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About Icelandic Sheep
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| The Icelandic sheep is one of
the world's oldest and purest breeds of sheep. Throughout its 1100 years
of history, the Icelandic breed has been truly triple-purpose, treasured
for its meat, fiber and milk. The Icelandic breed is in the North European
short-tailed group of sheep, which exhibits a fluke-shaped, naturally
short tail. To ensure the continuing purity of the breed, tail docking an
Icelandic will disqualify it from being registered in North America.
Icelandics are a mid-sized breed with ewes averaging 130-150 pounds and
rams averaging 175-200 pounds. Conformation is generally short legged and
stocky. The face and legs are free of wool. The fleece is dual-coated and
comes in white as well as a range of browns, grays and blacks. There are
both horned and polled strains and the breed carries genes for four-horned
individuals. The breed is very cold hardy. |
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| Ewes are seasonal breeders,
coming into heat in late October. They will continue cycling until May if
not bred. There is a strain of ewes that will breed in the summer months
but it is uncommon. Rams are sexually active year round. Ram lambs can
start breeding at 5-6 months. Lambs mature early and ewe lambs commonly
lamb at 11-12 months of age. Icelandic ewes are bred as lambs and remain
productive until age 10 or longer. Prolificacy is quite good, on average
175-220%. Triplets are fairly common and the Icelandic ewe is capable of
nursing triplets without assistance. A gene has been found in the
Icelandic breed that causes multiple births of triplets, quads, quints and
occasionally even sextuplets if the ewe carries two copies of the gene.
One copy of the gene causes a milder increase in fertility resulting
primarily in a high rate of triplets. The "Thoka gene" as it is
called is named after the first ewe known to carry the gene. It is simular
to the Booroola gene in Merino. |
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| The lambs are born small and
lively after an average gestation of 142-144 days which is several days
shorter than the species average. Lambs are vigorous at birth, a trait
that has been shown to carry through in crossbreeding programs. The first
lamb born will commonly be up and nursing before the twin arrives.
Experienced mothers can have a lamb nursing even before it has gotten to
its' feet. Lambs are generally strong enough to suck out the wax plug and
are seldom lost to pneumonia. |
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| Due to their large rumens and
the selective pressures of their history in Iceland the breed is feed
efficient. The animals are cold hardy and have a strong reactive immune
system. The sheep have evolved 1,100 years under difficult farming
conditions in Iceland with a resultant sturdy and efficient constitution.
Iceland has very few sheep diseases and due to the strict measures of the
early Icelandic breeders here in North America, the national flock is very
clean. |
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| A defining quality of the
Icelandic breed is the ability to survive on grass and browse. Iceland is
not a grain producing country due to the climate and the breed has
survived through its thousand year history on pasture and hay. The ewes
are supplemented with fish meal when pregnant and most ewe lambs here in
North America are supplemented with some protein especially when pregnant.
On good grass, meat lambs can be slaughtered directly off the
pasture. |
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| The most eye-catching aspect
of the breed is the variation of colors and patterns. Genetically,
Icelandics have one of two base colors - either black or moorit (brown).
They can also exhibit 17 color pattern combinations, including white,
gray, mouflon, badgerface and solid. Individual sheep may also display
various shades of these colors/patterns, ranging from white, cream, light
gray, tan, caramel, milk chocolate, silver, dark chocolate, dark gray to
jet black. A spotting gene adds even more combinations with over 90
recognized and named patterns of white markings. |
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Meat
Production:
Though
famous throughout the world for wool production, the Icelandic breed is
predominately grown for meat in Iceland. Since the cool and wet climate
precludes the production of grain in Iceland, the breed has been selected
to bring the meat lambs to slaughter weight off of the summer pastures.
Icelandics are very adaptable and can be handled in a variety of
management plans. Here in North America they thrive on grass-based farms
where they are rarely fed grain, to dry-lot situations where they are fed
daily and all the management systems in between. Market lambs will start
to reach their ideal slaughter weights of 70-100 pounds at four to five
months. With continued access to quality graze the lambs can be
slaughtered directly off the grass all through the fall months. This has
positioned the Icelandic breed to become a leader in the move towards
grass-based farming. Natural and organic farmers are turning to the
Icelandic breed, enabling them to bypass completely the complications that
grain adds to their management plan. As meat consumers increasingly
recognize the health benefits of grass fed meats and as economic pressures
drive our farmers toward grass-based businesses, the genetics of the
Icelandic breed will become increasingly valuable to our sheep
industry. |
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| The Icelandic breed is
considered a mountain breed and historically mountain breeds have been
milder in flavor and leaner than the lowland breeds. The meat is indeed
very tender with a light flavor and is generally described as gourmet
meat. With the lighter, European style carcass, and the mild flavor,
Icelandic lamb can appeal to the palate of even those consumers who avow,
"They just don't like lamb." With the combination of the
economic and market advantages of grass fed farming and with the appeal of
the delicious flavor, the Icelandic breed is a natural for
direct-to-consumer marketing. |
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Fiber:
The
source of the world famous lopi yarn, the Icelandic produces a premium
fleece. The fleece is dual coated, with a fine, soft undercoat - the thel,
and a long, coarser outer coat called tog. The tog fiber with a spinning
count of 56-60 and a micron count of 27-30 grows to a length of 6 to 8
inches in six months. It is strong, water resistant, not unlike mohair,
and sheds off the rain and weather as well as dirt and hay chaff. Thel is
the soft downy undercoat, with a spinning count of 64-70 and a micron
count of 19-22, growing to a length of 3-4 inches. The thel provides the
loft for the outer coat and insulation for the sheep. Tog grows from the
primary hair follicles and the thel from the secondary follicles. Tog is a
true wool and is not a kemp or guard hair. The combination of the two
fibers on the sheep gives a superb protection from the cold and wet. |
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| Icelandic fleeces are open and
low in lanolin. The shrinkage is only 25-30% rather than the 50%
experienced with modern breeds. The average yearly fleece total weighs 4
to 7 pounds in the grease and is easily washed. Producers often shear
their Icelandics twice a year. This is due in part to the fact that
Icelandics have a natural shed in late winter for the rams generally and
in spring for the pregnant or lactating ewes. Shearing at or around the
time of the natural break is recommended to remove the "old"
coat before the "new" coat grows in. The sheep are sheared again
in the fall to harvest the fleeces before the animals go on hay for the
winter. These fall-shorn fleeces are very soft and clean and can bring a
premium price per pound. |
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| The two coats can be separated
for special projects or may be processed together. The traditional lopi is
a lightly spun blend of tog and thel. Thel is very soft and downy with
irregular crimp and can be used for baby garments and for the fine shawls
in the style of the Wedding Shawl. The versatility of the wool, the ease
of spinning and the wide variation of the tones and colors are a true
delight to handspinners and put Icelandic wool into the exotic or premium
category. It is also known as one of the best fleeces for felting, which
is fast gaining popularity in the craft community. |
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Milk:
The
Icelandic ewe was traditionally milked in Iceland as most farms could not
support the heavy forage needs of a milk cow. Many farms could only put up
enough hay for their ewe flock and perhaps their horse, so families turned
to the ewe's milk out of necessity. Farmstead cheeses and yogurts were
commonly produced. Here in North America, the Icelandic ewe is
increasingly catching the eye of the sheep dairy industry. The ewes are
very milky and train easily to the milking stand. They are starting to
record milking numbers that rival the more commonly known dairy sheep
breeds. Coupled with their feed efficiency, their healthy, lively lambs
and their cold hardiness, the Icelandic breed will be an exciting addition
to the sheep dairy industry. |
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Pelts:
The
pelt of the Icelandic sheep is beautiful and luxurious. Coming in a
delightful range of colors and with a rich soft handle, the pelts can
demand a good price. The relatively low number of follicles per square
millimeter, a count of 12 rather than the 53-87 of the merino, makes the
pelt soft and flexible. Traditionally the pelt market has been in the
fashion industry primarily for coats but increasingly the pelts are valued
as uniquely soft and beautiful sheepskin rugs. |
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Registration:
In
North America, Icelandic sheep are registered through the Canadian
Livestock Records Corporation known as the CLRC. Registrations can be done
via surface mail or electronically and requires tattooing the sheep in a
manner accepted by CLRC. There is a breed association in North America,
ISBONA, formed in 1996 for the education of the public and for the
education and fellowship of the Icelandic breeders. As defined by the
by-laws of ISBONA, the breed association recognizes the registry of
Icelandic sheep only through the CLRC. For more information, go to www.ISBONA.com. |
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