In another thread someone recommended the Soay breed of sheep for my farming friend I'm helping (hey, who knows, I may move there since Brooklyn's still reeking from the WTC). The sheep sound right to her since she's small-scale, has a fulltime job already (small-animal veterinarian), and is the only human being on her farm. Thing is, what's the non-market market for these sheep -- i.e. can we sell the wool, or the lambs? She doesn't want to sell them for meat.

-- brooklynsheep (robbins@informinc.org), September 28, 2001

Answers

Response to Soay?

How far from Brooklyn do you have to go to find sheep?I hate to sound morbid, but can you smell the rotting bodies in Brooklyn? Or is it the burning smell?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 28, 2001.

Response to Soay?

My friend's farm is in New Jersey, near Trenton. There are some farms around her.

My G*d, I hope it's not burning bodies I smell. The closest I can come to describing it is: imagine your neighbor set up a barbeque with lots of wood fuel. Now imagine he's grilling a lot of concrete with a dry metal rub.

-- brooklynsheep (robbins@informinc.org), September 28, 2001.

To give a bit of history on the Soay breed of sheep, they are from the isle of Soay, off St. Kilda, Herbrides, Scotland. The native population runs wild on the island. Twice a year the residents of St. Kilda visit the island to hunt down with Soay sheep with dogs and shear them. This breed, and the European Moulion share the common trait of a very short tail. Have horns much like a mountain goat. Its believed the Asiatic Mouflon is the ancestor of all domestic sheep. The feral Soay has shorter wool than the Moulion. The number of domestic Soay is apparently very limitied.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 29, 2001.

There is a women who breeds them I emailed her asking if I could buy some wool and she has a two year waiting list on the wool! I will see if I can find her email address.Ok found it. The artical was in the May/June 2001 countryside.Her email address is www.soayfarms.com The farm is in oregon.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), October 01, 2001.

I stumbled on this site and could not resist responding. I wrote the Countryside article on Soay Sheep that Kathy H mentioned and yes we do raise Soay sheep here in Oregon. They are very easy to care for and are ideally suited to small farms and novice shepherds. They are being used increasingly in the UK and North America for conservastion grazing. For more information on the the breed, its history, care and a variety of links please visit our website at www.soayfarms.com. There are a number of breeders in different parts of the country- (some in the east)and we would be happy to refer you to a breeder if you are intersted.

-- Kathie Miller (kathie@soayfarms.com), November 15, 2001.

Hi, I came across this after searching for Soay links. I am in NJ and have a small flock of Soays. I am new with them and am attempting to gather as much information about them as I can. Four lambs were born last spring, and I hope to have 6 - 8 this spring (maybe sooner!) and may have some for sale. Thanks for your time!

-- ShepherdsofSoay (AcornHillFarms@att.net), January 16, 2002.