Breed Description and History

ICELAND...a land of great contrasts. It's northern side, just within the arctic circle, is cold and forbidding.  The south facing side of the island is cool and wet, sunny days experience frequent mists and showers, but it is warmer than expected because of the still-remaining influence of the Gulf Stream.      One of the most geologically active sites in the world, volcanic events occasionally endanger towns and valuable

pastureland.  The environment is very fragile, hikers are asked to not wander from the paths, and what little topsoil exists is easily eroded away.  Nevertheless, the Norwegian farmers who settled the island in 874 A.D. to escape persecution in their homeland, considered it the gem of the north and named it Iceland to misdirect & discourage settlement by competing wayfarers.      The Viking settlers brought their wives and cattle with them but it was their sheep in particular that made their continued existence on the island possible...but with no natural

predators to curb the flock's increasing  numbers, the forests were denuded and the grasslands overgrazed.  The harsh conditions, coupled with the heavy demands of the farmers over the last 1100 years have forced the Icelandic sheep to rapidly develop to it's present remarkable level of hardiness.      Thought to be the oldest and purest domesticated breed, the Icelandic sheep is firmly establishing itself as

today's preeminent multiple use breed.  Genetically, the Icelandic sheep is the same today as it was when the Norwegian farmers brought them to the island in the 9th and 10th centuries.       The Icelandic sheep is of the North European Short-Tailed type and is related to the Finnsheep, Romanov, Shetland, Spelsau, and others. (See more on this! www.rala.is/beta/mapnord.htm)       The Icelandic is considered a medium sized sheep, the rams weighing 190-220 lbs.,and the ewes from 130-160 lbs.      The Icelandic sheep is very intelligent, alert, and fast on their feet.  They are like goats in that they eat brush and wild grasses as well as pasture forage.  They are good mothers and very protective of their lambs, always watching every intruder that enters the pasture.  They are usually very aggressive with other breeds of sheep, dominating is most situations, but can be very friendly & accepting of their shepherd.      They have a long life expectancy (up to 14 years), and after the first year are very

reliable twinners, continuing to bear twins up to about the age of 13, when a single lamb may be born.      The ewes come into heat in late October, continuing through April.  The rams develop a strong odor a couple weeks earlier which stimulates the ewes into heat.  The lambs are born about 5 days earlier than "modern" sheep (avg. 7 lbs), and are very vigorous, so there are few lambing problems.

The lambing rate averages 170-180%, but in the 1950's a ewe named "Thoka" (meaning 'Fog') was found to have substantially more lambs than usual, and her offspring produced 2.14 to 3.4 ova per cycle instead of the normal 1.59 to 2.2 ova, a statistically significant increase.  The "Thoka"gene as it came to be called, was carefully propogated, and Thoka gene carriers have produced as many as 6 lambs at one birthing, but Iceland's agricultural advisors suggest, and most shepherds in North America  generally strive just for reliable twinning.      Until about 80 years ago, winter hay was always in short supply because of the short summers with highly unpredictable weather.  Modern haymaking equipment was scarce and owned only by the wealthy, so each ewe was put on a controlled starvation diet having the equivalent of only 2 bales of hay for the entire winter, plus whatever they could scrape from under the snow.  By spring, the ewes were a bag of bones, but they were still expected to twin and provide milk for the farmer and his family.  (A few hundred years ago, to bear a single lamb the first breeding season was forgivable, but they'd better twin the next breeding season or they might have been culled!)

Icelandic weather does not allow for grain supple- mentation, so the lambs in the summer are raised on grass alone, averaging 3/4 lb. increase per day, and are slaughtered right off the pastures when the grass stops growing in the fall.  However the ewes in Iceland as of late are being fed fishmeal in addition to their now-plentiful hay allotment, and are being treated to heated and insulated barns!       Being low and broad, the Icelandic has an excellent meat conformation, with a light bone structure, the carcass dressing out to about 40%.  The meat is light-flavored and tender, and served in the world's finest restaurants.

4 month old moorit ewelamb.

Capable of fairly high milk production, the Icelandic sheep is more hardy than the rather fragile East Fresian dairy sheep and considerably less expensive.  The Icelandic's milk is used to make hard cheeses and naturally sweet yogurts of the highest quality.

BREED DESCRIPTION & HISTORY, CON'T