Meat
Soay
D tier
Soay sheep are a primitive feral type surviving on the St Kilda archipelago, small-bodied with naturally shedding fleeces and colours from moorit brown to black. They represent one of the most ancient northern European sheep forms still living with minimal modern selection for meat traits. Soay lamb and hogget are intensely flavoured, dark, and very lean—closer to wild game than supermarket lamb. Portions are small; cooks treat the meat like venison with careful basting or moist methods. Availability is tiny and mostly from conservation and research flocks.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Primitive sheep related to Soay stock inhabited Atlantic islands of Scotland.
Scientific study and managed populations on Hirta and mainland parks preserved the type.
Mainland breeding groups expanded under rare-breed and ecological research programmes.
Limited specialty meat from conservation grazers introduced Soay flavour to chefs seeking primitive breeds.