“Pop” quiz: which Soay ewes will twin, and which will have single lambs?

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.”  Planning what?  We can’t change the outcome one bit. Do you think that stops me?

Steve will vouch for my finely-honed dithering skills during lambing. A few days ago during one such moment, I decided to photograph some of our ewes from a less-than-flattering position to provide fodder for this year’s trivia quiz, devoted to the subject of twinning predictions.

For each ewe pictured below, I’ve provided you with clues – the ewe’s age (year of birth) and how many times she has twinned in the past. Let’s start with an easy one, Libretto. If she has only one lamb, it will be interesting to see what else comes along with the lamb!

Believe it or not, I took this picture 11 days ago and Libretto still hasn’t lambed, 189 days after she went in with her ram, Thorington. But we know he got the job done, don’t we?

Here’s another easy one, I think.

Can we all agree that Yarmouth will have just one lamb? It’s only been 168 days since she went in with her ram, but I cannot imagine she has two lambs in there.

Okay, are you ready? Eyes calibrated for twins/singles? No more commentary, just the entries.

And finally, what I call my “Tan Tanks” picture. Libretto and Clara kindly lined up for me on April 4th for this picture. It is now April 15th and neither of them has lambed yet. Good grief.

I haven’t decided what the prizes will be for the winners of this contest, but I’m trying to think of something in the “twin” or “double” or “twosome” category. Any suggestions?

For now, have fun submitting your entries in a comment or email and let’s see how it all plays out!

Tags: Soay twins