Soay Sheep

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HousingSoay Sheep

Fences, Shelters, Catchpens, Portable Pens and Feeders

Fencing

Soay seem to "bond" with their living quarters and once bonded are content within theconfines of their pasture, whether it is large or small. In the UK we have seen Soay keptbehind 33 (80cm) tall wire fencing, but in the States we have both used with 47 fieldfence. However, when frightened they can easily jump a four foot barrier.

Some fencing ideas. Fences do not have to be tall to contain Soay Sheepa. 47" tall field fence with wooden poles and metal "T-posts" in Oregon b. 33" (80 cm) tall wire fence

with

wire strand on the top, wooden posts, in front of a hedgerow in Wales c. wooden fence with 33' (80cm)


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wire netting keeps

the dogs from chasing the sheep. d. between pastures catchpen in Wales

During the fall rut, when multiple rams are kept in adjoining paddocks, they will alsoneed to be separated by some type of visual barrier. There are fewer if any skirmisheswhen they cannot see one another. In the past we have had great success with tarps orold sheets of plywood temporarily hung on the fence, which while they looked a bit"tacky" served the purpose very well. Recently a friend and fellow breeder accidentallystumbled across the idea of using commercial weed barrier hung on his fence as acurtain. It held up to the weather, was lightweight and easy to hang, the sheep could notsee through it and it was readily available on line and in farm stores and garden centers.Whatever material you use make certain there are no "peep holes" Soay sheep are verycurious and they love peep holes.

3 ' width De Witt Pro 5 Weed Barriermade a perfect curtain and was a tremendousimprovement

over our old sheets of plywood. It can be purchased in a variety of widthsand at ourfeed store

either by the running foot or in a 250' roll. Here it is used to keep the rams and weanedram lambs

from pestering theewes and their mothers on the other side of the fence.


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Sheep Housing Systems: Sheds and Barns Soay

The Soay is a very adaptable animal, one of its strengths. We are often asked if it can

tolerate the cold climates of the northern US or the hot climates of the south, in ourexperience it manages to adapt to both. But in spite of this hardiness it does need someprotection from heat of summer and the wet of winter and a place where its hay can bekept dry. Rain and wind are the biggest concerns. Soay sheep have short wool withvery little lanolin to protect them from the rain, if they get soaked in cold weather theyare in trouble. On St. Kilda the sheep seek refuge in cleits or under rock outcroppings.

In the early days we made very good use of the ubiquitous blue tarp, it served us wellfor a number of years as both shelter for the animals and for our hay. If you are on ashoestring budget it is a great way to start out. Eventually we were able to retire ourblue tarps, we had actually graduated to brown, and found that a simple 8' x 8' pole

shed with a slanting tin roof and plywood sides provided a very comfortable space forup to six or seven Soay. This can be a three-sided shelter (provided the rain and snowdon't blow in), but a four sided building with a plywood door can make a convenientcatch pen as well.

A simple shelter constructed of four sheets of 4 x 8 plywood, five 8 4 x 4 postsset in concrete, five 2 x 4s , a few sheets of tin roofing, some screws, two hinges

and your sheep have a comfortable home and you have a catch pen


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Ventilation is extremely important in a sheep barn and so the top portion of the shed hasbeen left open to provide good air circulation, it also makes the buildings veryconvenient at feeding time. Our sheds have all been built along a fence line and thefeeders all placed along the wall along that fence, this allows the hay to be droppedover the wall into the feeder without having to go through a gate into the paddock.

Hay is dropped over the shed wall into the feeder from outside the pen.

Some "instant" shelters

An arched piece of cattle panel or a dog kennel covered with a tarp make

an instant temporary and inexpensive shelter for animals or their feed


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Photos by Debbie Millard, Hope Springs Ranch, Gold Hill, Oregon

Some Ideas for Pasture Shelter from the UK


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Plastic field shelter which can be moved from pasture to pasture. This poly-group

calf hutch isavailable in the UKbut is manufacturedin the USA by Roth,Mfgwww.loyal-roth.com/Calf_Hutch3.html

photo Gaerllwyd Flocks, Wales

Prefab large (wooden) shed delivered to and assembled on site (L) and plasticpig arks (R) which can be moved from field to field.Pig arks come in a variety of

styles and arewidely available the UK. Gaerllwyd Flocks, Wales
http://www.loyal-roth.com/Calf_Hutch3.htmlhttp://www.loyal-roth.com/Calf_Hutch3.htmlhttp://www.loyal-roth.com/Calf_Hutch3.html


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A few more ideas on portable farm buildings:For a few more ideas on portable shelter for all kinds of livestock and poultry

see the January/February 2007 issue of Hobby Farms magazine,Tools of the Trade, Portable Farm Buildings, pg 82.

Sheep Barns

One idea for a wooden sheep barn in Oregon

Because we have had so many questions about shelter we have included a fewphotographs of the ideas we came up with for protecting our own sheep from the windand rain in winter. After forty-five years of service my old pole barn, which had been

lovingly built with scraps salvaged from the dump, finally gave out. It was a monumentto recycling. The roof was sagging and the entire building kept listing a little furthersouth with each storm. I also noticed that the roof was getting closer and closer to theground and it would not be long before I was crawling in on my hands and knees to feedthe sheep. I needed a barn to house the ewes and lambs, provide me with a catchpen,a work area and stalls that I could segregate animals with special needs- and it neededto be economical. Flexibility was also a primary objective.

These dimensions provide comfortable quarters foraboutthirty Soay sheep.

OverallDimensions: 24'x 24' poleconstruction with

T-111 plywoodsiding.Cement isle sixfeet widefor 20'

of the 24' of thebuilding, creatinga

horseshoeshaped stable,with each side

of thehorseshoe 9'wide and 24'

long.Four exteriorgates: two 8'(side) andtwo 6' (end).Each wall has anopening

providing goodventilation.


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Four 8' interiorgates. These are

generallylatched openagainst the

interior wall so

they are out of theway.Whenclosed and lockedin place

they break upthe 24' length ineight foot

incrementscreating 8' x 9'stallsSix 4' interiorgatesallowingaccess from

the isle intoeach of the sixstalls which

havecancreated byclosing 8' interior

gates.Floor.decomposedgranite (a verycoarse sand) ordirt.

With the horseshoe-shaped stable interioranimals can pass around the end of the cementisle from one side of thebarn to the other. Theycanalso be unsuspectingly trapped because astheyenter they cannot see that the to theopposite exit gate has been closed. With theentrygate then shut behind them they are nowlockedinside the stable. Onceinside theycan then be squeezed into smaller enclosuresby closing interior gates which arenormallylatched open against the inside wall when not inuse. This serves to make up to six 8'square stalls.


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Open 8' gate latched open backagainst the interior wall, out of

the way when not in use.

A quick isolation/lambing stallBy closing that interior gate an 8' x 8' stall can be created

instantly with its own entrance from the central isle.

Whenthe sheep need to be caught for shots or worming,they are

gradually moved through a series of gates inside the barninto increasingly tighter quarters. Here they can be handledwithout the stress of chasing them. They have been luredinto the first pen with ewe and lamb pellets placed in the

feeding trough on the ground.Once inside the green pens


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they have nowhere to go and remain calm and quiet.

Another idea for housing Soay sheep (in areas where snow is not an issue) is a loafing shed. Half of thisbarn is devoted to the loafing shed, the other half is divided into three parts, a small office for suppliesand feeds and two small stalls; one which serves as an "ICU" (intensive care unit) for injured or sick

animals the other for old rams that need to be separated from younger more aggressive ones. The majorconsideration in the construction of this barn was the ability to clean it out with a tractor at the end of theseason. To that end standard 10' long panels of pipe corral with horse panel (4" x 4" squares) attached toit was used to divide the building in to two parts with an isle between the two sides. By simplydisconnecting the two pieces of corral in the middle and pulling them back, the tractor has access to theentire barn. Stalls on the other side of the isle were created withShaul's Mfg lightweight gates andpanels which can also be easily be removed and put out of the way.

In our travels throughout Great Britain, studying how others house their sheep andgoats, we have seen some very clever barn ideas some of which we have included here.

A Steel barn with (Cinder) Block Walls in Wales
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Exterior view of Gaerllwyd Flock's barn in Wales.

A portion of this steel and block wall barn is used for housing those sheep that need to bechecked or require treatment. Noteblock interior wall.

IInterior view of the same barn

The interior of this barn is one large empty space about 10' wide and 50' long. With theuse

of metal rings screwed to the block wall (see detail below) and a number


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of hurdles (UK) light weight panels (US) this open spacecan can very easily be transformed into a serieson pens with an islebetween them.

Because of its flexibility any combination or pen sizes can be created.

The key to this system is a series of rings that are screwed along the block walls, one about 8inches from the floor and a second one about 30 inches. The pin from the hurdle drops

through the ring on the wall holding the hurdle in place

A Steel Barn in the Highlands of Scotland

A corrugated steel building becomes a comfortable home out of the Elphin, Scotland


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wind and rain for sheep, goats and a friend. Note red commercial plasticbread delivery bins which have been hung sideways for use as hay

mangers.

Catch Pens"Kathie's happy accident"

A catch pen is all but a necessity for general maintenance with any livestock animal. Inits close confines the sheep can be caught and restrained for such chores as trimminghooves and administering shots. We happened to stumble onto a happy accident on ourfarm that has worked extremely well for handling a small flock of sheep in largersituation.

This system is based on the premise that one can never have too many gates.Two back- to- back 4 sided pens, about 10' x 20' each, were set up in front of the barnwith 2 outside gates, a middle gate and a 4th gate into the barn. The two outside gatesare staggered so that one cannot be viewed from the other. We used 5'H X 10'L pipecorral with 48' tall cattle panel wired to the pipe (to adapt it from llamas to sheep), but amore permanent fencing material would work just as well

Because the far gateis out of view when

entering the catchpenthe sheep do not

realize they are goingto be trapped.

When we are ready to catch the sheep, one outside gate is closed and the animals areherded into the double catch pens through the other gate. Once all the Soay are insidethe compound, the second outside gate is closed behind them. With the animals nowcontained we can push them from the first pen through the middle gate into the second(inner) pen which has a gate into the barn. Once confined in the second pen, they have


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no place to go but inside the barn through the 4th gate. Because the pens are located infront of their barn and thus, their feed, the sheep must regularly pass through them toget to their hay and so are accustomed to this routine. Further they are comfortable theyhave an avenue of escape because they can see the middle gate is open but cannotsee that the far gate is closed..

With this system of gates, two outside and one in the center (near the tan ewe)the sheep are easy to handle with little stress to either the farmer or the animals.

Soay Lamb Creep PenWhere lambs can go and mothers can't follow


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A creep pen in a corner of a paddock allows lambs to feed without competition from

adult ewes.


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Shaul's Mfg "creep panel" with moveable pins replaces a regular lightweight panel allowinglambs to pass through

Portable sheep pens


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Shaul's Light weight panels in the US Hurdles in the UK

Lightweight panels (US) and hurdles (UK) are easily transported and lock together

with pins to make temporary containment pens. They can often be found at livestockshows.

Hay FeedersCommercial and homemade

Of all the feeders we have tried,Shaul's Mfg. four footfeeder with haysaver has been the best by far. The

Soay can not get their heads caught orclimb into the feeder which has often

been a problem.The hay saver featurehas cut down tremendously on wasted

hay.They are available in a variety of

sizes with or without the hay saver

or Shauls will custom build them tosuit your needs.

www.shaulsmfg.com
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Our earliest homemade feeders are still in service.

Guess who came to dinner?

Even the wild turkeys have made the most of this feeder. We have always used PVC for rungs on ourfeeders. Because it is flexible animals can get their heads out unhurt if they poke them through trying to

reach the hay.In an effort to cut down on wasted hay with the small feeders "horse panel" (4" x 4") has been

added. Cattle pane with its larger holes had been used in the past but we had acontinuing problem with the sheep were getting their horns caught in it.

Supplement feederssome simple ideas

We have found an evening supplement of mixed grains or a mixture of oats and a ewe/lamb ration has kept our flock healthy, happy and especially tame. Dinner time comesand we are nearly trampled on both of our farms. In an attempt to keep one animal from

hogging the entire evenings ration we have used small rubber feed bowls, one for eachsheep, screwed to the wall of the barn or inexpensive plastic rain gutter with two board"feet" screwed to the bottom (so the sheep cannot tip it over) as a grain trough. Thiscan easily be cut to any size. For lambs our old chicken feeders have worked well.The Shaul's also make metal grain troughs in standard 4' and 8' lengths.


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Large used chicken feeder makes a great Soay

lamb creep feeder

Tipping the can gets every morsel

Little Giant 2 qt. DuraFlex Rubber Feed Bowlshave

proved nearlyindestructible

Plastic rain gutter with two boards screwed toit for feet makes an excellent graintrough. Shaul's Mfg. also builds grain troughs in standard 4' and 8' length, but will


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custom build to any length you wish.


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Soay and Its Sheep

The Island of Soay

The Isle of Soay, a name derived from the Norse word for Sheep Island, is near the North West

corner of Hirta. A very dangerous, narrow channel and sea stacks separate the two. Soay is

extremely difficult to access due to its steep rocky cliffs, boulder fields and lack of anchorage. It

can only be approached when seas are very calm and quickly changing weather can make getting

off the island nearly impossible, it is the least accessible of all the islands in the archipelago. It is

believed that sheep have probably inhabited Soay since the Bronze Age and are the descendants

of the very first domesticated sheep which populated northern Europe. They are the most

primitive surviving livestock breed in the UK. The sheep on Soay Island were not owned by the

St. Kildans of Hirta, but instead by the islands various lairds (landlords). Their feudal tenants

were allowed to annually collect fleece from these sheep and were occasionally permitted to takean animal, for a fee, to kill for special occasions. While Soay is somewhat larger (244 acres) than

its neighbour Boreray (189 acres) Soay supports fewer animals per acre because its high central

plateau is a marshy bog with little vegetation suitable to grazing sheep.

The animals on Soay have never been managed and lived feral on the island for thousands of

years, no one is certain how long or how they got there. There are dark and blond sheep with

some ewes being horned and many others polled (no horns) or scurred (small or misshaped


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horns). Rams are either horned or scurred, none are polled. Over recent centuries some animals

have been taken from Soay to estates on the mainland of the UK. Over a period of time starting

in 1932, after St. Kilda had been evacuated and sold, 107 animals were captured and transferred

to the vacant pastures of Hirta. This was a significant number taken from the small population on

Soay Island. Today flocks survive in both locations.

Blond and dark Soay sheep on the island of Soay


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History

The British Soay Project began in 1999

when the flock of Soay Sheep that had been exported to Canada in 1990 was admitted

to the Combined Flock of Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the UK. The six original

sheep exported to Montreal from England in 1990 had been registered with the RBST

but that registration had lapsed during their ten year quarantine in Canada. With the

aid of friends in the UK providing complete breeding records and photographs, Kathie

Miller and Val Dambacher of Southern Oregon Soay Farms were able to get the sheep

and their offspring reinstated into the RBST's Combined Flock Book as they began a

three year effort to bring the entire flock to Oregon. The term British Registered Soay

aka British Soay was suggested by the Soay Sheep Society in the UK and adopted at

that time.

From the humble beginnings of three sheep in 1999* the British Soay flock has grown

to 476 registered ewes with the Trust as of January 2012. For more information...

*19 additional lambs were imported in 2000.

British Registered Soay sheep
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Figure 1. The north face of Soay soars directly out of the sea towering

1239' at its highest point.It has no shoreline. The breakers atits base arecaused by oceanic swells against rock

formations just below the water's surface.

A Thumbnail HistoryOf The Soay Sheep

Of St. Kilda1

St. Kilda is an alluring place; ithas captured the imagination oftravelers since Martin Martin firstvisited late in the seventeenthcentury and this fascinationcontinues with tourists eventoday. An archipelago of fourislands, Hirta, Dun, Soay andBoreray and several stacs, it lies

in the heart of the north Atlanticstorm track forty-one miles westof North Uist in the OuterHebrides off Scotland. Theclosest landmass to the west of itis Newfoundland in North

America. Known for its ferociouswinds, unpredictable weatherand spectacular granite andgabbro cliffs, which often risemore than a thousand feet

perpendicularly from the sea, thetallest in Britain, these islandsare home to the Soay sheep(Ovis ariesL.), a small, primitivebreed of the northern short-tailedgroup.The Soay is considered bymany scholars to be the onlyliving relic of mans earliest semi-domesticated sheep. Its fine,short fleece gives scientistssome insight into just how far

Neolithic farmers had

advanced in the development of wool from a short inner fleece found beneath thecoarse outer hair of its wild ancestors. [Ponting, 1980]. While no one knows preciselyhow or when the sheep arrived on St. Kilda, archeological evidence leads them tobelieve it has been there for several thousand years. With certainty it has survived intotal isolation on the uninhabited isle of Soay since historic times. For much of its
http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#1


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past it had human neighbors on Hirta, a larger, adjacent island, but because ofSoays inaccessibility the two had relatively little contact and the sheeps evolutionwas driven entirely by nature and the environment and not by any form of artificialselection by man. As a result the Soay is now a living archive of the origins ofdomestic sheep and an undiluted genetic reservoir for the future.

Figure 2. Soay approaching from the South. The tip of the Cambir of Hirta is to the far right. Stac Biorach andSoay Stac (with the arch) are in Soay Sound between the two Islands.

Historically the crofters of neighboring Hirta gathered Soay wool in the summer whenit was naturally shed. The fleece was softer and finer than that of their husbandedsheep and it was used by the women to make undergarments. The dark brown andtan fibers may also have been combined with their white wool which was spun intoyarn and later woven into tweed cloth.2

The men used the St. Kilda Tweed to fabricate their familys clothing, to pay the Lairdhis annual rent and during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to trade withseasonal tourists. During the summer several excursions were mounted to theoutlying islands, including Soay, one specifically for gathering wool. Landing was(and still is) treacherous and could best be done when the seas were calm and thewind was just a whisper. Barefoot, the cragsmen of Hirta scrambled onto the rocksfrom their bobbing boat at the one landing site that gave them a relatively safe

foothold and access to the summit. Tethered together for safety they made their way,over immense boulders and
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figure 3. South facing wall of Soay (to the left) looking through the strait,

Hirta (the Cambir) is to the right, Boreray appears beyond the gap four miles in the distance.

difficult, steep terrain to the sloped plateau and the sheep above. Because theforbidding rock faces rose directly out of the surf not only was there often no landingon the the island, there was no place to safely moor their open row boat. Tied to thecliff face it could easily be smashed to pieces, stranding them indefinitely. Therefore,the party, including dogs, was left behind with their provisions and sheltered from theever-changing weather in small cleits (stone huts) built for these visits, they stayed aweek or more.


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Figure 4.The south facing slope and the summitof Soay where the sheep are often seen.

While the wool gathering was extremely hazardous work, both man and beast couldfall or be blown over the high bluffs into the crashing ocean below, it was alsoexhilarating and this annual trek was a high point of the year. The dogs were trainedto chase and hold the sheep until reached by its owner and when the fleece had

been rooed (plucked) it was released to return to grazing. At a pre-arranged time,weather permitting, the boat returned for the men, their dogs and their wool and theywere rowed back to Hirta where their bounty was stored until winter.


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Figure 4a Detail south facing slope of Soay. Four ewes can be seen grazing among the boulders.Wool gathering here would have been extremely challenging. July 2004

During the long, dark days of November and December the village was abuzz withactivity and the stored wool was taken out of the rafters, byres and cleits. At festive

community gatherings, which usually lasted late into the night, it was picked clean ofdebris, often by the children and carded. It was then divided among the villagehouseholds. Every cottage along "main street" had at least one spinning wheel;many had two, usually in the kitchen. There, by a smoldering peat fire, the womendid their spinning. In the mid-nineteenth century the art of knitting was introduced toSt. Kilda and thereafter the crofters wives used the handspun Soay yarn to knitgloves, socks, stockings and scarves. The men wove the yarn into cloth on verysimple wooden handlooms, which were stored away in the off season. For two orthree months in the spring nearly every man on Hirta sat by his weaving many daysfrom dawn until dark.


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"Main Street" St. Kilda. Three of six restored 1860 cottages. Round stone structure in foreground is an earlierhouse from the 1830's. August 2003

Because the sheep on Soay were the property of the Laird and a tax had to be paidfor each one taken, they were only rarely hunted for meat. To the St. Kildans Soaymeat was a delicacy and a welcomed change to their diet of birds, eggs and their

own domestic mutton. New Years was the traditional occasion for such a feast. Afterthe turn of the twentieth Century, as the population dwindled and the number of able-bodied men declined, making their traditional means of subsistence increasinglydifficult, more summer hunting expeditions to Soay seem to have been made. Asmany as a dozen sheep were captured live and transported back to Hirta where theywere slaughtered, butchered and divided among the families. The meat that was notconsumed immediately was salted stored in cleits and later shared.

From prehistoric times until the middle of the nineteenth Century Soay Sheep arebelieved to have only been found on the 244-acre island that bore its name. Duringthe mid 1800s, with the advent of the steam engine, yachting became increasinglypopular and St. Kilda became a much sought after exotic destination. Near the turnof the twentieth Century a few wealthy visitors took an interest in the little brownsheep and began to import small numbers to the mainland. These were taken toprivate estates and parklands where they were often selectively bred to meet anindividual owners criteria of what a Soay sheep should look like. Today these sheepare referred to as Park Soay. The most widely known of these flocks was kept atWoburn Abbey. Imported in 1910 by zoologist H.A. Russell, the 11th Duke ofBedford, the flock was culled of all polled or scurred rams or ewes and all animals


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that were not brown mouflon (wild) pattern, in keeping with his (or possibly theDuchesses) idea of how a true Soay should appear. This has misled many over theyears to believe that polled or scurred ewes and blonde, self-colored or animals withwhite markings were not true Soay.

Figure 5Woburn Abbey Deer Park where theDuke of Bedfords flock of Soay still is today.

This flock is still at Woburn Park in Bedfordshire, England where it has existedcontinuously since its importation in 1910.

Somewhat earlier (prior to 1900) another important flock was kept at Rushmore, theestate of Lt. General Fox Pitt-Rivers in Cranbourn Chase, Dorset. Pitt-Rivers wasconsidered by some during this era of amateur scientists, to be the father of British

Archeology and was known as an innovator who valued detailed and completerecords. He realized that the context in which an artifact was found was often asimportant as the artifact itself. To better interpret the fragments he unearthed at theRomano-British sites on his estates, he used bones from his own Soay flock, whichhe recognized as an ancient breed, for comparisons. These examinations gave him

a better understanding of the early farmers who had inhabited this part of Britain.

From these estates, the Duke of Bedford, Fox Pitt-Rivers and other wealthylandowners, the sheep gradually found their way into different parklands throughoutthe UK.

In August 1930 the few remaining residents of Hirta left for what they believed wouldbe an easier life on the mainland, ending nearly two thousand years of continuous


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occupancy. Their livestock, a few cows and a large number of domestic sheep, weretaken off the island with them to be sold at market in Oban. The few remaininganimals were shot, leaving the islands vegetation to grow unchecked. Shortlythereafter, in 1931, after six centuries of MacLeod ownership, MacLeod of MacLeodsold the islands to the Earl of Dumfries, later the 5th Marquess of Bute, an avid

ornithologist. The following year the new landowner hired a group of islanders whoeagerly returned to their old home for the duration of the summer. Their task was tocapture and transfer wild sheep from Soay to Hirta and by August a flock of 107 (ofmixed sexes and ages) had been moved. This was the first time in memory thatSoay sheep existed on both islands. By 1952 the population had grown to 1114.

Between the evacuation in 1930 and the beginning of World War II in 1939 there areindications that some animals were removed to the mainland but there areapparently no records of where they went and thus following them is all butimpossible.

After the War, in 1945, John Crichton-Stuart (the 5th Marquess of Bute), a dedicatedconservationist and the owner of St. Kilda, was elected president of the ZoologicalSociety of Glasgow (now The Zoological Society of Glasgow and West of Scotland).His early gift to the new zoo, prior to its opening in 1947 was a small flock of Soaysheep.3

Figure 6. Sheep graze the meadow in the Village area on Hirta in August

Upon his death in 1957 the Marquess bequeathed the St. Kilda Islands to the


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National Trust for Scotland and from its earliest days the Trust has supported theresearch of scientists who have studied (and continue to study) the sheep with greatinterest. An annual census of the sheep began in 1955 and continues today. In 1963Dr. Jewell and his colleagues on the Soay Research team brought a flock back tothe mainland so that they could continue their studies in more detail. In selecting the

animals they made great effort to get a truly representative flock of the sheep as theyfound them on Hirta; white markings, polled and horned ewes, self-colored, tan andbrown mouflon patterns, etc. These Jewell referred to as Hirta Soay. This flock wassplit into two groups. One went to the Royal Zoological Society of Edinburgh (TheEdinburgh Zoo) and the other went to Whipsnade Zoo in England, which had keptSoay sheep since the 1950s. Eventually the Edinburgh flock was transferred to the

Animal Breeding Research Organization in Roslin, Scotland and the animals atWhipsnade went to Reading University west of London. From there small groupswere dispersed to several keepers including Joe Henson at Cotswold Farm Park andDr. Peter Reynolds at Butser Hill Ancient Farm. A small flock Dr. Jewell took with himto Royal Holloway College. Eventually these made their way into the hands of

enthusiasts in England and Wales. Some of the Edinburgh flock ultimately went tothe Nature Conservancy at Bangor in northern Wales.

Figure 7. A group of St. Kilda rams, Soay and Boreray, on a hillside in Wales. The Boreray,seen here in the middle, has the typical markings and coloring of the breed. The other rams

illustrate the variety of color and markings found in the Soay.

While it has been the policy of the National Trust to not allow the removal of sheepfrom Soay or Hirta, it is known that a few have come off Hirta since the 1960s, oftenorphaned lambs adopted by military personnel stationed on the island.

From flocks on the mainland animals have made their way to other parts of theworld. In 1974 a group of four animals was exported to the Assiniboine Park Zoo inWinnipeg, Ontario, Canada and in 1975 a group of twenty went from KnebworthFlock to a Mr.Grom near Frankfurt, Germany. Grom, who had already acquired tensheep from European Zoos, was eager to participate in the RBST's registrationprogram. This is believed to have been the first export to a private breeder in


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Europe. [ARK, 1975]. In 1990 a second group was exported to North America thistime to Montreal. Ten years later the Montreal flock was exported from Canada tothe United States. The Soay is now also found in Belgium and the Netherlands witha few in France. On farms in all of these countries the Soay is valued byhandspinners for its soft wool, by conservationists for its reclamation of sensitive

lands from the over-growth of scrub and by specialty butchers who have found thereis a demand for its flavorful low-fat, low-cholesterol meat. It is also found in wildlifeparks and interpretive centers throughout the UK. Although the Soay is no longerconsidered endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, numbers worldwideremain very limited.

Figure 8. Part of the Little Gaerllwyd Flock, remnant of Peter Jewell'soriginal 1963 flock of Hirta Soay kept at Holloway College now in Monmouthshire Wales.

This little sheep, arguably the oldest and best preserved cultural artifact in Scotlandis a unique living link to our prehistoric past.4As such, it enables archeologists to geta clearer picture of how advanced Neolithic agricultural practices had become. Withits short but fine wool researchers can see early mans deliberate attempts to refinethe thin hair covered undercoat of its ancestors, possibly the European Mouflon(Ovis musimon), into a true fleece. The Soay also remains important for a number ofother reasons not the least of which is the contributions it has made to research in

the study of immunology. Because of its closed but widely diverse gene pool, itsblood serum has been ideally suited to antibody research. This same geneticdiversity, which has allowed the Soay to adapt to a very harsh and often hostileenvironment, may also provide future farmers with the building blocks they need tobring breeds back to the morediversified and less specialized agricultural practicesfrom whichthey have drifted. As livestock animals have been selectively bred tomeet current economic demands much valuable genetic material has been castaside in the name of economic expediency. Modern breeds of dairy cows for


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example, produce tremendous amounts of milk, but can only thrive on the richestpasturelands and diets supplemented with expensive grains. As prime farmland islost to urban housing, these rich pasturelands become increasingly scarce. Whenthe pendulum of agricultural fashion swings back to less specialization and the useof more marginal lands, the primitive breeds once again become important. For this

reason breeds such as the Soay are a safeguard against an uncertain future andshould be protected. Unlike modern strains of sheep, the Soay is not dependent onman for anything. Its adaptability and survival in the extraordinarily harsh conditionsfound on its rocky out post on the edge of the world have made it adaptable andself-sufficient; this may very well be the trait that we most value in the future.

Figure 9Foggy Morning Village Meadow Hirta, August 2003

For more pictures of Soay Sheep on St. Kilda, please visit ourSt. Kilda Soay SheepPhoto Gallery

References:Alderson, Lawrence. 1978 Chance to Survive, Rare Breeds in a Changing World. Cameron & Taylor,London

Allan, Richard J. P. Scottish island sheep, The ARK, Vol. XI, No.6 June 1984

Clutton-Brock, Juliet. 1999 A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. Cambridge University Press,London, . Pg. 71
http://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.htmlhttp://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.htmlhttp://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.htmlhttp://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.htmlhttp://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.htmlhttp://www.soayfarms.com/photos2.html


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Clutton-Brock,Tim and Pemberton, Josephine,(eds) 2004 ,Soay Sheep, Dynamics and Selection in anIsland Population. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Darling, F. Frasier, & Boyd, J. Morton. 1964 The Highlands and Islands. Collins, London

Harman, Mary.1987 An Island Called Hirte, A history and Culture of St Kilda to 1930, Isle of Skye,

Maclean Press

Jewell, Peter, The Soay Sheep (Part 1), The ARK, Vol. VII No.2 February 1980

Jewell, Peter. The Soay Sheep (Part 2), The ARK, Vol. VII No.3 March 1980

Jewell., P A, Milner, C and Morton-Boyd, J 1974. Island survivors- the ecology of the Soay sheep ofSt. Kilda, University of London, Athlone Press, London

Ponting, Kenneth. Sheep of the World in Colour, Pool, Dorset: Blanford Press, 1980 pg.69

Quine, David A. 1982 St. Kilda Revisited, Frome: Dowland Press

Quine, David A. 1988 St. Kilda Portraits,

Revised Nomination of St. Kilda for Inclusion in the World Heritage Site List, Crown Copyright 2003

Ryder, M.L. Sheep and Man. 1983 Gerald Duckworth and Co., London

Steele, Tom.1990 Life and Death of St. Kilda, The moving story of a vanished island community.Fontana Paperbacks

The ARK, Vol. II, No. 9, pg. 213

Correspondence between Kathie Miller and C.M. Williams, Wales

Correspondence between Kathie Miller and Education Department, Woburn Abbey, October 2002Correspondence between Kathie Miller and National Trust for ScotlandCorrespondence between Kathie Miller and Scottish National Heritage

Photo Credits:Photo 5 Post card 1910, collection of the author

Photos 7& 8 R.A. & C.M. WilliamsGaerllwyd Flocks of Rare Breed Sheep, Little Gaerllwyd, Gaerllwyd, Chepstow, Monmouthshire NP16 6AR, Wales.

All other photos taken by the author


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Figure 10. Village Bay August 2003

1Until the twentieth Century the spelling of the Island of Soay in the St. Kilda group and the spellingof the Soay sheep was Soa. There are several Soay Islands off the coast of Scotland.return toarticle

2The domestic sheep kept by the crofters undoubtedly originated with the Soay, which was crossed

over the centuries with breeds brought from the Outer Hebrides. Ultimately it was a blend of the nowextinct Scottish Tan-face and the Scottish Blackface. About 1870 a few Lewis Blackface tups wereintroduced to the island to cross with the Tan Face that was there. The hope was to further improvethe breed. These sheep were kept on Dun, Hirta and Boreray four miles away. In 1930 when thearchipelago was evacuated and all the livestock was removed with the St.Kildans weather preventedthe retrieval of the sheep still on Boreray. They have existed there in isolation ever since andbecause of this isolation the Boreray Sheep is now considered a breed. In 1971 three pair werecaptured and taken to ABRO near Edinburgh. Eventually a few were released to approved farmsand today they are kept by a small number of breeders. They are one of the very few sheep carryingthe genes of the extinct Scottish Tan Face and for this reason are important to preserve. Many havetan faces and tan on their shoulders, however, some do have black on their faces. They are short

tailed and shed their fleece as the Soay does.return to article

3In 1944 a group of Soay sheep was released on Lundy, a small island eleven miles off the coast of

North Devon in the Bristol Channel between England and Wales. They were also introduced to theCardigan Island off the west shore of Wales. Sheep on both islands originated from flocks on themainland and they can still be found there todayreturn to article

4Revised Nomination of St. Kilda for inclusion in the World Heritage Site List, Crown Copyright 2003

p. 19return to article
http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return2http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return2http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return2http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return3http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return3http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return3http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return4http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return4http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return4http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return4http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return3http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return2http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1http://www.soayfarms.com/history.html#Return1


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Figure 11. The Island of Soay lies beyond Mol Carn na Liana and the Cambir of Hirta,110 miles west of the mainland of Scotland, August 2000


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Soay Fleece Structure and Variety

The texture of the fleece of Soay Sheep varies greatly. There are two extremes of type which are

described as Hairy animals and Woolly animals but there are many animals whose fleece is

intermediate between the two types.

Hairy fleeced "Primitive" ram and a woolly fleeced ewe on the right


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Hairy, Primitive, Fleeced Soay

Primitive type Ram

"Hairy" sheep have straight

hairs which are longer than the

main fleece. This is most


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noticeable around the

neck,along the back and under

the chin and especially so with

some rams. It has also

been described as a

Primitive type fleece and ismost noticeable when

the animal has a full winter

coat.

Detail Soay ram mane and ruff, hairy, primitive

characteristics


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Hairy fleeced primitive light phase ewe, winter coat, a dark phase woolly ewe

is behind her

Detail, hairy fleece rump Detail, hairy fleece neck


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Woolly fleece

Woolly sheep do not have the extra long hairs in their fleece at the extreme

theirs is a a very even textured coat.


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Semi Hairy Fleece

Semi hairy fleece type has the hairy ridge on the neck, but the even textured coat of

the woolly sheep. There are no long hairs except for the neck.

Moulting

There is vast variation when the sheep moult in the spring. Usually the rams begin to shed before

the ewes. Shedding of the fleece is hormone related and is also triggered by the condition of the

sheep. Some animals will shed their fleece at a steady rate and some will suddenly have it

hanging off all over the place. Shedding usually starts about May but some animals will not start

until late July or August. Non-breeding ewes and castrated males will often not shed .


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These ewes in the Village area of Hirta have not shed their fleece for several years.

Old ewe with several years of fleece


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The ewe on the left has shed most of her fleece except over her shoulders. Mullach Sgar,

Hirta


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This ewe has shed the fleece

along her back but not along

her sides where it has been

retained.

Because the blow fly is not

found on St. Kilda, fly strike on

sheep with retained fleece is

not a problem there This is

not the case on most of the

mainland however, where

it can be a life threatening.

It is important therefore, to

remove old unshed fleece

either by (rooing) plucking or

with hand clippers.

The flocks of Soay on

St.Kilda, although tagged for

observation purposes, are

not managed in any way.


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Partially shed Soay ewe, Hirta

Ram in the village area that has fully shed his fleece


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Soay Sheep

Soay Ram, St. Kilda, Scotland 2007

This breed takes its name from the Island of Soay which is part of the SaintKilda Archipelago. There are still sheep living there. On August 17 of 2007 Ihad the privilege of making the trip by boat with my friend Dean to the SaintKilda Archipelago and took the photographs you see on this Web page. Themain Island of Hirta is where it is easiest to approach the sheep and these

photos were taken on a glorious sunny day. As it happened it was sheepcounting day for the scientists who study the Soay on Hirta. They have apermanent outpost on the Island so they can study these graceful little sheep.I had to be mindful not to meddle in the work they were doing on the steepslopes as I followed a group of ewes high above the harbor. I saw SoaySheep at a farm park in Oban that displays rare breeds in 2005 but was eager


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to see them in their own environment. I had a very exciting day takingpictures of these sheep. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Soay sheep are a primitive breed of sheep (Ovis aries) that are descendedfrom an isolated population of feral sheep on the 250-acre island of Soay inthe Saint Kilda Archipelago. It is about 65 km from the Western Isles ofScotland. I left Leverburg on the Isle of Harris for Saint Kilda on a small boatwith 8 other passengers early in the morning so I could see these fantasticcreatures and explore the island. Amazingly these sheep are free of all crossbreeding with modern sheep breeds. 120 of the sheep from Soay wererelocated to the Island of Hirta when the humans were evacuated in 1932 andthey flourish there. One of the scientists told me while I was there they havegrown to number as many as 2000 some years. At one time the Islanderskept these sheep for their wool and meat but they were replaced in the 19thCentury by the larger, woollier, Scottish Blackface sheep raised throughoutScotland. In a way the Soay came full circle as now the Island of Hirta ismostly just an Island of Soay sheep. Soay sheep are a window into the pastand give us a road map to the Neolithic origins of domesticated sheep. It is

believed by most researchers these sheep were established on Soay as afood source by Norse sailors many centuries ago.


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Background InformationSoay sheep in many ways are similar to the Mediterranean mouflon and thehorned Urial sheep of Central Asia but their origins are uncertain. It isunknown whether they were established upon the island some time during theBronze Age or perhaps by Vikings in the ninth and tenth centuries. Thename of the island, 'Soay', is a corruption of Old Norse, meaning 'Island ofSheep'. This suggests they may have been introduced before the 10th

Century. These sheep are much smaller than modern domesticated sheepand hardier. They are very swift and agile, and will flee to safety onto the highground when startled. Their appearance is unique and very attractive. Theytend to be either flax colored or dark brown with an off-white underbelly andrump. This was called 'lachdann' in the local Gaelic dialect. Some individualsare totally black or fawn-colored. A few sheep have white markings aswell. In the early twentieth century, some Soay sheep were relocated to the


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mainland in order to establish exotic flocks, such as the famous flock of "ParkSoay" at Woburn Abbey. The duke of Bedford began raising them in 1910,and selected breeding stock with the most "primitive"characteristics. Onehundred and twenty Soay sheep were relocated fromSoay to the island of Hirta by the Marquess of Bute in the 1930s, after thehuman population was permanently evacuated. The Hirta population isunmanaged and has been the subject of scientific study since the 1950s. Thesheep population on Hirta makes an ideal model subject for scientistsresearching evolution, population dynamics and demography because thepopulation is unmanaged, closed (no emigration or immigration) and has nosignificant competitors or predators. Unlike most other large mammals, theSoay sheep population of Hirta in the St. Kilda archipelago show persistentoscillations, sometimes increasing or declining by more than 60% in a year.Currently, researchers from a number of universities and research institutesparticipate in a multidisciplinary study of factors affecting the populationecology of the sheep in Saint Kilda. This research has recently beenpublished: Clutton Brock, T.H. & Pemberton J. (2004) Soay Sheep publishedby Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521823005 .This book is currentlyavailable for those who are interested in further study, Soay Sheep:Dynamics and Selection in an Island Population from Amazon.com.


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August Grazing on Hirta

Soay sheep have short tails and naturally shed their wool in the spring andsummer. The ewes are polled, scurred or horned and rams are either hornedor scurred. Scurs are very small, under developed horns that are brittle andslow growing. The Soay sheep are most commonly brown or tan with an off-white belly, rump patch and or patch under the chin. Occasionally randomwhite markings on the face and or body and legs occur as well. Self-colored(solid color with no markings) black or tan individuals are seen in the mix onHirta but are not as common in flocks that have been established on the

mainland or in the US.


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The ewes when they molt look rather like tiny Musk oxen .

They often have large chunks of wool clinging to them in spring and summer


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This noble ewe has a nice set of horns, she reminds me of the Chamois of the

Alps


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The ewes take shelter in the cleits the Islanders once used to store fodder and

supplies.


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Young Rams


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This webpage is dedicated to my friend Dean whowas good enough to take me to Saint Kilda.

Video of Saint Kilda by Beth Maxwell Boyle

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