Health Issues in Soay Sheep

While Soay sheep are an ancient, healthy and hardy breed, there are some things breeders need to be aware of. Short paragraphs follow each subject, with a link to pages with more detailed information. This page is provided as an informational source, and is not intended as replacement for veterinary advice. Please consult your local vet or State Veterinarian if you have questions.

Copper Poisoning Soay sheep are susceptible to copper poisoning, which may be found in most salt or mineral mixes, as well as some anthelmintics. Copper may even be found in many chicken feeds, which is not intended for sheep of course, but ingestion has been known to occur, accidentally on the part of the shepherd and intentionally on the part of the sheep.

OPP - Ovine Progressive Pneumonia is a virus that is slow acting, generally taking at least 2 years to produce symptoms, eventually causing lung damage. There is no cure at this time, but the best form of prevention is to have sheep tested, cull those that test positive, and make purchases from OPP-free flocks.

Scrapie There are differing views on the cause(s) of Scrapie, and these views range widely. The most commonly held views hold prions as the culprit, and suggest culling sheep that exhibit the "wrong" sort of codons. This would eliminate most of the Soay sheep population worldwide, which is unnecessary considering that Scrapie is not found in Soay sheep at this time. The other views are that Scrapie may be caused by toxins used for parasite control in the last few hundred years, and/or by high levels of manganese in the environment. SOA takes no sides on this issue, but does promote the conservation of Soay sheep with all their codons, whether the said codons are currently politically correct or not. The USA requires that sheep are enrolled in either the fairly recent Mandatory Program for monitoring Scrapie, or the original Voluntary Program, which has slightly tighter requirements.

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