Icelandic Genetics

Our flock is currently a mix of heritage breeds. Our older Ewes are mostly Arcott and Shetland crosses, with a few other breeds mixed in. We bred them for a few years to an Icelandic Ram. This gives us a mixture of colours, wool types, fine boned lambs, and some rams with horns. We kept our own replacement ram when we needed to revitalize the flock - A larger, white ram with Icelandic on his dad’s side.

As we have bred him to the other ewes in the flock, some of which share the same sire, we are finding a few unique traits coming through. Some of our white lambs have tan or grey spots. We get a mixture of soft tight-curled wool, sometimes mixed with the longer, hair-straight wool of the Icelandic. And this year, our first horned ewe!

What a surprise to have a ewe born with horn buds just like some of the ram lambs. We have a ewe or two with really small horn nubs, called scurs, but they will not grow to much. Several heritage breeds have horned ewes, including Shetland and Icelandic. It will be interesting to watch how this lamb grows, as she is surely one of the biggest at this