Soay (British)

The Soay is an ancient short-tailed sheep from a 250-acre island in the St. Kilda archipelago, forty miles out past the Outer Hebrides. The island's name is Norse, Seyðoy, meaning Sheep Island, which tells you the Vikings found sheep there. It is uninhabited, windy and weather-beaten, and only the toughest animals lasted.

Nobody farmed them. Until 1930, crofters from the neighboring island of Hirta rowed over to collect the wool the sheep had shed onto the rocks. That wool was softer than what their own sheep grew, and weavers blended it into goods they bartered for rent or sold.

Most of the population is still on the islands, and the island flock is now closed, with no sheep going in or out. It runs somewhere between 800 and 2,000 animals. Around 450 Soay were registered in the UK in 2021, and about 90 British Soay from North America.

North American imports began in 1990, first into Montreal and then south.

They are hardy, resistant to parasites and disease, and thoroughly independent. Rams are usually horned and ewes may be either. Do not plan on working them with dogs. This is a sheep that has spent several thousand years not being managed.