There has been a rise of interest in Icelandics so I thought this might be a good way to answer many of the questions I receive in an informal, conversational format. I’ve pulled from many of the emails I’ve written and compiled them below. My intention is to share our ideas and methods in order to help other farms and shepherds decide if our sheep are a good fit for them. Hopefully this Q&A format can help.
What do you breed for?
This question makes me smile because it’s evolved over the years. If I start from the beginning, the answer is: sheep that live! Despite earlier experiences raising sheep out West, there was a learning curve to raising Icelandics in the heat and humidity of the Midwest. Enemy #1 was the barberpole and I had zero experience with it.
1. So the first priority became raising sheep with strong parasite resistance. When I say ‘parasite resistance’ I am not referring to ‘parasite resilience’. Studies show that 80% of a pasture’s worm load is being deposited by 20% of the flock. What this means is that some sheep carry a higher worm burden than others. Routine fecals was the best way to determine this. My experience is that these sheep will need a lot of assistance or they will just consistently lag a little. Each shepherd needs to determine how much ‘hand-holding’ they are comfortable with. If you only have __ sheep, and they are meeting your expectations in your area(s) of focus, and you don’t mind providing the extra support required, then there isn’t a problem. Once our flock grew larger then 25 sheep I realized I had to readjust my expectations. I had to make tough choices on sheep that required extra assistance or too much intervention because it took too much time away from other tasks. My goal was to create a flock that required minimal chemical intervention. My goal was to raise a flock where only 15% of adults and lambs, in a flock of 65, required deworming every summer. This was achieved with more tough decisions, but just as importantly by improving management strategies: rotational grazing, apple cider vinegar, timely use of COWPs, bi-monthly FAMACHA checks from June-Sept, mineral boluses, and appropriate protein supplementation (alfalfa pellets) for lagging lactating mothers. I feel strongly that the parasite exposure that a lamb undergoes the first summer affects their lifelong resistance. It’s a tricky balance to maintain! It comes with real risk when you’re just starting out (you can lose your lambs and I don’t recommend it for new shepherds) but by not deworming the first summer it sets the sheep up for stronger lifelong resistance. In conclusion, our first priority was strong parasite resistance, or what we called, sheep that live.
2. Once we had a strong, hardy flock capable of coping with heat, humidity and parasites our focus was on producing grass fed lamb for ourselves and others. This meant shifting our focus to carcass size and muscling. As Icelandics have continued to be bred in the US many of them have shrunk in size. I theorize that this is due to the niche market that surrounds them as well as their value as fiber and milk sheep. Unlike the British meat breeds and other domestic breeds raised solely for meat, Icelandics have had a much wider appeal. Flocks have been kept for numerous reasons and as a result many Icelandic sheep that did fit breed standards were used for breeding stock. In Iceland, rams are 200+ lbs and ewes 150+ lbs. Iceland is turning out their lambs for the summer and collecting them in five months at weights of 70-140 lbs. We were struggling to get our lambs to 70 lbs at 5 months and my objective was to remedy this. After speaking to a number of US shepherds and using social media to ask questions of Icelandic shepherds, I set out to acquire larger breeding stock with closer ties to AI (artificial insemination) done with Icelandic rams. I knew I wanted to select for ewes who raised fast growing lambs. I added a digital scale weight to my bi-monthly FAMACHA checks and began to use the data to make educated flock management decisions. Slowly I started to see patterns and recognize strong lines in our flock. Our flock is producing market lambs that typically range between 70-90 lbs in 5- 5 1/2 months. My goal is 90-100 lbs but we aren’t there yet. I do see weights plateau in August, which is when the ewes begin to naturally wean their lambs. This indicates to me that the fault lies in depleted pastures by the end of the summer. I mention this only because it demonstrates how helpful data can be. We are working to improve the protein level and the diversity of our pastures. We are also doing more to utilize electro-netting to allow the sheep to forage in the woods when their fleece length allows. I feel foraging is essential to their overall health if it’s an option for your farm. In conclusion, second priority was meat and carcass size.
3. As the ewe number surpassed twenty, my third priority became mothering instincts. When we had a few ewes lambing, the time spent on our hands and knees helping a lamb nurse from a mother that wouldn’t stand wasn’t a big deal. With larger numbers, this lost its charm quickly as did even the thought of a bottle baby. (Again, take this all within your context. A bottle baby, with a responsible, preferably homeschooled, middle schooler can be an amazing experience, but most the time bottle babies are tough and I am not a proponent. Our set up allows us to bring any mother or lamb into the barn, but unless it’s a first time mother, we do not bring our sheep in at night. This requires a high level of aptitude from the mother. A good mother in our flock is capable of pasture lambing and cleaning up and feeding her lambs. We do checks throughout lambing and can usually tell when a ewe is 12-24 hours out and if there is foul weather we will bring her in, but otherwise we expect a lot from our ewes. A solid, dependable ewe is a treasure. Mothering instincts are key to this and we’ve found them to be inherited.
4. Temperament should possibly be right up there with ‘staying alive’. We started our flock when our children were in elementary school. We’ve always had horned Icelandics and we’ve always involved our children heavily. A few traits come to mind when I consider our flock. First, rams that aren’t mean and that I can handle on my own. My husband travels frequently and I need to be able to bolus, drench, or doctor my rams. I like rams that can be handled easily. We make a point to give them their space during breeding season, and the rule of thumb never to turn your back on a ram is a good one, but I will not keep a ram that makes me nervous. Life is to short to be overly careful on your own farm. Another temperament requirement is that they listen. I’m not joking! I have to move my sheep routinely along our drive (far from any road) and I need sheep I can call using a bucket of alfalfa pellets and they’ll follow me to our destination. Biddability is different from friendliness. I don’t require them to want petting, just that they trust their shepherd and take direction. 90% of the time it works! Another temperament issue is hot wire fencing. I use a three strand ribbon electric fence for a small portion of our pasture. I will be the first to admit that it’s a bit flimsy, but my flock respects this fence. I taught them to use it years ago right after shearing and now despite thick lamb fleeces and no teaching, each year’s lambs follow the flock and they all respect it. A new mature ram ran right through it the first day I got him and I realized how teachable a flock truly is. Those three strands shouldn’t be keeping the flock in, but by selecting for sheep that respect that fence, that’s the flock that has developed. The same goes for thistle and poison ivy eating! You can slowly develop the flock you want. Ask breeders questions, even if they seem silly, in order to align your vision of a ‘dream flock’ with their management strategies. A good fit is when there is a lot of overlap. (FYI. I do not recommend three strand hot wire fence as a perimeter fence for Icelandics! Sheep wire fence or electronet is much safer and more reliable for containing the sheep and deterring predators).
5. Fleece was our next priority. Once we had hardy meat sheep with excellent mothering instincts and good temperaments, we wanted quality wool to sell as well as for our own use. Fiber was not something I had a background in, but my oldest daughter had a keen interest. She was the one to decide on Icelandics and in my eyes the founder of the flock. And she’d say fiber was the first goal, it certainly was her’s, but it took time to get to a point where we could focus on that. Fiber has been a constantly evolving goal. We are fortunate to live in an area with some of the best Icelandic fiber genetics in the country. The Midwest has been home to a couple of flocks that bred for fiber for 20 years. We’ve been fortunate to have these lines greatly benefit our flock. We have produced raw lamb fleeces, roving, yarn, and lopi. We’ve explored weaving, felting, knitting, crocheting, peg looming, dyeing and creating vegetarian fleeces. It’s been another revenue source, but it’s also created some great memories with my daughter. Fleece quality can vary dramatically between sheep. It’s also not just as simple as genetics, we’ve found minerals play an enormous role in raising fantastic fleece. For example, a summer without enough selenium led to coarser fleeces. Another without enough copper led to rusty looking fleeces. Pasture development also plays a big role in keeping fleeces weed and burr free up until shearing day. It’s been a year by year learning process, but each shearing gets better (we only use the fall shearing, in the Midwest a winter of feeding hay doesn’t leave a high quality spring fleece) and this year’s fleece was some of the cleanest we’ve ever had.
5. Flashy colors. I know it sounds frivolous but hear me out. We tan all our sheepskins and I’ve learned that the flashy sheepskins sell faster. I will admit that if I’m going to feed an animal all year long, I greatly prefer to like the way it looks in our pasture! A large flock of horned Icelandics, in full fleece with a staple length of 7-12”, in a myriad of colors, patterns and spots... it doesn’t get much prettier then that on a green pasture or a snow covered field.
So there it is, Firefly Hollow Farm breeds for: hardy, meat sheep, with excellent mothering instincts, good temperaments, and high quality fleeces in a myriad of flashy colors and patterns.
We purchase the genetics to strive for these goals and implement the management strategies to achieve them. It’s taken a lot of years, but we’re happy to talk ‘sheep’ with you if after reading this you feel Icelandics are a good fit for your farm.
(For those of you interested in the third purpose, milk, I will say that we have a ram with strong (Dancing Lamb) dairy lines, but we do not milk our sheep. We have ewes that have gone to farms that are milking them successfully, but these were shepherds with experience in milking. I do not want to mislead anyone. I can offer ewes with the genetics but I can only offer minimal mentoring in this area.)
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