The Soay Sheep Chronicles

Veteran readers of this blog know what firm believers we are in using jugs to house our Soay ewes with their newborn lambs. The first couple of years we made jugs from our Shaul panels and that was nice, but the lambs sometimes crawled through and wandered off. So Steve and Shawn designed wood-sided jugs from old pieces of plywood and whatever other cheap wood they could find. Every year at lambing time we are reminded of how indispensable the jugs are for giving each ewe time to bond with her lamb(s), allowing us to work the lambs peacefully, and safeguarding unusually small lambs for a few extra days until they are ready to compete in the nursery and the playyard.

What we didn’t know was that jugs come in really handy when it’s time for the vet inspections necessary in order for Soay sheep to travel across state lines or the US-Canada border.  Let me explain.

This morning Dr. Rebecca was scheduled to inspect a whole lot of sheep headed north, south and east from here over the next month (so far, not west, that would be Japan).  In preparation, we had marked all the sheep with color-coded electrical tape on their horns – a different set of colors for each customer.  At the last minute, we decided to try putting each group of ewes (the rams were still down in the west end) in a jug. We’re pretty fussy about making sure the right sheep go to the right customer!

Ewes about to go on a trip with Ron

Ewes heading north to Washington

You might think the ewes would get uncomfortable sharing such close quarters, but not our girls. As soon as we put a little hay in the jug feeders, away they went!

Chowing down before heading south to a new home

Can't you see I'm busy eating?

And my favorite photo, for anyone who thinks Soay sheep are too skittish. How’s this for a trusting look?

Oh, is it my turn to be inspected? Okay!

A note about these feeders: we used to feed our jugged ewes out of milk crates on the floor, but of course they kicked over the crates. We tried hanging feeders but the ewes managed to knock them over, too. Our jugs are 3.5′ x 5′ and there just isn’t room for a fulll-depth hanging feeder. What we came up with is what you see here, an angled wooden feeder securely anchored to the wall, with the front face made from scraps of 4×4 wire panel. They are sized to hold a flake of hay horizontally and we can fill them just by walking alongside the jugs; we don’t even need to disturb the ewes with their newborns.

For now …

Ever since we got our first Soay sheep nearly seven years ago, we have bragged to our friends, and frequently boasted online as well, about how great they are for cleaning up neglected pastures and keeping grass pastures healthy.  Everything we learned online in the early days reinforced our notion that our sheep were in fact cleaning up our pastures.  Here’s what one of our mentors, Kate Montgomery, had to say on the subject in her primary essay about the benefits of keeping Soay sheep:

“They manage on more meager pastures, and actually improve pastures by consuming Scotch broom, berry vines, and …”  Citation.

Our friends ordinarily indulge us when we yatter on about our sheep keeping our pastures nice, and only rarely roll their eyes, at least in our presence.  But one thing almost always brings a look of skepticism, our pronouncements about our flock’s preference for noxious blackberries over irrigated pasture mix (”really nice green grass” in lay terms).  Most people simply cannot fathom that a sheep would first go after a nasty blackberry vine’s leaves and only then turn to the really nice green grass.  Each one of these statements from our website has drawn a “Really?  You must be kidding” response:

“They much prefer weeds (”forbs”) over grasses.”  Citation.

“… the non-native, invasive blackberry has met its match in Soay sheep.  [O]ur otherwise sweet-tempered flock attacks the emergent re-growth.” Citation.

“Spring is when they get not only live grass, but also their favorite delicacies, the new growth of poison oak and blackberry leaves.”  Citation.

“Your Soay gang will seek out the new weed growth as they move through the pastures, and eat it first before they turn to the grass.”  Citation. (emphasis added, as they say in the legal biz).

Up until now, my only defense to these implicit accusations of exaggeration at best — and falsehood at worst — was to simply speak more emphatically in my best lawyer’s voice as if I were standing in front of a judge in black robes.  Then, lo and behold, as I rummaged through old photographs over the weekend, I came across a single picture of 0ne little lamb in a great big expanse of summer pasture, and guess what that little guy was doing amidst the sea of grass leaves?  You guessed it — eating a solitary blackberry vine!

Don’t believe me?  Have a look.  First, an overview of the “North Cannon” part of our pasture in 2004 when we had just let the sheep, and their guardian dog TJ, into a new area of lush grass:

Saltmarsh Ranch pasture about to be eaten by hungry Soay sheep

There was so much grass to eat that this sheep had a whole big section to him or herself:

Soay sheep in grass pasture

Can’t see any blackberry vine?  Have a closer look:

Soay sheep preferentially eating blackberry leaves

Once the lamb finished off the blackberry leaves — and thus prevented the blackberry from growing — it either lay down for a good cud chew and took a nap, or moved on to all that luscious grass there for the eating.

Now, if only I could remember (more than six years later?  not likely) exactly where in North Cannon I took this picture, I could try to go back and find out whether this particular blackberry vine ever dared shows its face again.  Somehow, I doubt it.

All you Soay shepherds out there — next time someone doubts your flock’s preference for weeds over grass, send them a link to this post, okay?  Meanwhile, spring and new grass are just around the corner, thank goodness.

For now …