Welcome to my woolly little blog!!



Welcome to my woolly little blog!!
You are welcome to browse, comment, ask questions,
seek advice on a knitting issue and find out more about Shetland and it's world renowned wool.
Plus, some snippets and snaps from my everyday life.
So pull up a chair and sit awhile, away from the rush of the world.
Please do not use any images from my blog as most of them, unless otherwise stated, are my own work.
You are more than welcome to read, comment and follow!

Sunday 20 May 2012

Baby Soays......Adorable!

Just look what I got to photograph yesterday! I had made plans with the couple who own the Shetland Alpaca Farm to come up yesterday and take photos of their baby Soay sheep. I couldn't wait. I slept very badly the night before and got up at 6.00am because of my utter excitement! I know, I'm just a hopeless case.
Here is one photo I just love......

Just chillin'


As you can see, Soay babies are not really like the lambs of other breeds of sheep that we are more familiar with. They are much more like young deer and I noticed the 'bleating' sound they make is also unlike a lamb's bleat. Their coats are quite tight and very wavy, almost curly in places.
Here's a few more pics for you.....



Look at that face!




One of the ram lambs this year has a much lighter coat than they expected, but I think they are keen to keep this little ram to use as a breeder in the future. Soays can be light or dark. They can also have white on their faces. Some people prefer this. It's a matter of personal taste really. As long as the lamb's generational history can be traced back and there is only Soay blood in them then it's perfectly ok to have a change in colour. Sometimes a breeding ram may "throw" a lighter colour, even though he is dark. This is obviously a throw back from a previous generation.

Light Soay


Dark Soay


Soay sheep shed their own fleeces, although you can pull it off yourself if you see that is is becoming very loose and patchy. I notice one of mine is looking particularly straggly so I may try to get as much of the wool as I can so I can try to spin it. Phill from the farm showed me yesterday how to take off the loose fleece. You just get hold of a piece and 'roll' it upwards away from the skin. This doesn't hurt or harm the Soay sheep at all. The new fleece grows back quite quickly too. You can see in this next photo how the adult light coloured Soay is beginning to shed her fleece. Those loose clumps would easily come off with a gentle pull upwards.



I'm just going to finish off this post with a photo of one of their rams called Gambit. He is quite a character. When I arrived yesterday to take photos he was lying back in the sunshine watching all the mothers do the hard work............enough said!!! Here he is in all his glory..........

What a dude!


Back soon with more news and photos. Take care.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Amy, thank you for browsing and commenting! I feel very blessed to own 2 Soays and very excited about getting 2 more! They are very 'addictive'!
    Take care. Call back soon.

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  2. My Cascade sheep are a hybrid of Soay and Icelandic's - the lambs look just like yours!

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  3. Hi, thanks so much for browsing and commenting.
    Did you breed your ewes yourself? I've not heard of Cascade sheep.
    Yes, the babies are just SO cute. They are very irresistible and I'm thinking I'll have to breed my 2 Soay females at least once. I'm so broody after seeing those babies!!!!lol
    Please call by again. You're very welcome.

    ReplyDelete