[marie]

I have 4 Soay Males that need to be rehomed. They are not registered as when we got them we left them with the ewes and they have been breeding , so we dont know which have fathered which. Now I am looking at things differently and taking more of an interest as they were dumped on us and realised i needed to understand more. They would be better off going to someone who wants them as grazers rather than breeders. They are quite friendly and have produced some good lambs. If anyone can help as I dont want to breed with these another year and we have 4 ewes who have just had lambs themselves.

[daddymatty82]

could you not just ring the lambs?

[marie]

I could ring them, but never done this before and also they are all related in different ways. I need new blood line and also with the new lambs we have more males than females. We also need to reduce the amount of sheep we have as the field is a small field.

[princesspiggy]

their meat is supposed to be really good.

[benkt]

Where are you? And how old are they?

[marie]

Hi benkt I'm in Glossop which is near Manchester. The rams age between 2 and 4 years old.

[marie]

Hi princesspiggy. Yes the meat can be good, but I dont think they would be worth sending for slaughter. They tend to be a bit on the slim side.

[piggy]

Hi marie

I send a ram lamb last year when i bought mine and he was only 6 months old but although his small frame he still gave us legs around 850kg pently enough for 2,in total 2 leg,shoulder very small chops and mince as well,i can check the freezer tomorrow and give you the correct figures if you like as we are a family of 6 so wouldnt be enough for us which is why we havnt used it yet we are still on the bigger joints.
The taste is amazing i think at 2-4 years old they would give you some nice cuts of meat,remember these type of sheep are naturally lean so they generally do not hold alot of fat unless you have over fed them.
Personally if they were mine and you dont find a genuine buyer for them who is going to keep them as lawn mowers then i would send them for meat better to know what has happened to them rather than be passed from piller to post,please dont give them away i think you can be pretty sure that they would be sent for meat  as painfull as it is for me to say but soays down here have a reputation of do not buy more trouble than there worth,i would hate to think that you had rehomed them only to find that they had been sent for meat anyway when you could of sent them yourself less stress to the sheep and meat as a bonus.

Hope it makes sence what i have wrote.

I can also tell you if it helps what a 2 year old ewe produced meat wise as have some of that in the frezzer as well.

Karen

[marie]

Yes I agree that the meat is nice and I'm a bit worrid about where they will go to, but I will also swap males to bring in new blood line to my lambs. Thankyou for your advice and I will consider it. We also have males in the new lambs we have got so we will have to let them go at some stage.

[Fleecewife]

Hi Marie.  It would be a good idea I feel to castrate the new tup lambs you have - you can't register them as you don't know who has sired which lamb.  Keeping them all entire is asking for trouble.  Soay tups can be fond of a fight, because that is their nature harking back to their wild life on St Kilda. Best for all concerned to wether them, which gives you a better meat carcass and no worries about them running with the ewes.  You may be lucky and find someone in your area who wants an unregistered tup (but I very much doubt you would rehome them all that way), but overall I feel it would be best to put them in the freezer too - there are plenty of people in your area who would buy them for home/halal slaughter so for you to get the meat and peace of mind would surely be best.  Selling them as lawn mowers is a bit fraught as frustrated entire male Soays can and do jump fences and travel miles to find a ewe - not fair on them or the new owners really.
Julie Suffolk who is the sec of the Soay Sheep Soc lives near Macclesfield which won't be far from you and she would certainly help you to get a new registered tup, and give advice on how to organise your breeding programme. [email protected] . This years wethers would keep the new tup company for the 11 months he is not running with the ewes, then go for slaughter at 16 or 28 months.
In fact running equal numbers of tups with females is the most natural way to breed sheep, especially Soays, as it lets the ewes choose the fittest male to sire their lambs (rather than us choosing for them), while the males slog it out amongst themselves - however, if you want to go down the registered route you can't do that.  I have 4 Soay ewes and 2 tups, so I can keep my tiny group surprisingly diverse.  For Hebs this year I bred 20 ewes to 6 tups (all in separate paddocks) as diversity is the name of the game   but I am careful about which tup runs with which females, to prevent consanguinity.

[marie]

Thankyou fo your advice. You have answered another question that has been playing on my mind. How many tups is it best to keep with the ewes. Someone has asked me for all four tups. I am a bit reluctant for all to go as was thinking of swapping 2 tups for new blood and selling the other 2 on.

[princesspiggy]

the first profit is the best profit - as they say. unless they were really good examples, itd be hard to swop for a really good tup. personally. id sell them and put money towards a really nice registered tup. (or eat them) and ring the tup lambs. i got my vet to show me how to ring. its much better to ring them then u can fatten them at your own pace.
we all start off at the beginning with breeding, i made loads of mistakes at begining and basically had to start from scratch again. if u keep to reg stock, not only does it help rare breeds, it gives any consumer providence of the meat, and makes them easier to sell. ie RBST website.
goodluck

[Bionic]

Can someone explain what is meant by 'ring' please
thanks
sally

[Fleecewife]

Ringing is a method of castration of male lambs.  A rubber ring is placed around the scrotal sac, with the testicles in the pouch part - they can have a tendency to pop back at the last millisecond so you need to check they are still there.  If not, the band must be removed and try again another day..  The band cuts off the blood supply to both the skin of the scrotal sac and to the testicles themselves and after a while the whole little package drops off. Legally, this must be done within the first 7 days of life.  After this a burdizzo can be used, where the tubes are crushed without damage to the sac, or the vet can do a surgical castration. Where the testicles are very small as with Soays it is often not possible to ring in those first 7 days as the hole in the band is too big.  If you have a problem with this, ask your vet's advice.

[marie]

Just thought I'd update you. We have found 2 of our rams with flystrike, so not letting them go. We are treating them so fingers crossed all will be ok. I advertised them and had 3 people come back to me wanting them. I asked each if they knew about soays and none of them did. I am reluctant to let them go to anyone who dosent know anything about them. Iv taken the advert off and will think again about what to do. I will probably sell them and save the money and put towards a good tut. I will also consider the meat side of it. Thankyou for all your advice. I'm also looking into the ringing of the lambs.