why raise Soay sheep, fun stuff, occasional sad stuff
During an otherwise calm start to lambing, we were hit with a stark reminder that no matter how self-reliant our Soay sheep may be, we still must be prepared to intervene when, rarely, the need arises. This story takes a while to relate. Please bear with me. Setting the stage: virtually every description of Soay […]
Not quite, but we know it won’t be long, because our Soay rams are calming down and everyone’s horns — ewes and rams alike — have started growing again. We put our breeding groups together later this year so we are just now thinking about returning the rams to the Bull Pen. I must say it’s […]
Far be it from me to presume to know, actually, but I do know their shepherds see all sorts of lines and angles and curves in everyday objects that can delight the eye and provide an additional layer of pleasure to what sometimes feels like pretty humdrum stuff — feeding, watering, filling the mineral feeders. […]
When last we met to discuss signs of spring, the topic was chicken eggs. It’s about time to re-direct attention to Soay sheep, don’t you think? Every year along about January or early February, our previous spring’s ram lambs — what I refer to loosely as our “yearlings” — begin an impressive growth spurt which by the end of summer will take them nearly […]
As regular readers of this blog have learned, I am crazy about Soay sheep and so is Steve. Both of us are prepared to ascribe all sorts of wondrous attributes and talents to them, justified or not. However, Soay are no good at all in predicting the approach of spring. Try as we might, we have […]
No sooner had the post about making pies from the blackberry thickets our Soay sheep have not yet eradicated hit the web than I received an e-mail from my college roommate (class of 1969, in the interests of full disclosure) alerting me to a terrific website created and run by one of our other classmates. Life intervened, as […]