catchall for birthing issues
Soay sheep are legendary for their hardiness, including their resistance to disease. They don’t need much in the way of vaccinations — just one per year in our experience — but that one annual immunization is important to their good health. As for other shots, a pair of vitamin and mineral injections for newborns will […]
When Tiny Tim arrived on April 17, 2013, weighing in at just one pound 13 ounces, we despaired that he would survive, much less catch up to his greedy twin sister. Loyal readers know we were lucky to be able to place him with an adoptive mother at the ripe old age of one day, […]
One of the few vexing behaviors of Soay sheep is the tendency of a first-born Soay twin to be temporarily “adopted” by a meddlesome “aunt,” another ewe who has not yet lambed but whose hormones are starting to kick in. Let me explain. It is not uncommon for pregnant ewes to be very curious about […]
Remember two years ago when we had a teeny lamb weighing only 1 pound 15 ounces? We could not resist naming him “Saltmarsh Peanut,” and Peanut he is to this day. By way of reminder, here he is in Steve’s hands a few hours after he was born: Although lambing has begun in earnest for […]
Of the many ways shepherds can fritter away hours waiting for their Soay lambs to arrive, none is more useless than trying to figure out how many lambs we’ll get in total, i.e., which ewes will have twins and which will have just one lamb. We kid ourselves into thinking the exercise is useful for “planning.” […]
One day and several hours’ sleep after I watched a Soay lamb born in the moonlight, I captured this tranquil scene. Not a picturesque background, I admit. It is a jug, after all. But what a calm mother and baby. And it turns out this little guy will be a breeder for us one day […]