Yesterday our Soay flock increased in size with the arrival of one set of triplets and 3 sets of twins. It is fascinating to see the colour variation on the lambs with one lamb having an almost identical pattern to the mother. Cows have also begun to graze our pastures at Haywood, Coalport. A key objective for the Trust was to grow and use local produce so that our land was being managed as sustainably as possible using traditional methods. To date this has included timber (including to build and heat our award winning sustainable offices with walls insulated with sheep’s wool) for our cleft fences and gateposts and used by local schools, Soay meat, venison, hay, haleage and green hay used throughout north Shropshire for wildflower meadow restoration. We are therefore pleased to have been contacted by the Natural Fibre Company from Cornwall (who have a great website that includes lots of useful information on sheep management and breeds) who are interested in buying our Soay fleece and we will be training our local lookerer volunteer shepherds in how to shear them soon. So it is great to know that the Soays are a key part of managing our wildflower meadows (the hay from which has been bought by a local farmer) and now the fleece will be turned into fibres, and some fleece is being spun by local people.
