Icelandic

The flock was Iceland's economy for eleven centuries, and it peaked at about 891,000 sheep in 1978.

One strain, the Leadersheep, kept for leading flocks rather than feeding people, was defined as a separate breed in 2017; what sells as Icelandic here is the main population.

Wikipedia puts rams at 201 to 220 pounds and ewes at 150 to 161.

The fleece is double coated, with a long coarse outer tog and a fine insulating thel, and the two can be separated or spun together as lopi. The tog runs 28 to 40 microns at six to eight inches; the thel 19 to 22 microns. That structure is unusual and is why handspinners seek them out.

They are prolific: in one study 78 percent of births were twins and about 14 percent triplets, and the Thoka gene line carries higher rates still.

They are independent-minded and hard on fences, which changes both your handling and your infrastructure.

They do not need pampering; they need containing.

They are genuinely triple purpose, giving meat, wool and milk, and in Iceland the meat leads.

The milking is historical rather than commercial in North America, but the trait is real; Icelanders milked ewes for centuries.

Pasture and browse, with protein when it counts. Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America describes a feed-efficient breed that lived a thousand years in Iceland on pasture and hay; in North America most ewe lambs get some protein supplement, especially when pregnant. Oklahoma State University adds that they spread out and browse, which makes them good users of sparse pasture.

They adapt to most management plans, from grass-based farms that rarely feed grain to dry lots fed daily. Cold is not a concern: left unshorn for the winter, the breed is very cold hardy.

Many producers shear twice a year: at or around the natural wool break in late winter or spring, and again in the fall before the sheep go on hay. The fall-shorn fleeces are very soft and clean.

The trade is size. Icelandic lambs finish small by commercial standards, and no management fixes that; you sell into markets that value the breed, not the scale.

Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America is the breed organization here and facilitates registration and pedigrees. Ask about fleece color genetics and horn status when you buy; both vary, and both matter to what you are producing.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.