[brian.reilly@live.co.uk]

I have some feral Soay's = what can I do?

[Me]

Shoot them?

[in the hills]

Can you give us a few more details?

Then we can come up with some positive suggestions.

We keep Soay as do several others on here.

[landroverroy]

That's exactly what my first thought was!
But perhaps you could tell us a bit more about them Brian. What's the story behind them? Do you want to tame/domesticate them, or get rid?

[Me]

Ok. Longnets as per rabbit clearance if you insist on live catch

[Womble]

<sup>The answer to that depends entirely on what you want to get out of keeping them!

I feel your pain though, since it sounds as though you're in a very similar situation to us a couple of years ago. As such, you may find this thread a useful read!

HTH!</sup> 

[mojocafa]

When I first got my soay, I didn't think I got sheep, I thought I got kangaroos, OMG the jumped and bounced everywhere, . Very flighty, however, 3 years down the road they trust me and now  eat out of my hand!

[Fleecewife]

I have some feral Soay's = what can I do?

[member=172867]brian.reilly@live.co.uk[/member]  it would help us to come up with a solution to your problem if we knew what it was.
Are you wanting to treat them for something, move them somewhere else, check them out, take out entire males, send them for slaughter? How much land are they on and is it wild or managed?  How many Soay do you have?  How long have you had them?  What experience do you have of sheep of whatever breed?


It really does help us to reply if we have more info.


When we kept Soay we found them very friendly, but then we kept them close.  There was one ewe which at 'off to the butcher' time, kept disappearing out of the catching pen and off over the fields, but then she was intelligent and was certain she didn't want to go where we were sending her. 

[brian.reilly@live.co.uk]

WOW = I am very pleasantly surprised as to how many of you have responded!
I am a little unused to this medium and I had thought that I would get an email when I received a reply – but I guess I need to check the site to see how I can do that!!!
Most of the responses I can see have requested that I need to provide more information, and in retrospect I agree I should have already done that.... but now I will.
The Soay sheep were acquired by my now (thankfully!) ex lady partner. She exited our relationship and my land some 4+ years ago, and went off to live in the Western USA. Thereafter “her” Soay sheep became “my” problem. They were by that time “feral”, and the very large majority are untagged = being the youngest ones. I now reckon that in total there are (circa) 20 animals.
They are all at this time contained in a single paddock of about some 1 acre+ in size.
What do I want to do with them? = easy answer = get them to somebody who wants them!!!! Difficult answer = I really cannot drive at present and I have hip problems that do not allow me to go out and try to chase them down.
So I need help in whatever shape it comes in!! I live in South Cheshire.

[Fleecewife]

First off, 20 Soay on not much more than an acre is way too many, so yes, they need to go.  Finding someone who will take that many unregistered wild Soay is going to be difficult. Ideally, they would go to someone who can handle them and fatten them for slaughter, maybe to sell on to a restaurant, but finding such a person is the problem.  Because Soay are quite small, an everyday butcher wouldn't be interested and because they are unreg and not an ideal weight, wormed etc, the RBST meat scheme will not be interested.
At the large estate across the valley from us, the game keeper there has a license, plus cool facilities to kill and handle game.  Soays are the next best thing to game.  My thoughts are creeping towards a shooting estate looking for a novelty prey for its punters to come and shoot.  I know someone who always passed old Jacob tups onto the estate next to them for shooting.
However, I have no idea if you have shooting estates in Cheshire or roundabout.  The Pennines?  In that situation I'm sure they would collect them from you.


Just some ideas.   Maybe someone on TAS is interested or knows someone who would be.

[landroverroy]

I'm sure if you advertised them locally there will be someone with a dog and a trailer to take them off your hands.
A good place to advertise is "Preloved" where there are always plenty of people ready to take stock that are cheap or free to good home.
 

[Old Hall Rare Breeds]

Is there an entire male in the flock?
And do you know if they are, or ever were, registered?

I may be able to help out, but I will need some more information.

I keep soay, and I currently have an empty 4 acre field, which we were going to use to bale before wintering my sheep in, but yours could move into it temporarily while we get them sorted for you. I am near Preston, so only an hour or so away.