Soay Sheep - our latest project

[Jock Scot]

Different Soay. The Soay these sheep are named for is in the St. Kilda archipelago, of the northwest coast of Lewis (there is also a Soay south of Skye, so it gets confusing). The Soay near Skye is a larger island. If you go to Google maps and just type in "Soay, Scotland," it will show you the one off Skye. However, if you type in "St. Kilda, Scotland," it will show you a tiny dot far off the coast of Lewis. And if you zoom in on that tiny dot, you will see it is actually three tiny dots. The small dot to the far left (west) is Soay.

The largest of the St. Kilda islands, just to the east of Soay, is Hirta. Most Soay sheep have been moved in modern times to Hirta for conservation purposes. My sheep all descend from sheep on Hirta.

Well I have to admit that I was not aware of that. Never too old to learn, thank you Matt. Anyway, I do know that Gavin Maxwell's Soay was the Skye one.

[sevenoaks]

Matthew it so good that you have chosen this very old breed of sheep. We are loosing far to many ancient plants and animals in our rush to increase food production. Huge companies like Monsanto are destroying the Gene pool and manipulating nature to man's questionable benefit.
I wish you well in your adventure. The donkey will be a great companion for sheep.