Twins

the pleasures and challenges of two-at-a-time

How often do Soay ewes produce twins?  Some thoughts and some data

How often do Soay ewes produce twins? Some thoughts and some data

For those of you interested in twinning rates, we have some data, but first a couple of comments and several caveats. We do not have any way to analyze the effect of nutrition on whether a ewe has twins. The commercial breeders use a system called “flushing” to get their ewes to twin. It involves […]

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2017 Soay lambs at Saltmarsh Ranch: the first wave

2017 Soay lambs at Saltmarsh Ranch: the first wave

In our 14 years of Soay shepherding we often have been lucky to have really really good photographers on-site to help record the irresistible new lambs. This year is no exception. Here are our first eight heritage sheep — four sets of twins — captured by another worthy visiting photographer. Most or all of these […]

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Fun with naming Soay twins

Fun with naming Soay twins

Before Soay lambing starts in earnest around the country, I thought you might get a kick out of some of the naming pairs our ordinarily serious and conservation-minded colleagues have chosen for their twins. It’s all well and good to use place names, flower names, national park names, girl scientist names, and similarly earnest themes. […]

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Lamb Camp Day 3:  . . . and the lambs came two by two

Lamb Camp Day 3: . . . and the lambs came two by two

I forgot to mention at the end of my report on Day 2 of Lamb Camp that just before we all turned in for the night, a final trip to the Maternity Ward revealed yet another cute new lamb, still pretty gooey and wobbly. Favoring practicality over husbandry perfection, and confident that the ewe had […]

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Lamb Camp Day 2: It’s all about the lambs and how to “work” and enjoy them

Lamb Camp Day 2: It’s all about the lambs and how to “work” and enjoy them

For those of you who landed on this post looking for how to “work” a newborn lamb, or how a Soay ewe manages to nurse her first twin while the second one is coming out the birth canal and greeting the world, let me reassure you that you have not landed in an alien universe. […]

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Lamb Camp Day 1: Campers arrive and so do their first lambs

Lamb Camp Day 1: Campers arrive and so do their first lambs

Our friend Ida had so much fun visiting us during lambing in 2013 that she applied to return this year. In my last post, I tried to set the stage for Lamb Camp 2015 by sharing the backstory of Ida’s first visit. By the time Ida and daughter Whitney and niece Audrey arrived on April […]

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