Our Icelandic Sheep

How Sheep Came to the Homestead- The Real Story. Seriously.

I cannot stand sheep. One morning, I woke up and said, "I'm getting sheep." I argued with myself as I began the researching process. A friend suggested I focus my search on Shetlands or Icelandics. So I did, and I found that Icelandic sheep worked better with my goals. So I looked for and found breeders in the state of Washington.

I purchased my first starter flock from a farm near Colville in 2015, and have been learning about shepherding ever since. Now I cannot imagine life without sheep.

Why Icelandic Sheep?

History

Ancestors of the Icelandic Sheep first arrived in Iceland with the Vikings during the 10th and 11th centuries. Since Iceland has very strict laws concerning the import and export of animals, the Icelandic Sheep is genetically unchanged since its arrival.

For years, the only Icelandic sheep in North America were descended from some 40 sheep that arrived in 2 shipments. Iceland closed its borders after the second shipment arrived, so new genetics were unavailable until AI became more feasible.

Primitive Sheep

Icelandic Sheep have a long productive lifespan, with ewes potentially producing into their early teens. They also have outstanding personalities. They can also be horned or polled (hornless).

As a primitive breed, Icelandics are considered a triple purpose breed. We select our breeding flock based on personality, horn conformation, meat conformation, wool quality, and milkiness.

Wool/Fiber

Icelandics can easily grow 18 inches of fleece a year, with shearing occuring fall and spring.

They typically possess a primitive double coat consisting of a coarse guard hair, tog, and a soft inner layer, thel. Tog is good for non-clothing items, such as sails or rope. Thel is good for next-to-the-skin garments. Lopi is made by spinning the two coats together and is traditionally used for sweaters.

Icelandic sheep also shed. In the spring, they lose their coats in a process called 'rooing'.

Meat and Milk

It all goes back to primitive mountain sheep.

Icelandic ewes are good milk producers, to the point where they can easily raise triplets. Ewes at the high end of the production scale can produce almost a gallon of milk per day. Our excess milk goes in the freezer in case of bum lambs in the future.

The meat from an Icelandic Sheep is considered 'gourmet'. Because of their mountainous origins and the lean quality of their meat even older sheep do not taste like mutton.

The meat and milk from sheep is said to be healthier than that from cows.

Leadersheep

Icelandic Sheep fall into One of Two Categories

The first category is meat sheep. All of our sheep carry these genetics.

The Second category is Leadersheep. As their name suggests, Leadersheep tend to be, well, Leaders. The other sheep instinctively follow them. Leadersheep are tuned in to their surroundings and tend to be more aware of threats either from weather or predators. They usually have single lambs.

Most of our flock carries Leadersheep genetics. Most leadersheep in America are diluted down with no full leadersheep found outside of Iceland.

Many stories can be found on leadersheep, too many to tell in this brief overview. A good documentary is on youtube; easily found by searching for leadersheep there.

Color Genetics

In Brief

The 2 colors in the Icelandic world are black (dominant) and morrit (brown) (recessive).

The 6 patterns, in order of dominance, are: White (think "Absence of Color"), Single Gene Gray Mouflon (SGGM), Gray, Mouflon, Badgerface, and Solid.

SGGM, Gray, Mouflon and Badgerface are what is termed "co-dominant", meaning that any 2 of these patterns can be co-expressed (with the pattern overlap, it is unclear if SGGM and Mouflon can be co-expressed).

Spotting is another color variation in the breed. Considered a recessive trait, spotting can appear with any pattern and is defined as any white that falls outside of pattern specifications. A Solid, Spotted, Morrit sheep can only throw solid, spotting, and morrit.

At this time, we have both colors, all 6 patterns, and spotting in our flock.