Bottle feeding

how and when to supplement or replace nursing

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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Real-life Soay lambing stories: jugging sure beats bottle feeding bummer lambs

Real-life Soay lambing stories: jugging sure beats bottle feeding bummer lambs

Apart from lambing itself, the best part of raising Soay sheep is communicating about them with other breeders, folks interested in starting a flock, researchers looking for various kinds of data, the anonymous readers of our website and this blog, and especially anyone with questions about lambing issues. Most of the time the questions come […]

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Tired of shearing your sheep?  Get Soay!

Tired of shearing your sheep? Get Soay!

Now that the summer temperatures are approaching the 100 degree mark, the thought of having to shear our sheep and wrestle with all that hot wool gives me the willies – yuk! Thankfully, the lore about Soay shedding their own fleece is true; with one notable exception, Soay sheep really do cast off their fleece […]

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Bummer Lamb Update:  More Lessons Learned

Bummer Lamb Update: More Lessons Learned

When last we met Patterdale, she was just a few days old, traumatized by her mother’s rejection, confused by her wanderings in the Maternity Ward, wishing she could have continued as Tolcarne’s adoptee, and a bit uncertain about her prospects in the makeshift pen in our breakfast nook.  Not to mention the nearly hourly strife of going nose-to-nose with […]

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