all issues, including Patterdale
So many of you have asked whether Tiny Tim’s adoption by Lindsey worked out that an additional post seems the most efficient way to share news of his progress. Bottom line: this little Soay sheep is just fine. He loves his new mom and he is fearless in the lamb play yard. Rather than run […]
Clarification: two of the smartest people I know read this post and did not understand what is necessary to make a graft/adoption work when Ewe A has lost a lamb and Ewe B is rejecting her lamb. Ewe A will only adopt Ewe B’s lamb if it smells like Ewe A’s dead lamb. You can […]
One of the few vexing behaviors of Soay sheep is the tendency of a first-born Soay twin to be temporarily “adopted” by a meddlesome “aunt,” another ewe who has not yet lambed but whose hormones are starting to kick in. Let me explain. It is not uncommon for pregnant ewes to be very curious about […]
Little could we imagine two years ago when we were bottle feeding Patterdale in our kitchen that she would survive, grow up, and produce her own healthy lamb, but that is just what has happened here in the last few days. You may be wondering, what’s the big deal, since Patterdale obviously lived through her […]
When I started this blog, it was my intention to write only about subjects on which Steve and I felt we had a basic grasp of the research or professional writing about the problem confronting us. This time, I am stumped and so is Steve, and we can rely only on our own observations of a number of our Soay sheep. […]
I have such mixed feelings about Patterdale, our first and only bottle baby. She seemed so vulnerable when she first arrived and then as she started to grow in our breakfast nook, yattering away to be sure we knew she was there and needed milk — all the time. Both Steve and I had to resist the urge to smother […]