Sheeps!

Hey look what we got!

These shy little guys (who won’t move out from behind the crate so I can take a good picture) are Soay sheep, a not-very-domesticated breed from Scotland. They are small, and their tails are short so they don’t need to be docked, and they don’t need to be sheared to gather their wool, as they rub it off or you can just pull it off with your fingers. And, they’ll eat scrub and weeds, including Scotch broom and blackberries, like goats will, but most domestic sheep won’t.

We brought them home from Puyallup last night in the dog crate in the back of truck. It was late and dark when we got home so we left them in the crate, on the front porch, for the night, then woke up early this morning to let them out to learn about the electric fence and get some delicious grass. They munched all day and spent a lot of time running and jumping when we opened the back door and startled them into touching the electric fence accidentally. (They don’t learn as fast as dogs!)

They come with the names Biscuit and Muskrat* (the one with horns, in front above). They are wethers, which means they are fixed males who have been removed from circulation, so to speak, for whatever genetic reason. In this case they will ultimately be removed into our freezer and thence to our tummies for the winter. If it goes well, we may see about a breeding and/or wool flock in the future.

All of a sudden, where I used to see overgrown grass and weeds, I now see delicious pasture. Who knew I’d have this side effect? So we’re trying to figure out how best to confine them to specific small parts of our yard so they can safely trim the lawn without eating the cabbage and kale and lettuce, or eat the Scotch broom and blackberry without getting into the street. Harness? Collar? More electric fence?

If you have experience with sheep, please do chime in! We are winging it here … so far they seem to want to eat some grass and not be near us. On Sunday we will pick up a couple of domestic-breed mutt-ish wethers (Romney and whatever), also for meat, who we will try to integrate with these guys. Any and all advice/ideas are welcome!

* Despite the America (orig. Captain and Tennille, I think) song, I keep thinking it’s Biscuit and Buckwheat. So Muskrat may become Buckwheat. Or else Buttermilk, for thematic-ness.)