Problems

catchall for all lambing “issues”

Home visit to the new adoptee:  Tiny Tim

Home visit to the new adoptee: Tiny Tim

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 […]

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Saltmarsh Soay Sheep Adoption Agency: another way to avoid bottle babies

Saltmarsh Soay Sheep Adoption Agency: another way to avoid bottle babies

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 […]

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Nosy aunts and wandering twin lambs: a dilemma for Soay shepherds

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 […]

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Cloudy eyes in Soay sheep – a mostly wintertime issue

Does one of your sheep have a cloudy, bluish-looking eye, what you might call a “walleyed” look? Is the animal behaving as if it might not be able to see well or is bumping into things? If so, it probably has scratched its eyeball or gotten poked in the eye and injured its cornea. There […]

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An ounce of prevention for Soay lambs

An ounce of prevention for Soay lambs

Want strong, healthy lambs? Have you ever experienced the agony of watching one of your Soay lambs fail to thrive and perhaps even die despite your best efforts? Good news: if you are willing to mix a little goody into your ewes’ mineral right before lambing, and supplement your lambs with a different goody through […]

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EweTube: Bummer Soay lamb grows up, lambs without a hitch

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 […]

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