift of sheep worked its way slowly down from the high pasture as the weather turned.”
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals · What Is a Group of Sheep Called?