We started off with a little flock of three ewes and their three ewe lambs. The three ewes came originally from the Gaerllwyd flock; in addition their lambs had Bryser flock ancestry. The breeder had already put one of the ewes to his ram that autumn, and in the spring of 2013 this ewe gave us our first lamb, a ram, Tobermory (pictured below, with his mum, Beattie), who became one of our elder breeding rams, along with another, Kirkland, who came from the Glaisdale flock.
Now, in winter 2023, our flock numbers 18 – two rams aged between 2 and 7 years, two wethers, and nine ewes ranging in age from those born in 2012 to 2021. They are all registered with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. We now also have four ram lambs and one ewe lamb who are birth-notified with the RBST.
We like them for their strong and intelligent personalities, their self-sufficiency and even their innate distrust of human beings. As soon as two humans appear, they suspect that an attempt will be made to round them up – of which they take a dim view. Just one human can be tolerated, as this probably means extra rations.
There is nothing better than seeing Boreray lambs a few weeks old jumping on and off three-foot high tree trunks. They can certainly jump – anything less than a three-foot fence is no problem for a determined young Boreray running at speed!
