Soay Sheep for Sale
Saltmarsh Ranch is home to the largest, most genetically diverse flock of British Soay sheep
in North America. We are looking forward to the arrival of twenty to thirty British lambs
beginning the second half of March. Although most of our British ewe lambs have already been
reserved, we are still accepting reservations for 2008 in the event we get a lot of twins or
get lucky in the gender lottery. And, it is not too early be thinking about 2009. We have
already begun to accept deposits for our 2009 British Soay lambs. We welcome your
inquiries.
Our flock of British soay sheep exhibit the full range of phenotypic traits seen in the U.S.
cohort of British Soay — nice horn conformation in both ewes and rams, medium brown or
salt and pepper greyish fleece, as well as some light phase animals with the characteristic
lighter fleece. Most of our British Soay sheep are the typical, rather small size, but we do
not select for stature (either large or small) so you should have your choice in size.
In addition to our core conservation flock of British Soay, we keep about 50 American and
American/British Soay sheep . We treat this flock quite differently than the British
animals. In the case of our American and American/British Soay sheep, we freely breed for
type, experimenting and having fun trying to breed really neat-looking sheep. We selected
our American Soay sheep based on their appearance as well as their ancestry. They exhibit a
wider array of phenotypes than our current British flock, including long luxurious (for a
Soay sheep) fleece, self-coloration, and a somewhat larger frame. Each fall we set up
carefully selected breeding groups, aiming to develop new combinations of traits, and to
expand and enhance the characteristics we are most interested in.
Many of our first Soay sheep came from Kate Montgomery's
Blue Mountain Soay
flock. We were very impressed with one ewe in particular, Celadon, and since then we have
added a number of magnificent Blue Mountain ewes and rams. They have lovely conformation and
a rich array of coloration, including tan, light red, dark mahogany and nearly black. We
plan to expand and enhance our Blue Mountain collection.
Another pet project, one we've been at for several years, is to establish a line of
self-colored light phase Soay sheep with the moorit or "chocolate" phenotpe. We've gone
about this systematically, and hope to have our first such sheep in a year or two. The same
Kate Montgomery presented the world with a pair of lambs with this phenotype in 2007, so we
won't be the first, but that's ok. Our "chocolate" breeding efforts continue.
British or American? You can have the best of both!
Several of us started out with American ewes and a British ram, in our case because it is what we stumbled upon first. It allowed us to “test drive” having Soay sheep before incurring the higher expense of purchasing British ewes.
Breeding British rams to American ewes often produces extremely well-conformed animals (American/British Soay sheep) with the somewhat smaller frames characteristic of British Soay sheep, but also with the possibility of a much wider array of fleece color from the American stock. The results tell the story.
The first year, we bred Galadrial to Chestnut. Galadrial is a nice looking, average size brown ewe with lots of British in her background, making her an American/British ewe. Chestnut is a 100% British, RBST-registered small brown ram. They produced Antony and Cleopatra, both of whom have classic "British" looks — clean lines, excellent sweeping horns, salt and pepper grey or light brown fleece.
The next year, we decided to breed Chestnut to a very different sort of American ewe, Grace,
one of our Blue Mountain foundation ewes. Grace is a really big girl, sweet tempered, and
possessed of drop-dead gorgeous long mahogany fleece, and besides she's a great mother. Her
pedigree, on the other hand, is 100% American and incomplete at that. We had no idea what
to expect. So what was the result of this unlikely breeding scheme, a sort of reverse Lady
and the Tramp? Once again we got twins, but this time out came the most
beautifully-colored Soay we have ever seen, Fennel and her twin Fenugreek. As newborns,
they both had gloriously fluffy, light reddish fleece.
The delightful surprise with Fennel and Fenugreek is that both of them have retained their
luxurious fleece and stunning colors and they have gotten better and better looking as
adults. You'll find them pictured as adults elsewhere on the website — we just love
to show them off.
If you are not sure whether you want to take the conservation breeding plunge, or if what really grabs you about the thought of breeding Soay sheep is the chance to play with color, to experiment with breeding targeted toward a certain "look," be it horns or color or size or something else, a starter flock of American ewes and a British ram may be just right for you.
British, American, American/British. What do these terms mean? Soay sheep have been imported from the UK to North America only twice, four sheep in 1974 and six in 1990. Sheep descended from the first group are known as the “American Soay sheep.” The “British Soay sheep” are derived exclusively from the second importation. “American/British Soay sheep” have ancestors from each of the two groups. Complete breeding records and pedigrees have been kept for virtually all British Soay sheep, and consequently they can be registered with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the UK.
Unfortunately, for American Soay sheep no records survive for the period prior to the late 1990's. There is substantial evidence that other breeds of sheep were crossed into some of the earlier American Soay flocks.
A more formal discussion of the use of these three terms may be found on the OFP web site.
A detailed history of Soay sheep in North America may be found on Kathie Miller's website.
If you are just starting with Soay sheep, we would recommend a starter flock consisting of
three or four ewes, along with a ram plus a wether to be a companion for him. We used four
different rams in our 2007-2008 breeding program, thus ensuring that we will be able to put
together flocks with the characteristics you are looking for and with unrelated ewes and
rams.
Perhaps you are looking for just plain good-looking Soay sheep to beautify your fenced lawns or small pastures but do not want to bother with breeding, caring for pregnant ewes and lambs, or keeping ewes and rams separated off-season. We have several rams for sale that would create a handsome flock, either as an all ram group or as a mixture of rams and wethers.
At first blush, the notion of an all-ram flock may seem odd, but here's the case for a Boys' Club if you are not going to breed your Soay sheep. Without ewes around, a group of rams (no fewer than 4 and up to at least 20 in our experience) are quite jovial fellows who do not try to get through fences or bash into anything other than each other's heads from time to time. Human heads will turn at the living statues in your pasture, a fact for which we submit the pictorial evidence here. And last but by far not least, they are a bargain considering how handsome they are and how easy they are to take care of so long as there are no ewes, Soay or otherwise, nearby.
We offer competitive pricing that varies somewhat depending on several factors: type, gender, color, horn characteristics, and relative availability.
We provide discounts to repeat customers, and on purchases of four or more animals at one time.
We ask an advance deposit of $100 per animal to reserve your sheep; the amount is fully refundable if we are unable to fill your order.
All of our Soay sheep are healthy and should be consistently successful breeders for you.
Our lambs are vaccinated with Covexin-8 at about 10 weeks and then again four weeks later.
We administer booster immunizations to our adult ewes in February, about a month before
lambing begins. The rams are vaccinated annually in June. We use pasture rotation practices
to minimize the buildup of parasites in our flock, and we worm from time to time based on
the results of fecal examinations. Our Soay sheep have access to sheep-specific mineral,
including selenium, at all times. Our flock is enrolled in the USDA Voluntary Scrapie
Control Program, and all our sheep carry a round numbered eartag that uniquely identifies
each of them.
We provide detailed pedigrees for each of the Soay sheep we sell. All of our animals' known ancestors are in the Open Flockbook Project, which has an on-line database you are welcome to use. We also provide OFP registration certificates for the Soay sheep you buy from us. Our British flock are registered with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the U.K.
In general, the responsibility for arranging and paying for transportation lies with the purchaser, but of course, we will cooperate fully in whatever arrangements you decide on.
If you live near enough, you may simply pick up your sheep yourself. All but the largest rams can be shipped in plastic dog crates in the back of a pickup, minivan or even a hatchback. Several lambs can be packed in a large crate. In many cases, we may be able to transport sheep within a day's drive out and back to meet you halfway; there is a mileage charge for this.
A number of commercial small animal transport services are available. We know of many Soay sheep owners, including ourselves, who have had good experience using Ron Keener as our hauler.
We will obtain health certificates required in the purchaser's state in order to ship animals interstate; any fee associated with this is the responsibility of the purchaser.