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Breeding Soay Ewe Lambs

To breed ewe lambs, or not to breed ewe lambs?  New shepherds of Soay sheep sometimes grapple with this question, and it's a personal decision each shepherd must make.  Hopefully, new shepherds will make this decision with the good of the entire breed in mind.

CONS:  Some of the reasons given for not breeding ewe lambs are that they are not big enough or mature enough, that it might stunt their growth, or that their lambs might be born small.

PROS:  The reasons for breeding ewe lambs are that Soay sheep have been living on St Kilda for millennia, and no one has been pulling those ewe lambs away from the rams in the fall.  They have thrived for thousands of years without intervention from man, just as sheep in the wild do.  As farmers and conservationists of Soay sheep, it would be shameful to breed this hardiness out of them, and loss of hardiness begins with well-intentioned pampering by the farmer.

We kept Soay sheep for 10 years, and they were well fed and cared for, in as natural a state as is possible on a farm.  We prefered to leave the ewe lambs with their dams during breeding season.  Most ewe lambs produced lambs the next spring when they were 1 year old, while a few did not.  When comparing growth of ewe lambs that had given birth to those that had not, we saw NO difference in

eventual size.  When comparing size of lambs from ewe lambs

to lambs born to adult ewes, we saw NO difference in size of the

lamb at birth or later after it grew up.  We had 100% success

with ewe lambs giving birth, and never lost a lamb from one of

our ewe lambs.  If a shepherd is losing lambs from their Soay

ewe lambs, there is some sort of management  issue such as

feed, disease or toxins in the pastures or barn that needs to be

remedied; it's certainly not the fault of breeding the ewe lamb in

the first place, as history tells us this is not the issue.

We have learned over the years that this breed requires a year

or two to adapt to a new climate, so this should be taken into

consideration if there are problems.

Some people who waffle over the decision of breeding Soay

ewe lambs eventually decide in favor simply because it is easier

to manage the flock as a whole unit, rather than breaking it up

into "to be bred" and "not to be bred" groups.

Ewe lambs can breed their first fall, usually at 7 or 8 months of

age.  Our ewe lambs generally came into estrus in November. 

This put them at 1 year of age when they gave birth, and they almost always produced a single lamb, although twins have been known to happen infrequently. 

This page contains photos of only a few of our 1-year-old Soay ewes who were bred as ewe lambs, and their resulting progeny.  We had many many more, and strongly believe that coddling these sheep will ruin the breed, turning them into yet another breed of sheep that requires assistance to survive. 

We no longer keep or breed Soay sheep, having moved on to a more practical breed that meets our needs; Cascade Farmstead Sheep.