North Ronaldsay Sheep - A Living Cultural Heritage

UPDATE - There is now an on line petition for Orkney abattoir that you can sign if you wish.

Scotland has a little recognised living cultural heritage in its breeds of primitive sheep surviving on Scotland's islands. In Shetland the breed is Shetland, in Orkney it's North Ronaldsay sheep, in the Western Isles it's the Hebridean, while in the now depopulated St Kilda the breeds are Soay and Boreray. The latter is the last living link with the now extinct Old Scottish ShortWool sheep.

North Ronaldsay, Orkney’s tiny northernmost island, is home to an internationally significant ancient breed of sheep that are the only domesticated sheep still to be managed under a unique communal system of farming. The North Ronaldsay sheep are a primitive breed virtually unchanged from Neolithic times. http://www.theorkneysheepfoundation.org.uk/the-sheep/

The sheep dyke that keeps the sheep on the shore is Grade A listed, regarded by Historic Scotland as 'probably the largest drystone construction conceived of as a single entity in the world’. 

 The small population of North Ronaldsay has met the challenges of storm damage & deterioration of the dyke with resilient fortitude and created the North Ronaldsay Trust,  Orkney Sheep Foundation and North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival that are having such a positive effect.    

There are now young people and families wanting to move onto the island and there is a new project to make derelict houses habitable again. You can hear more about this in the recording of the BBC Around Orkney radio programme on Thursday 16 August.

 So, through the efforts of the islanders the preservation of this communal farming system, a living example of Scotland’s cultural heritage, was looking promising until North Ronaldsay lost its only means, with the closure of Orkney abattoir, of having the sheep slaughtered in small groups throughout the winter months to produce their renowned mutton.

There are some North Ronaldsay sheep now kept in flocks elsewhere in the UK but they have changed in behaviour and physiology from the sheep still on the shores of North Ronaldsay. The adaptation to enable the sheep to survive on seaweed means those from the island could die from copper toxicity if kept permanently on pasture. The genes could be preserved, but the cultural and behavioural heritage, once lost, will be gone for ever.

This veterinary article explains some of the difficulties and challenges of keeping North Ronaldsay sheep away from the island. 

The ewes, as described here, are bought onto pasture just before lambing and for a few weeks during the summer, but must return to the shore with their lambs.

There are some fascinating photographs here of the punding and shearing of the North Ronaldsay sheep in the 1930's.  What is most notable is how little it has changed.  The farmers' clothes are different, but otherwise much remains the same, including the sheep being hand sheared with blade shears.

There is film from BBC of the North Ronaldsay sheep when Adam Henson visited the island, and a few months ago The Scotsman published an article, Saving the ancient seaweed-eating sheep of North Ronaldsay

I wrote about the sheep and the North Ronaldsay spinning mill in an article for Wovember, which can be viewed here.

I'd like to finish with quotes from two books.

In An Island Saga (p128) Mary A Scott says, "We may hope, however, that this famous breed, which has lasted so long, will not be allowed to preish from the earth."

In A Window on North Ronaldsay (p105) Peter A Tulloch says, "So everything considered, it would be an evil day if any disaster were to overtake that special breed of North Ronaldsay's native sheep."

Saving the ancient seaweed-eating sheep of North Ronaldsay

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/saving-the-ancient-seaweed-eating-sheep-of-north-ronaldsay-1-4592571

Saving the ancient seaweed-eating sheep of North Ronaldsay

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/saving-the-ancient-seaweed-eating-sheep-of-north-ronaldsay-1-4592571

Saving the ancient seaweed-eating sheep of North Ronaldsay

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/saving-the-ancient-seaweed-eating-sheep-of-north-ronaldsay-1-4592571