Live Simply ~ Live Well
Life off the grid in NW Washington.

Got Gates? or How to Manage Your Flock

Joe and I are lucky in that we started with Soay at an advanced stage of decrepitude - in our late 50's. The reason this is lucky is that we are already old and broken enough that our bodies frequently dictate that we have to work smarter - because we can no longer provide with muscle what we lack in gray matter. Also, because the older you get the shorter your work days become and because of that our farm is growing slow enough that we can more easily correct our errors because they are not set in concrete. Ditto for working on a limited budget. When you buy your fencing here and there, and build your shelters out of scraps - you have a lot more time to think about what will work and what won't.

What does this have to do with "Catching a Soay"?

Everything!

You need to plan your Soay management system as though you too are an aging flock master. Work smarter - not harder.

The image below illustrates the interconnecting paddocks that house our ewes.

Red Dots = Gates

Green Rectangles = Mangers

Blue Rectangles = Water

Brown Rectangles = Shelters

Pink Lines = Common Fences

These paddocks are the "west" series of paddocks which join the "east" series by way of a connecting "hallway" that runs between them.

Image of Soay Sheep paddock and pastures at Wind River Soay Sheep Farm

Our 2006 breeding season we had two breeding groups - one in the A/B paddocks and another in the D/E paddocks. They shared no common fence and by tying silver tarps to the fence line of the D paddock they could not easily see each other. Our 2007 breeding season we had six breeding groups, and all of them had common fence lines with one or more of the other breeding groups. We again used tarps to prevent visual and physical contact between the groups and had no fighting between the rams or any attempts to jump the fence to cover a ewe that was cycling and ready for breeding.

In 2006, when we were ready to break up the breeding groups we fed the Soay in the E and B paddocks - closing the gates behind them to confine them to that area. Then - with a piece of 8 foot cattle panel we advanced, one person at each end of the fence, and corralled them into the shelter. Then it was an easy task to grab the horns of each Soay, and direct them through a gate to whichever paddock we wanted them to go to. The ewes were directed to paddocks A & D, and the rams were directed to the east series of paddocks which housed the non-breeding rams.

We do the same thing when it's time for shots or trimming horns.

If you have to skimp anywhere in your set up don't skimp on gates. We have added several more since this original drawing was done and added more paddocks and pastures - always with a plan for multiple access points to each paddock/pasture, making sure there are gates that will allow us to manage our flocks with a minimum of stress to them and to us.

Reserve Soay Lambs for 2009 ~ ~ Click here for more information.

About Wind River Farm ~~ Click here for our off the grid story.