Welcome to The Chronicles. I hope you will enjoy my posts about the joys of raising the oldest breed of sheep in the world -- the always intriguing, easy-to-raise Soay sheep. With few exceptions, posts contain what I hope is useful information interspersed with a bit of whimsy. Feel free to comment on anything you find here. If you want to send me a private message, that's okay, too. Send your note to the address on the "contact us" page of our main website (***saltmarshranch-dot-com). Meanwhile, enjoy The Soay Sheep Chronicles! Priscilla
One of the joys of raising rare little sheep is the seemingly endless stream of “can you believe this?” stories. Just before the holidays, we received an e-mail from a fellow breeder, Mike Reid from northern Oregon, with the latest. Mike tells the story first-hand: I don’t know what to make of it, but it […]
When last we met, I promised to discuss the logistics of shipping Soay sheep cross-country and share with you the personal satisfaction of working with the recipients of the airborne sheep to make it happen. Business first and then the human side of things. You probably will not be surprised to learn that air-shipping Soay […]
It is common knowledge among Soay shepherds that finding equipment for our diminutive animals can be a challenge: standard ID tags swamp our lambs’ ears; even our largest ewes get lost in full-sized sheep chairs; 4×4 mesh panels are a hazard, rather than a protection. But there is one perfectly-sized category of equipment for Soay […]
Yesterday’s snowfall at nearby Crater Lake, together with the rapidly shortening days, reminds us that the grass is about to stop growing, breeding season is upon us, and it is time to prepare for feeding hay and the beginning of the rainy season — all closely related events. Preparations for breeding are pretty routine by […]
For Soay sheep and their shepherds, summer is an easy, laid-back season. All the sheep are feasting on grass, so there is no hay to tote. Moving the animals from one area to another to keep them rotating through the pastures is a welcome task, since we get to be with our Soay flock and […]
Yesterday the twins born under less-than-ideal circumstances celebrated their 2-week birthday, and they not only are surviving, they are thriving and growing like little ovine weeds. Tolcarne is, as usual, a superb mother and at least for now is cranking out milk sufficient to meet her lambs’ needs without losing her good conditioning. May I […]