What to expect when you're expecting...

We have excellent news that our four Soay Sheep are expecting and are due to lamb in April or May!
Tulip, Ang-Haarid, Maisy and Lambakins are all mothers to be for the second year in a row.

Tulip and her lamb from 2012

We currently have five Soay sheep, four ewes and one ram. Our ram, Tuppence, is two years old and will soon be going back his flock on our sister farm in Glenlivet. 

our sheep enjoying the crisp spring morning

The Soay sheep is a primitive breed of domestic sheep descended from the population of feral sheep from the isle of Soay in the St. Kilda Archipelago just off of the western isles of Scotland. It is one of the northern European short-tailed sheep breeds.

It is believed to be a survivor of the earliest domesticated sheep kept in northern Europe, and it remains physically similar to the wild ancestors of domestic sheep, the Mediterranean Mouflon and the horned Urial sheep of central Asia.  

It is much smaller than modern domesticated sheep but hardier, and is extraordinarily agile, tending to take refuge amongst the cliffs when frightened. Soays may be solid black or brown, or more often blonde or dark brown with buffish-white underbelly and rump, also a few have white markings on the face.

The sheep are very independent, they shed their wool naturally and almost never need clipped. They give birth on their own with out any human inference and are very timid but ours are different as two of ours have been hand reared and are the leaders of the flock. 

We love our little flock and hope you have a chance to come and visit them and their new lambs at the Walled Garden this summer!