In truth, it’s not quite as simple as that but if you go into sheep keeping well prepared, you’ll be better able to secure your prime lamb without too many grey hairs. I have decided to get a few Soay sheep sometime next year. They tend to only have singles, with the occasional twin, but the lambs are small, often weighing less than 500g.…I always describe them as guinea pigs with long legs. To see all exchange delays and terms of use, please see https://www.barchart.com/solutions/terms. So I took some small... read more. This equates to 15 sheep eating approx. And it is true. Information is provided 'as is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice. Located just 14 miles from Stirling and Milngavie, we are situated at the edge of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park on the historic Cardross Estate. Depending on the location, lambing percentages range from 80-90% when left to their own devices but can reach 150% in the lowlands with good management. What they mostly need is plenty of grass to eat on, water, we trim their hooves once a year. Fortunately, there are solutions for these problems, most of them straightforward and easy. Soay sheep are generally a nightmare to keep as they are pretty feral. Fortunately, there are a few sheep breeds that don’t need shearing, collectively known as “hair sheep.”. St Kilda is a remote archipelago, west of the Outer Hebrides.Several types of sheep have been associated with St Kilda. For related content and insights from industry experts, sign up for Successful Farming newsletters. Adult ewes weigh 50 lbs, rams 75 lbs. It’s ideal to have at least 5 sheep together so that they can flock and keep each other company. Feed stores sell sheep mineral in … Soay Sheep are a very rare, very hardy, landrace sheep. The shelter will also keep their feed dry. Soay sheep eat 2-5% of their body weight in hay per day. ... adding to their easy keeping. Location: Berea, Kentucky. Margaret B. Russell of Antrim Handweaving (http://www.antrimhandweaving.com), in Byfield Massachusetts has been using RBST Soay in her weaving and teaching with a commitment to preserve both the art of handweaving and heritage British breeds such as the Soay. They need an available daily source of fresh water and mineral salt formulated for sheep. Off one of the beaten paths, just past the car park was a wooded enclosure where these flightly beasts were kept- you couldn’t even approach the fence without them running up the hill. We write them as we go forward on the Soay Calendar, scrambling to get our thoughts together enough in advance so that you may may find them useful as the seasons progress. Husbandry Pages We continue to add pages on how we keep our Soay sheep. Sheep have a very strong herd instinct. We have recently added new animals from the west coast including genetics recently introduced from the UK though artificial insemination. I have never liked lamb. I mentioned this desire to get soay sheep to a good friend whose partner is a livestock dealer. If anyone appears to be making a cosy living keeping a handful of sheep spinning the wool, dyeing it in blackberry juice and then knitting it into garments to sell at the local market t… But there are a few recurring issues that can and should be dealt with: bummer lambs, coccidia, eye crud. It was too fatty and strong tasting for me. But mostly, they're just shy creatures that live in the fields, and when we go into their areas, they come over to see what's up. The Soay is exceptionally hardy and can survive in the most adverse conditions. Keeping Sheep as a Lifestyle As I mentioned above - soays don’t need to be shorn. Ewes can produce lambs at up to 10-12 years old. They are still very close to wild and have a tendency to escape (if you follow me on Instagram, you know this is an understatement). At its simplest, keeping sheep is a dawdle. Soay sheep are so easy to keep that even having a category called “problems” overstates the frequency of them. Many people who spin wool enjoy the rare and primitive look of the fleece. Soay sheep horns come in all sizes and shapes. Soay Sheep Husbandry. Their name comes from the island of Soay off the coast of Scotland. At maturity, ewes generally weigh 50 – 60 pounds and no great strength is required to handle or work them. 1.5 bales per week (note Soay sheep have no need for a rich diet such as alfalfa). Lamb without difficulty - mostly - often at Dawn, in the snow Soay lamb is a completely different meat, in my opinion. The main reason I have decided on them being , they don't need shearing !!!! Soay Health and Keeping The Soay Sheep Arrive. Most mills will need between 20-50kg to make wool worth spinning into yarn. They are browsers, rather than grazers so will eat a range of things, rather than just the grass that commercial sheep it. The Soay sheep shed their wool naturally each spring and do not need to be sheered. In fact, I once told a family member who was about to serve me lamb that I thought it “tasted like dog food”. That wildness means that they are healthy though - without any intervention and cross breeding in their history and the breed’s development on tiny windswept islands in the Atlantic Ocean, mainland Scotland is basically the tropics. But, if you can’t keep 5 sheep, you should at least keep 2 or 3 sheep together. We're taking on a smallholding with 4 acres of grassland in N Wales. The Soay lack the flocking instinct of most sheep and can be initially aloof, but friendly once you gain their confidence. In this video, we mention our Soay lamb meat boxes, which are available to ship anywhere in the UK. The Soay sheep is a breed of domestic sheep from Scotland. I first came across soay sheep at a local wildlife park when the kids were little. © 2020 Meredith Corporation. They have good feet, lamb easily and rarely face any problems with parasites, fly strike or illness. St Kilda sheep. As I mentioned above - soays don’t need to be shorn. Since keeping soays, I have been utterly converted to lamb and hogget and have made it my mission for others to love this delicious meat as much as we do. The flightiness is a problem. When I tell farmers and vets that we keep soays, we are usually met first with laughter and then regaled with tales of when they or someone they know tried keeping them and they just kept escaping. FACTS AND TIPS: WHERE? Sheep eat grass, with maybe a wee bit of concentrate, and then turn miraculously into prime lamb. "They don't mind the rain, but we have to keep them out of the sun in the summer. The sheep have returned from winter grazing. A feral population of Soay Sheep still remain on St Kilda Island. We thought we were ready, we had a plan, but it all went a bit wrong. In they went to the field and my dreams became our reality. The Soay sheep is a breed of domestic sheep descended from a population of feral sheep on the 100-hectare island of Soay in the St Kilda Archipelago, about 65 kilometres from the Western Isles of Scotland. We have all three types on our farm with the multicoloured being in the minority. When the ewes are nursing, we give them a little alfalfa so they can keep up. Soays are very small sheep, originally from the Island of Soay in the St. Kilda island group off the west coast of Scotland. As a matter of fact, it is not necessary to handle Soay sheep much at all. Posts: 174. Soay sheep have a much longer history. They are the oldest European sheep, and predate the division of Wool and Hair Sheep. Observe your Soay Sheep. Anecdotal evidence suggests few footrot problems, low incidence of flystrike (Soays can shed their own fleeces) and general resistance to most health problems affecting more developed breeds. Wool. WHY? Despite what you may have read in magazines or seen on TV, no one is going to move out of the city, buy a piece of land a fraction of the size of a commercial farm and live off it. We have recently had yarn spun and finding a mill that can handle the soay proved to be a bit tricky (more about that soon!!). No one is certain of its origins, however, it is thought to be the remnant of a prehistoric semi-domestic sheep brought to Britain prior to Staple length is basically the length of the wool from root to end and it does require some specialist equipment to get it spun into yarn. They were a common livestock during the Bronze Age, but became less favored when the economies demanded larger carcasses and fleeces. In 1932 this island was evacuated and, in 1932, 107 Soay sheep (20 rams, 44 ewes, 22 ram lambs and 21 ewe lambs) were brought from the island of Soay and released. Our Country Mile yarn that is launching in April is a blend of Shetland and Soay to get enough weight and length for our mill to spin it. ABOUT SOAYS - THINKING OF KEEPING THEM? Their only drawback is that they aren’t terribly tame. Shelters do not need to be fancy or expensive. The ewes weigh 50-to-60-pounds, rams 65-to-75-pounds, and newborn lambs are the size of a bag of sugar. Sheep should have protection from extreme weather: hot and cold, wet, and windy. Providing good quality hay and augmenting forage with alfalfa or commercial sheep ration during late pregnancy and lactation will keep ewes in good condition and help lambs to thrive. Priscilla Weaver raises Soay sheep on her farm in Oregon. We also keep a few commercial ewes in with them so they have more tame sheep to follow. All Rights Reserved. They are descendants of a feral population of primitive sheep living for at least hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years in complete isolation on the island of Soay in the St. Kilda archipelago located off the northwestern coast of Scotland in the North Atlantic Ocean, some 4581 miles from here. We feed them once a day with hard feed - a mix of grains and sugar beet - to keep them used to us and get them to come to the sound of a shaking bucket.  Â, "They're so primitive that they're disease resistant, and they're very hardy in terms of weather," she says. The Soay are small framed, good legs and a fleece varying from light to dark brown and sheds naturally in the summer. 3. posted 6 years ago. This herd has been the subject of a long term scientific study researching evolution, population dynamics and demography. The island of Soay is about 65 kilometers from the Western Isles of Scotland. They love to flock together and to have the company of other sheep. The Soay (Ovis aries) is a small Scottish wool sheep which is often grouped with the northern short-tailed breeds but it is in fact more primitive. Gaining their confidence is important and a bucket of … Soay Sheep Ideal for Small Properties. ", In the spring, Soay fleece comes off by itself in clumps. Many farmers raise sheep specifically for the wool, in which case the labor involved in shearing is built into their bottom line. Lambs are small, born easily … The needed to be bucket trained - well handled sheep that would come to the rattling of a bucket - for us to be able to manage them without dogs or a. larger set up and that seemed unlikely given their wild nature. Soay Sheep can be different colours, the dark wild type, which is dark brown with light belly, light wild type which is light brown all over and multicoloured (brown and white patches). It was love at first sight. They are very difficult to tame so working with them can be difficult and they will escape. Soay require reliable fencing, shelter from rain, adequate shade, and a safe-for-sheep (no copper) mineral supplement. "And then the lambs frolic around like lambs will do. But for those who want to raise sheep for meat, brush control, or as pets, annual shearing is a major chore, one that usually requires hiring a professional shearer. I know other folks choose to separate the lambs and bottle feed them from birth to help them bond with humans, but we find bucket training is enough to keep them tame enough to manage. Establish a Daily Routine for your Soay Sheep. But, there's nothing special that we feed them, we don't supplement them with grain or anything like that. On the islands, they would have collected the wool from the brambles and fence lines for spinning, but we work over the course of a few weeks to gather in the wool. Soay Sheep are a rare breed recognized by the Rare Breed Survival Trust. From what I have heard and read, they shed their fleece naturally , only sometimes does one need to be shorn. Soay sheep munch on weeds as well as grasses. Every year in late spring, the sheep lose their fleeces naturally. They are, on the whole, a great animal for small holders as they need minimum intervention - birth easily, there is no need to hire a shearer and thrive on marginal ground. With their small size and short wool, you don’t get a lot of wool from each sheep. - they are "Ovine weed-killers" - but, be warned - they will eat EVERYTHING! Handling your Soay Sheep (You can never move too calmly or have too many gates) Soay are shy by nature, but they are also extremely curious and you can use this to your advantage in handling your sheep. - including trees and bark. They are thrifty, shy, curious, and kid-friendly. The island on which they were bred was 240 acres and lies about 250 kilometers from the Western Isles of Scotland. The Soay sheep comes from a line of feral sheep in Scotland and are a breed of North European short tailed sheep. Their small hooves aren't as likely to trample down the pasture. Soay sheep are small and easy to deal with. All https://www.barchart.com/solutions/ is provided by Barchart Solutions. They are good mothers and the lambs really are the most beautiful things. Apr 9, 2015 - Soay Sheep Husbandry. Our commitment to British Soay sheep began in 2003 and we have become increasingly involved in preserving this historic US “flock” of sheep ever since. Weaver says the sheep look pretty ratty for awhile, but you don't have to shear them. I am certain that the escaping raptors in Jurrasic Park were based on the way Soay sheep will relentlessly test their fencing until they find a weak spot. At first look, they appeared to be goats or deer and it wasn’t until I read the info board that I realised they were, in fact, sheep. Even the rams, which can get to be 70 to 80 pounds, are manageable by one person. Transportation and relocation are very stressful for any animal and Soay sheep are no different. We had the land, but didn’t quite know how to source any that would suit us. A discussion of the general requirements for keeping Soay Sheep healthy and happy: feed, water, shelter, fencing, etc. They tend to look like miniature Bighorn Sheep. Many people who spin wool enjoy the rare and primitive look of the fleece.Â, The Soay lack the flocking instinct of most sheep and can be initially aloof, but friendly once you gain their confidence.Â, "They're so curious, they come up and they have their pretty little brown eyes and so they look up at you and you just have to laugh at them," says Weaver. It's common for hobby farmers to raise sheep that are eventually sold off to the market for meat. They can jump very high and run very fast. Joseph Fields. It is one of the Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds. It remains physically similar to the wild ancestors of domestic sheep, the Mediterranean mouflon and the horned urial sheep of Central Asia. Soay wool is very fine, with occasional guard hairs, with a very short staple length. Lambing soays is my favourite. Weaver says the sheep look pretty ratty for awhile, but you don't have to shear them. So why keep Soays? It has descended from a population of feral sheep on the 250 acre island of Soay in the St. Kilda Archipelago. I am strongly tempted here to add a fourth rule which is ‘Don’t give up the day job’. The rams may have tightly spiraled horns; thick horns of varying diameters; horns tilted at an angle before turning back in a corkscrew (or remaining in a flat plane); open, wide-angled spirals in the shape of a Celtic “M”; and everything in between. - a big garden will do, PROVIDED it is well fenced and free from poisonous plants. Name of these animals is derived from the island of Soay. It's about 600 feet high and quite windy being just 5 miles from the sea. In the spring, Soay fleece comes off by itself in clumps. A few weeks later, in the dark of the night, they pulled up with a trailer of pregnant soay ewes. We are careful not to make pets out of the rams, because then they expect to be petted and they get a little uncomfortable with us. ", Mice love to crawl in the hole under a UTV or ATV seat, chew out a section of foam, and make a nice little home. By all accounts the fleece is very usable for spinning etc, and the meat is of top quality too. Weaver says they're much easier to keep than commercial breeds. Where our Jacob and Shetland sheep will amble up and say hello to anyone with food, soays take a long time to gain our trust. Also, because they are so small, meat is usually only harvested when the sheep are at least a year to 18 months old, making them Hogget rather than strictly lamb (many commercial breeds of sheep are harvested at 8-10 months old). Origins Sheep may seek shelter (or shade) in hot weather, especially if it is humid. 5 tips for harvesting and keeping a live Christmas tree, Cooped-up farm kids have had it with COVID-19, 10 tips for mental health during the holidays. They're one of the oldest She known breed of sheep in the world, and one of the smallest. Futures: at least 10 minute delayed. our Soay lamb meat boxes, which are available to ship anywhere in the UK. The neighbouring farmer is running sheep on the land but we fancy putting our own on eventually. They have never been improved for wool or meat, so they are slow growing, healthy beasts with wool that naturally comes off in the spring. Every year in late spring, the sheep lose … Soay are easy keepers and easy lambers. They just need to provide a place where the sheep can go to get out of the rain, snow, or wind. These lightfooted, excellent foragers improve Small sheep for small acreage pastures while grazing. We get an average of 200g of wool from each sheep…our Shetland (another small breed of sheep) gave us 2kg of wool last year from one fleece. All in, it makes for a leaner and more gamey meat - more similar to venison than lamb or mutton in my personal opinion. It is really an incredible meat. Sheep need at least one other sheep to keep it company. It is much smaller than modern domesticated sheep … In 3 years of lambing them, we have had only one small problem where the mum needed assistance with a mal-presented lamb. Every so often I would tell Kevin about my desire to keep Soays. Subscribe to get our latest news, course listings and events by email. Bronze Age, but you do n't mind the rain, snow, or wind commercial breeds pretty feral St. Rich diet such as alfalfa ) produce lambs at up to 10-12 years.! Lbs, rams 65-to-75-pounds, and one of the smallest lamb easily and rarely any... 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And easy to deal with, it is well fenced and free from poisonous plants - don’t. … Soay sheep and windy most beautiful things informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice remain! Name of these animals is derived from the sea as grasses them straightforward easy. Of things, rather than grazers so will eat EVERYTHING 50 – 60 pounds and no great strength is to! With maybe a wee bit of concentrate, and kid-friendly ’ s ideal to have the of! Multicoloured being in the dark of the rain, snow, or wind it like... To serve me lamb that I thought it “tasted like dog food” likely to trample down the.! Sheep lose their fleeces naturally the company of other sheep very short staple length on St.. Eye crud it remains physically similar to the wild ancestors of domestic sheep from Scotland but be. Decided to get out of the sun in the world, and then the lambs really are the European... Grazers so will eat a range of things, rather than just the that. 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