Soay Sheep - our latest project

[M. A. C. Newsome]

My family and I some months back acquired a small field adjacent to our property that makes for perfect pasture land. After much discussion and research, we decided to keep a few sheep on it. We were looking for something that would keep the grass under control, be easy to care for, hardy and disease resistant, and that would not require shearing. If they would give us wool that my wife could spin and knit with, all the better.

A friend of ours (Rob Jones of the Clan MacMillan, Appalachian branch) suggested we look into Soay sheep. If you are like we were, and had never heard of them before, here's a brief run down. Not only do they fit all of the above criteria, but they are also a Scottish heritage breed. They are named after the Isle of Soay in the St. Kilda archipelago off the northwest coast of Scotland. (Or it may be more accurate to say the island is named after them -- the name in Norse means "sheep island").

It is said that the sheep were brought to the St. Kilda islands in neolithic times and they breed has been isolated there ever since, making them the most primitive breed of sheep around today. A few were brought to North America a few decades back and now there are some well established US breeders. For those interested in learning more, two of the largest breeders are:
http://www.soayfarms.com/
and
http://www.soaysheep.com/

Most of the US breeders are in the northwest (aka, the opposite part of the country from where I live). To get any farther away from us they'd have to be in Alaska or Hawaii. But, as Providence would have it, there is one breeder that is located in SC, just an hour and a half drive away! We went to visit her farm, picked her brain for all it was worth, went home, got our field prepared for them, and last week welcomed our new little flock of RBST registered British Soay Sheep! One young ram and three ewes. Allow me to introduce the family!




The ram is on the right.




Our young ram, again. He's just under a year old (they become fertile at 5 months, though!).


Now this is how you relax.

Our wooly friends have a few companions. This is Waffles, our Donkey.

Her job is to guard the sheep from coyotes, stray dogs and the like. So far she's doing just fine. She seems to really get along well with the sheep. (We bought her from a home where she had been kept with sheep before, so it's a role she's comfortable with).

And of course we still have a small flock of hens. We haven't let them free range out in the pasture with the other animals yet, but both donkey and sheep come from places where chickens were around, so they should be pretty used to them.


The best part about it is I can see our pasture from our kitchen window, so I get to watch the sheep eating their breakfast while I am enjoying mine in the morning.

It's been an adventure so far, and a huge learning curve for my wife and I, but we are getting the hang of it and looking forward to lambs somewhere down the road. And it's great, too, to be doing our part to help preserve this rare and historic breed of Scottish sheep.