The Soay Sheep Chronicles

Soay lambs benefit from a little human intervention shortly after they arrive on the scene and have had their first, critical meal of colostrum. At a minimum, sterilizing the remains of their umbilical cord and checking their temperature to be sure they have been nursing well goes a long way towards ensuring a healthy and vigorous young Soay sheep.

From time to time, we hear it said that working newborn lambs is a whole lot of fuss and bother and not worth the effort. For us, it is just the opposite — one of the sweetest, most relaxing, and confidence-building times with our sheep.

A couple of days ago I took my trusty new pocket video camera with me while Steve worked one of our brand-new lambs, a little ewe we haven’t even named yet. I hope you will enjoy this tranquil scene of a contented shepherd, contented ewe, and mostly-contented lamb all together in their jug.

For now …

It’s Soay toy time at Saltmarsh Ranch. I just got a little bitty video camera and tried it out for the first time in the Maternity Ward. I thought it would be fun to show off our pregnant ewes who are about to have their first lambs (at least that’s the plan). These ewes were born in spring 2008, watched their older sisters and cousins lamb last year, and are raring to go. We are particularly excited about this group because it includes three of our AI ewes — Vieva, Arzie, and Ossie.

If I’ve interpreted the instructions correctly, you should be able to click on the screen, just like you do with official you-know-what-tube videos, and watch the EweTube.

Over the next few weeks, I will add short videos of different aspects of lambing as they come up on our farm — naval dipping (lamb version, not military training exercises), installing baby ear tags, checking a new mother’s milk supply, and perhaps even a lamb’s arrival. Please let me know if you find the videos useful. Meanwhile, happy lambing to all the Soay shepherds out there, and I hope you enjoyed the EweTube Debewe.

For now …