We chose to add Icelandic sheep to our farm in 2004 because I really liked their wool and colors and the general look of them and they are different enough from the Jacobs but with many of the qualties I value in the Jacobs. I enjoy them because of their friendly and intelligent personalities, their good mothering abilities and beautiful wool.
I strive to breed registerable breeding stock with nice handspinning quality wool and good conformation from a meat standpoint. We also have some leadersheep genetics in our flock so we try to balance those qualities with the other more marketable features. Most of my ewes have very nice fleeces, but some are prized for their mothering or productive qualities more. I prefer horned sheep, but my one polled ewe is of good meat conformation and seem to produce more parasite resistant lambs compared to other individuals.
I’m still learning about these sheep. They are bright and interesting, but sometimes harder to raise than the extremely low-maintenance Jacobs. Some have difficulties with heat and lambs often need watched more carefully during worm season in the summer months. They love the cool weather though and many are very personable and visit me in the pasture. Generally, they are very good mothers with few lambing problems. The lambs are quick to get up and nurse and grow fast if I keep up with worming them. I absolutely love working with the lush fleeces they produce. I have not had trouble with mean rams, but lately I think the leadersheep genetics are helping me there as my senior ram is almost half leadersheep and is a very calm and well-behaved boy. His son, Grizz, is equally calm but more on the friendly and curious side.
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Hi,
glad to find your blog- we have Icelandics and I purchased a Jacob ram last year. Was second guessing that decission, not sure how the fleeces would turn out- as they are so different. Looks like it will be a good cross…..your sheep are very nice!
I keep Jacobs, too. Please explain “leadersheep”.
Leadersheep are a separately bred line of Icelandic sheep that were kept and bred more for their leader characterics than their meat/wool. They are supposed to lead the other sheep and some have been known to alert the shepherd to bad weather. They are prized for their intelligence and inclination to work with people. Sometimes they can be troublemakers though. Icelandic AI straws can be imported so that’s how we have some in the US. They need to have both the bloodlines and the behaviours to be considered real leadersheep. Most of the ones I have are not much more than 25% leader by pedigree, but they tend to be the more agreeable and people oriented, except for Silvia, who always seems suspicious of me. I have used Andromeda to help me lead break lambs by having them follow along with her. The purer ones tend to be taller and have a somewhat different look, but I can’t really tell mine apart by looking.
http://www.isbona.com/vol4no1win00.html
This is a really interesting article about leadersheep on the ISBONA website.