Seaweed-eating Sheep
One of the humbling privileges I find of being a vet student is the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in a community whilst on placement. It gives you a perspective on places far beyond what is gained from merely visiting them. My time on North Ronaldsay was no different, and I learnt and gained so much from my experience.
My desire to visit stemmed from when I first heard about the seaweed-eating sheep whilst on some pre-vet school work-experience at Flett and Carmichael a few years back. They sounded fascinating and it brought together my love of visiting wild and remote places together with learning about an amazing breed. Fast forward a few years and I found myself in my second year of vet school, contacting Siân, the Sheep Dyke Warden on the island out of the blue to ask if I could come stay, help her build the dyke and learn about the sheep. I thought it might be a bit of a long shot as it was before she set up her volunteering scheme, but to my delight she emailed me back and said yes! After the complex logistics of getting there I finally arrived a few days into July and quickly got to meet Norbert and Fang, the wonderful and mischievous pet lambs.
The North Ronaldsay sheep belong to the Northern-European Short Tailed group of breeds and are confined to the shore, having been walled off by the dyke since 1832 when the farming system of the island was reconfigured. However; they have been on the island for at least 5000 years. They are small in size and only mature around 3 years old and so are used for mutton. They are classified as vulnerable by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. The ewes come onto grass for their lambs in April, but otherwise it’s seaweed all year: an amazing physiological adaptation which holds many potential advances in livestock feed for reducing emissions. For example; Phlorotannin, found in brown seaweed, is able to protect some protein in the rumen and prevent it from being broken down, thus reducing ammonia production and increasing the proportion able to be utilised by the sheep. Phlorotannin is also able to alter the gut microbiota reducing the amount of methane producing bacteria in the rumen.
One issue that affects these sheep, and particularly the lambs, is vitamin B1(thiamine) deficiency leading to Cerebrocortical Necrosis (an acute neurological disease of ruminants). This can often occur after a wormer has been given to the lambs as is sometimes done by some sheep owners, or after the ewes are moved to a new field and leads to “headache” like symptoms in the sheep such as head pressing. It can be reversed in lambs if a thiamine (B1) supplement is given quickly and one of the islanders has brought many lambs round this way.
On the behavioural side of things, learning how the sheep shelter from storms up against the wall and form ‘clow gangs’, which are groups that they stick to in a small section of the shore, was fascinating.
Additionally, the enzymes from their gut may hold a role in macroalgae degradation for biofuel production and combined with their wool (which is formed into yarn at a mill on the island), they have amazing potential for environmental sustainability. Siân has also just started a conservation grazing projection with them at Westness on the island with the hope of bringing back some rare species to the machair such as the Great Yellow Bumblebee.
As mentioned, key to the survival of this incredible breed is the dry stone dyke which encircles the island, about 13 miles in length. There is a necessity to prevent them from going over the dyke as they could crossbreed with the other sheep on the island. The dyke was traditionally maintained by islanders; however, due to depopulation of the island causing a reduction in available labour, a quarter of it is currently in need of repair. This is where Siân’s 3-year role as Sheep Dyke Warden, rebuilding the dyke and raising awareness comes in. My first introduction to dyke building was over at Bridesness to rebuild a section of the pund (pens they are gathered into) that had fallen down. The section was about 12 metres in total, and accompanied by beautiful weather and the lambs, we had it up within the week! Building turned out to be something I loved, after weeks of revision it was so refreshing to be using my brain in a different way and puzzling out exactly where each stone ought to go.
Other adventures during my first week included a dip in the sea with Siân for about 20 mins and seeing a seal close-up; getting to know some of the other islanders; and a foray into putting some new climbing routes up on the west of the island.
Siân and Olly (her partner) grow lots of their own food and it was certainly a shift from having shops so readily accessible back home and challenged me to think more about what I eat and how I could swap some things out for homemade versions.
Week two signalled the start of a new section of wall, this time over by Scottigar. The week was finished off with helping the sheep owners at Lurand out with their punding and shearing on the southwest. It was my first lesson in how to shear a sheep, managing four, though there is a lot of room for improvement! Shearing is done with hand shears rather than clippers, as they are too easily blunted by sand from the shore in the fleece as well as rusting from the salt. Wool has been used on the island for at least 2000 years as weaving combs were found at the Broch of Burrian, an Iron Age Settlement. Drawing on some previous EMS skills I showed them how to trim the hooves of the ewes. Normally this isn’t required as they are worn down from being on the shore, but the ewes had been on grass since April so a few had grown a little bit and it was lovely to be able to give back some knowledge!
My third and final week brought the much anticipated punding of the whole island. Punding involves putting hurdles from the dyke down to the sea (so the tide has to be high enough for this to work) and then walking or running behind the sheep from another section to chase them into a pund just before the hurdles. It is a fickle job and they don’t flock like most sheep do, often running off on their own and doubling back to make the job harder. On Tuesday we were punding over by Westness and the final pund on Wednesday was by the Old Beacon and provided much entertainment running about after errant sheep before pitching in with the collective shearing effort. It was so humbling to see everyone coming together as a community and all helping out with the punding. It’s fantastic that the flock is still communally managed by the Sheep Court made up of sheep owners and islanders and that punding is such a gathering together event of so many families and people. It is a shame that there are not more systems with a similar ethos to this still going and it was fascinating from a veterinary perspective to get to grips with the management of the sheep. During this week I was also invited out by the Bird Observatory to watch ringing, starting at 11.30pm. I wasn’t sure what to expect having not had much experience of this, but it opened up this whole new world of bird life to me that I was utterly enthralled by! Their knowledge and care was amazing to see and I have departed with a new found love of birds.
Siân’s work on the dyke in preserving this amazing breed is incredible and I’m incredibly grateful to her for allowing me to play a small role in this. Thanks also to all the wonderful people of North Ronaldsay who showed me so much humour and generosity. Being part of your community for a few weeks and learning what it is like to live somewhere like North Ronaldsay, (which is not without its hardships), was humbling and insightful. A final message of love to the pet lambs Norbert and Fang and all the other North Ronaldsay sheep, you were so worth the journey to this beautiful, wild, far-flung corner of Orkney and a note of encouragement to anyone thinking of doing something slightly unusual with their pre-clinical EMS, I’d highly recommend it!
Elizabeth Stephenson