The small island of North Ronaldsay, with less than 70 year-round inhabitants, is home to one of the most ancient sheep breeds in the world.
PHOTO BY JAMIE HOUSE
In a time when cattle were king, the North Ronaldsay islanders sequestered their lesser sheep to the shoreline by building a 13 mile Sheepdyke around the island’s entire perimeter. Since the Sheepdyke’s construction in 1831, these wily, amazing sheep have risen to the challenge and figured out how to survive without a ready supply of grass. To maintain the Sheepdyke and celebrate the sheep, the islanders host an annual week long party called SheepFest. Sheepfest not only unites the community, it welcomes outsiders to help repair the Sheepdyke and indulge in the wonders and eccentricities of Orkney culture.
ISLAND MYTHOLOGY
OrkneyMythology
The Orkney Islands are a place of mystery and intrigue, not far from where these special sheep reside is the even smaller island of Eynhallow - a misty, hauntingly beautiful place uninhabited since 1851. Eynhallow is thought to be the invisible island of Hildaland made famous in Orkney mythology for being the summer home of the Finfolk-dark and frightening shape-shifting beings.
PHOTO BY JAMIE HOUSE
According to Orkney legend, the Finfolk lurk around the islands during the summer months, waiting to kidnap unsuspecting fishermen. In the winter months, they reside in their primary home -a bioluminescent glowing town at the bottom of the sea known as Finfolkaheem. While some believe this is only a legend conjured as a coping mechanism for the loss of fishermen at sea, others are certain the Finfolk are real.
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JAMIE HOUSE
THE SHEEP
The North Ronaldsay sheep are considered a rare, ancient short-tailed breed whose origins date back to Neolithic times more than 5000 years ago. Due to the remoteness of their island home, this ancient breed of sheep has not cross-bred or had any genetic interference from other breeds.
PHOTO BY JAMIE HOUSE
Relegated to the seashore, the roughly 2500 sheep of North Ronaldsay have adapted remarkably well to their rich algal fare. In fact, their gut microflora have even evolved to extract hard-to-access algal copper. The sheep are now so adept at copper extraction that eating too much grass with its more readily available copper, can make them sick.
One study found that sheep fed seaweed for two years maintained their weight better in the winter plus increased their wool production (Algae and Seaweed by Mohammed Assad Elsayed Abdelrahman, 2014). One wonders if the wool of these seaweed eating sheep holds special properties. It certainly smells wonderful.
ISLAND ECOSYSTEM
PHOTO BY JAMIE HOUSE
THE MILL
Just a small amount of local wool is processed in the mill each year making it a very prized material.
“It’s these phenomenal sheep with their seaweed diet and their wool that has really put North Ronaldsay on the map and made this tiny little island globally famous. I’d say it’s a major part of the islanders’ identity now. ”
TIERNEY THYS
TRADITIONS/ COMMUNITY
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JAMIE HOUSE
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“ Sheepfest attracts quite an eclectic group of kindred souls--people eager to put in hard labor, unruffled by wet weather and happy to help protect the island’s rich history and its unique sheep. It is not easy to get to this remote corner of the world, but it’s so worth the effort. Such a warm and welcoming community.”
TIERNEY THYS
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TIERNEY THYS
All Sheepfest volunteers are invited to play in the Islanders vs Visitors football match and later, learn traditional Cèilidh dances with the locals.
FUTURE OF THE ISLAND
“According to the islanders, the maintenance of this special Sheepdyke and the management of the sheep represents one of the last remnants of an old communal system of agriculture in Orkney. . . The sheep are as unique as their wool, and only exist in their true and natural form in Orkney's Ultima Thule, the sea swept Island of North Ronaldsay.’”
TIERNEY THYS
PHOTO BY TIERNEY THYS
ClimateChange
As sea levels rise with global warming, some of the world’s oldest archeological sites located on these islands are in danger as the coasts erode at ever quickening rates. More frequent and intense storms are also changing agriculture patterns, making crop output more unpredictable.
With this in mind, the people of the Orkney Islands have been implementing more renewable energy practices like wind, solar and wave power to wean themselves off fossil fuels and become increasingly more self-reliant. And the seaweed eating sheep may be helping the islanders’ cause.
Forty percent of global methane (CH4) comes from livestock and agricultural practices. Being thirty times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric warmth, CH4 is a huge problem. Inspired by the sheep of North Ronaldsay, researchers elsewhere found that adding some seaweeds, e.g. Asparagopsis taxiformis, into livestock feed reduced CH4 emissions by more than 80 percent!* (Turns out that seaweed bromoform interferes with a gut enzyme that makes methane.) That’s a huge beneficial effect!
“These wild and woolly, wonderful, seaweed-eating sheep of the Island of North Ronaldsay make for a great case study. Their methane emissions have yet to be formally measured but I certainly wouldn’t put it past them to be doing their part to combat climate change!”
TIERNEY THYS
*HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0247820
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