[Ansteorra-textiles] Soay fiber (long)

[Nancy Wederstrandt]

  Hi all:

A couple of years ago, in my curiosity I made an aquaintence with a woman 
who raises SOay sheep.  Over her objections (lack of skill, insecurity of 
quality) I got  her to sell me some Soay.  Soays do not produce much since 
(read below) they are so small.  She now sends me fiber every year.  That 
being said.... I may have extra fiber (not much)  I haven't pulled the bags 
and cleaned them  if you want to buy some off me.  It's lovely, short fiber 
that looks a little daunting to spin but I've done it.  You have to use 
very short draft and very fine thread to make it work.   It needs cleaning 
and each sheep usually produces less than a pound of useable fiber.  Below 
is some info on them.

The hardy, little Soay sheep is a living relic of the Bronze Age and has 
survived in isolation for at least a thousand years. It is the most 
primitive breed of domestic sheep in Europe. Until the late 19th century it 
was only found on the tiny, windswept island of Soay. Part of the St. Kilda 
archipelago in the north Atlantic, Soay lies about 110 miles west of the 
mainland of Scotland. It is not known precisely when the sheep arrived on 
Soay, but evidence indicates it has certainly been there for 1000 years and 
possibly as long as 3000 or more. Some theorize that it was abandoned by 
the Vikings on their raids of the area. Beginning in the mid nineteenth 
century, small numbers of sheep were captured and removed from Soay to the 
Scottish Mainland. In 1932 a flock was taken from Soay to the neighboring 
island of Hirta where its descendants remain today. Eventually sheep from 
Scotland and Hirta made it into private hands and from those populations 
have come the animals now found in the United States and Europe. While no 
longer considered endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the 
United Kingdom, its numbers worldwide still remain very limited.
The breed has been imported to North America on only two occasions, both 
late in the twentieth century and both to Canada; the first shipment in 
1970 from Scotland and the second January 1990 from England. From Canada it 
eventually made its way into the United States. Nearly all of the Soay in 
the US today, however, originated with the first introduction. The only 
exception is the RBST registered flock (USA0001) imported by Southern 
Oregon Soay Farms. It was brought from Quebec province to the State of 
Oregon between 1998 and 2000.
Historically the feral Soay sheep was used by the neighboring St. Kildans 
for its wool, which was hand spun and woven into tweed. Once a year, during 
the summer, the most nimble men of the village on Hirta were rowed to Soay. 
Packing supplies to last a week or more, barefooted they scaled the shear 
rock walls of the island which rose nearly perpendicularly from the sea. 
The wool gathering was extremely hazardous work. Both man and sheep could 
fall or be blown over the high cliffs into the ocean below. With the aid of 
dogs, the animals were run down and caught. Their fleece (which is 
naturally shed at this time of the year) was plucked and they were then 
released. The collected wool was ferried back to Hirta where it was stored 
until winter. During the long, inclement days of December and January it 
was picked clean of debris, often by the children, carded at community 
gatherings and divided among the households. The women spun it into yarn 
which they used to knit gloves, socks, stockings and scarves. The men wove 
the yarn into tweed cloth on very simple wooden looms. The resulting fabric 
was used domestically for clothing, sold to summer tourists from the 
mainland, and exported for sale in Scotland. For two months in the spring 
nearly every man in the hamlet wove cloth. In 1930 the island of Hirta was 
abandoned and the domestic sheep and cattle kept by the St. Kildans were 
evacuated with them. Two years later 107 Soay were transferred from the 
island of Soay to Hirta and for the first time the sheep inhabited both 
islands. Today the offspring of these feral sheep still roam the isles of 
St. Kilda, now a National Nature Reserve. On the mainland, a number of 
farms presently raise Soay for its lean meat to supply restaurants and 
accredited specialty butchers shops. It is also kept by petting zoos, 
handspinners, organic farmers, and back yard hobbyists in Europe and North 
America.
This unique animal is a direct link to our neolithic past and remains 
important for the immunological contributions of its closed gene pool. Its 
mere survival under the extraordinarily harsh conditions found on its 244 
acre "iceberg" of wind, rock and weather has made it very hardy. Unlike 
most domestic animals, the Soay sheep is not dependent on man for anything.

The Island of Soay lies beyond Mol Carn na Liana and the Cambir of Hirta,
110 miles west of the mainland of Scotland, August 2000

They are lovely animals - very deer like and delicate.  It has been 
theorized that they are the ancestors of Nothern European domestic sheep

Clare