So Many Things to Love about Icelandic Sheep

- by Jennifer DeGroot, Big Oak Farm, Manitoba. Sponsors of our 2024 Breed of the Year

We have been raising Icelandic sheep on Big Oak Farm for nearly 10 years ago. During the decade we’ve shared with them we have come to deeply love and appreciate the many benefits of these wonderful animals. Icelandic sheep have kept our pastures healthy and grazed; we’ve been nourished by their delicious meat; we’ve milked them and made cheese from their milk; their manure is an essential ingredient of our thriving vegetable and flower gardens; and, their wool – in the clothing we’ve made from it - keeps us warm all winter long.

We arrived at the decision to raise Icelandic sheep in a curious way. My father-in-law, who’d wanted to raise interesting animals his whole life, offered to buy a small flock of sheep or goats for us. We were thrilled. He said the decision on what breed to get was up to us but he did quietly mention that if we were looking for a beautiful animal we should check out Icelandic sheep. So we did. And indeed we loved how they looked., were intrigued by their fibre (I’d knit with Icelandic Lopi for years), and became entranced by the amazing story of their arrival in North America.

Icelandic Sheep in North America

Icelandic sheep are relative newcomers to North America. The first sheep were imported from Iceland to Ontario by Icelandic Canadian Stefania Sveinbjarnardottir in 1985. Although Stefania had grown up in Reykavik, Iceland’s capital, like most Icelandic children she spent her summers on her grandparents’ sheep farm. Icelandic sheep are the only sheep in Iceland so these are the sheep she grew up with. They remain a strong part of Icelandic culture and outnumber the population of Iceland two to one. When Stefania and her Canadian husband decided to move “back to the land” she wanted sheep. After numerous challenges with commercial sheep she eventually decided to embark on the immensely challenging and controversial task of importing Icelandic sheep into Canada. She did two importations: 12 sheep in 1985 and 73 sheep in 1990. As a result of her efforts Stefania is known as the “Queen of Icelandic Sheep.” Her fascinating story is available on the Icelandic Sheep Breeders Association (ISBONA) website.

So how did my father-in-law, a rural Manitoba grain farmer, hear about a few interesting sheep on a small farm in eastern Ontario? Many years ago Shelagh Rogers interviewed Stefania on CBC’s Morningside. My father-in-law heard the interview and a few years later, on the only trip he ever made to eastern Canada, he took time to drive to Yeoman Farm and see the sheep, also helping sling hay bales with Stefania and her husband. And that is how, many years later, we too ended up raising Icelandic sheep.

For many years all sheep in North America were related to Stefania’s foundation flock. Our own flock is descended from them too as the farm we bought our original stock from, Little Creek Ranch, was one of the first to get Icelandic sheep in Canada. These days semen is exported from Iceland for AI breeding. In Canada, Biscornu Farm in Quebec breeds sheep from imported semen increasing the Canadian gene pool considerably.

An ancient breed

Icelandic sheep are known as possibly the oldest domesticated sheep in the world. They were first brought to Iceland from Norway in the 9th or 10th century as part of the European Short-Tail sheep group. They are perhaps the most pure sheep in the world as their genetics have remained unchanged for 1000 years.

Perhaps because of their ancient lineage, Icelandic sheep are not particularly flock-oriented. Each of our sheep has their own personality and preferences and they often do their own thing. Generally a ewe and her lambs graze together with each group remaining a short distance from the rest of the flock.

Icelandic sheep also have horns, although there is a polled line as well. We have not found horns to be intimidating. Rather they make excellent handles by which to grab them although we take care not to handle rams’ horns.

Triple Purpose & More

Icelandic sheep are a triple purpose breed: they produce meat, milk and wool. This makes them a perfect homestead animal. They are very well suited to the Manitoba climate as they do just fine in the cold and they do very well on pasture.

Meat

Icelandic lambs are fast-growing, feed-efficient and they require no grain. We usually butcher any unsold ram lambs when they are seven months old. Butcher weight is generally 40-50lbs. We had almost never eaten lamb in our lives before raising sheep so had nothing to judge it on. The first we ate was an older ram. We’d somehow come to the conclusion that ram meat should be reserved for dog food but being thrifty homesteaders we thought we’d try a little for ourselves first. Needless to say, the meat was delicious and none of it went to the dogs. Icelandic lamb is mild and lean and classified as gourmet. Our customers give us rave reviews.

Milk

We only milked our sheep one season but once we figured out the logistics of separating babies and moving the milking stand from paddock to paddock, the process was relatively straightforward and the cheese we made from the milk was outstanding. Sheep milk is exceptionally creamy and thus produces more cheese for the amount of milk than does cows’ milk. The milk felt like it was made to be turned into cheese.

Fibre

The Manitoba Lopi produced from our sheeps’ wool has been another surprise. Lopi is made up of the inner and outer coats (tog and thel) spun together loosely in a single ply. There is only one twist per inch. Lopi from Iceland is known to be quite course and rough, not usually worn right against the skin. Whereas the Lopi from our sheep is divinely soft. I’m not sure why it’s so different but it’s been a delightful discovery. Our Lopi, being a woolen spun fibre and thus made up of 90% air, is also exceptionally warm.

We shear our sheep twice a year. The spring shearing we generally do ourselves with hand shears as we can fairly easily follow the natural wool break. We tie their horns to a fence post and keep them standing. The spring coat is dirtier and as they get older, sometimes matted. But there is still much good wool in it particularly from younger animals. In September we hire a shearer to shear them again. This fleece is wonderfully clean and can be spun in the grease.

Pelts, Skulls and Tallow

We prefer to sell our sheep live as breeding stock. But out of respect for those we do need to butcher, we try to use as much of the animal as we can, not only their meat. We get their pelts processed into luxurious and beautiful lambskins. We also process their skulls which make unique home décor items. And we use their tallow to make shampoo bars.

Lambing

Over our nine years of lambing and 130 lambs born we have seen some complications. However, the usual scenario is waking up in the morning and greeting the new lambs born that night (often early in the morning). The vast majority of lambs are born without assistance. The average gestation for lambs is a few days shorter than other sheep, 142 days instead of 145. Lambs average 5-9lbs. They are vigorous at birth and within minutes are up and looking for a teat. Their moms, for the most part, are devoted and attentive. They lick the lambs off and encourage them to stand and start to nurse. They stay close to them in the pasture and look for them when they wander a little too far away.

But the best part of lambing Icelandic sheep is the fact that you never know what you will get. We have white sheep give birth to black and white spotted lambs, black sheep give birth to brown (moorit) lambs, and badger-face black and brown sheep give birth to white lambs. It’s always a surprise though a colourful ram does breed more colourful babies than a white one.

There is a coding system used to describe the colours and patterns of Icelandic sheep. Colour genetics are a complicated thing to learn and we can’t say we always get it right. But we make an effort and as a flock registered with the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation, we voluntarily provide each lamb we register a colour code as well as a number and name.

Minerals

There is one challenge to raising Icelandic sheep. Because they are still relatively new to North America and because they were raised on the mineral-rich volcanic ash soils of Iceland, their mineral needs are higher than the average sheep. They have particular needs for selenium and copper. We feed our sheep 2/3 sheep mineral and 1/3 goat mineral in order to keep their copper to a healthy level. We also feed them kelp which they love. For selenium we inject ewes with 1CC of selenium a month before lambing which is when we also vaccinate them. Within the first week of a lambs’ life we give him/her another ¼ CC of selenium/Vitamin E along with their Vitamin AD. We repeat this with ½ CC of SelE at six weeks when we vaccinate them. Inadequate mineral intake is the number one mistake made by new Icelandic shepherds. eLack of adequate minerals shows up most during lambing time when ewes do not get bred or give birth to weak or premature lambs. It can also cause white muscle disease which can show up at any time even with lots of minerals. We are always on the alert for it even though it has only shown up once.

We’ve never regretted the decision to raise Icelandic sheep. They are thoroughly integrated in Big Oak Farm and we can’t really imagine farming or living without them and the cycle they bring to our year. They are beautiful animals who provide us companionship and many other gifts.