History of Soay Bloodlines in North America
American Soay Bloodlines
EARLY BREEDERS
Dean Lewis, Jean Phalen, Bev Driscoll, Robert Johnson, Blair MacRae and Lois Westwood each bred a number of Soay sheep from the 1970 importation at one time or another. Current and past breeders of American Soay sheep purchased their initial stock from these people, or from people who had purchased from these people.
NAMING THE LINES
When the SOA registry was formed, characteristic patterns from many different flocks became apparent. As time went by, these related groups of sheep were soon categorized according to the name of their initial breeder. When SOA was asked in 2004 by American Livestock Breeds Conservancy to fill out a Breed Description and list our bloodlines for their Census, the Executive Board of SOA decided it made perfect sense to list the various bloodlines that were already in existence.
Several of the bloodlines listed below are being conserved by a number of breeders. Others are held by just a few breeders and are in need of conservation.
- Driscoll: The ewes in this line tend to be polled or scurred, unless there has been crossing with British rams, which reduces or eliminates this trait. This line generally produces medium and fine fleece, and has the ability to produce piebald markings.*** THIS BLOODLINE IS IN NEED OF CONSERVATION!
- Johnson: Ewes in this line are usually horned, but we are seeing some scurred ewes.
- Lewis: This is usually a coarser fleeced or "hairy" line, which means that the fleeces are not as useful for spinning, but the hides make the most beautiful and interesting tanned pelts. The ewes can be horned, polled or scurred, while the rams generally have wide horns. There are some specimens from this line with piebald markings. The American Soay ram shown on our main page is from this line; he looks identical to most of the rams found on St Kilda.
- MacRae: This line varies in fleece type, and the ewes can be polled, scurred or horned. The rams tend to have wide horns. THIS BLOODLINE IS IN NEED OF CONSERVATION!
- Phalen: Ewes in this line are polled or scurred, unless there has been crossing with British rams, which reduces or eliminated this trait. The fleece of Phalen sheep tends to be fine and may be lighter colored.*** THIS BLOODLINE IS IN NEED OF CONSERVATION!
- Westwood: Ewes in this line are generally horned, and fleeces tend to be very fine, with a medium to dark color.
NEW LINES
In addition to the six lines listed above, there are two more lines in progress:
- Black: There are a few breeders working to maintain the solid black Soay (also known as self coloured) that is occasionally found on Soay and Hirta.
- White: There are also breeders working on a line that consistently produces white markings similar to the White Soay Flock found in Wales.
British Soay Bloodlines
There are three bloodlines currently in the process of being established in the British Soay gene pool on this continent.
NAMING THE LINES
When SOA was asked in 2005 by American Livestock Breeds Conservancy to clarify information that had been submitted about British Soay sheep, we offered the facts listed below.
- Utilizing the methods described in ALBC's A Conservation Breeding Handbook, the first established breeding program identified three relatively unrelated sheep as the "founders" of the bloodlines to be created from a tiny gene pool of 2 rams and 4 ewes: Aphrodite, Basil and Quantum. The British flock imported in 2000 was divided up by three breeders prior to importation with these 3 founder sheep in mind. This program is in use by several breeders.
- A later breeding program used by some other breeders identified the 2 original rams, Augustus and Gigolo, with the third "founder" listed as Diamond; a son of Gigolo. These three sheep are one or two generations back from the 3 founders originally identified above; it is essentially the same breeding program.
*** It is recommended that American Soay ewes from polled bloodlines are not bred to British Soay rams (registered with RBST) in order to preserve the polled and scurred genetics found in this line. 65% of the ewes on Hirta are polled or scurred.1 All British Soay sheep found on this continent at this time are horned, and do not represent the many variations found on Soay and Hirta. Consequently, use of British rams on our American Soay sheep has reduced the number of polled and scurred progeny.2 With careful breeding practices, and appropriate use of American Soay rams from the polled bloodlines, it is possible to maintain a similar percentage in American Soay sheep.
1 Page 29 of Soay Sheep, edited by Tim Clutton-Brock and Josephine Pemberton. 2004 Cambridge University Press
2 Records of the SOA Registrar, 2001 through 2005.
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