Icelandic Sheep are a domestic North European breed of midsize sheep, it is one of the oldest pure breed of sheep, it is truly a triple purpose breed although in Iceland they are bred primarily for meat. Breeders in US find the wool a delight to spin and also felt with; others have explored the breed for milk and cheese; the breed is known for its naturally short fluke shaped tale, they lack hair on their legs and face. The breed may be polled or horned. The breed is extremely tolerant of the cold and has a dual coat consisting of the thel (undercoat) and the tog the ends. Although the breed is very old it is relatively new to the US (not unlike the Gypsy Horses) . It was thru the hard work of several people that the first of the breed were imported thru Canada by Jager Farms in 1985. Wool & Withers Farm was fortunate enough to acquire some lovely breeding stock to start our small flock back in 2011. As breeders it is our focus to breed for resistance to parasites thus to avoid overuse of dewormers as much as possible. To keep the herd healthy (as our acreage is limited) we keep the herd small and rotate between grazing areas. We routinely screen our livestock using FAMACHA method for anemia and catalog the sheep that appear to be more hardy and resistant to parasites to foster that in the next generation. We breed primarily for meat on our farm. The meat of Icelandic lamb is quite unique in that it lacks the truly "gamey" flavor other breeds tend to have, sweet and tender. The other nice aspect of the breed is the tremendous variation in colors and patterns in the wool and also that the ewes tend to come into season during the fall to winter months, thus it is quite possible to pasture them together all summer without worry of a winter baby.
