Ram management

catchall for adult ram issues

The case for all-wether Soay sheep flocks

The case for all-wether Soay sheep flocks

Over a decade ago I posted about the pros and cons of castrating some of your Soay rams: in a nutshell, no worries about accidental breeding, more mellow fellows in the fields, more flexibility in butchering, and having a companion for non-breeding rams left behind or injured rams or ewes, versus losing the statuesque horns […]

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When to trim Soay ram horns: a pictorial example

When to trim Soay ram horns: a pictorial example

Of the hundreds of questions we’ve been asked over the last 13 years of raising heritage sheep, none is as vexing as “How will I know whether I need to trim a ram’s horns and do I really need to trim his horns?” It’s a rare issue, but when it arises, it matters. A horn […]

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Ah, those glorious Soay ram horns — there’s nothing quite like them!

Ah, those glorious Soay ram horns — there’s nothing quite like them!

As I have said before on these pages (I think), when it comes to deciding which rams to breed, Soay owners engaged in conservation breeding face a dilemma: whether to breed rams with tight horns, including horns that have been cut. If we do not breed these rams, either because we do not like their […]

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Ram management briefly revisited: Scrum 2015 is history

Ram management briefly revisited: Scrum 2015 is history

No sooner had we managed to jam all seven of our adult rams into the five-foot square Shaul panel enclosure intended to allow Sidley and Upton (our two breeders this fall) to safely rejoin their brethren than it was time to spring the rams from isolation and let them fend for themselves. The Soay scrum, […]

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Soay “Scrum” 2015: safely re-introducing breeding rams to the bull pen

Soay “Scrum” 2015: safely re-introducing breeding rams to the bull pen

One of the few genuine dangers in raising sheep, heritage or commercial, is the non-breeding rams’ aggression towards the (lucky) breeding rams when breeding is over and the breeders return to the full ram group. It’s a pretty simple phenomenon: the breeders smell like ewes and the non-breeders are overwhelmed by hormonal jealousy. The solution […]

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When to trim Soay ram horns and when to leave them alone: a photo essay

When to trim Soay ram horns and when to leave them alone: a photo essay

It’s been a quiet week at Saltmarsh Ranch, at least compared to the recent weeks of frantic downsizing. Temperatures have fallen to normal autumn levels and the fire danger level was reduced from “extreme” to “high,” still scary but a whole lot better than it was all summer. The sheep are making one more pass […]

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