Rough Forage Icelandic Sheep
I have been learning and growing alongside an evolving flock of registered, horned Icelandic sheep since 2013-- initially farming and grazing in Vermont, now located in far Downeast Maine. I appreciate Icelandic sheep for their beauty, practicality, and triple purpose traits, and aim to cultivate a flock notable for fiber, meat, and milk production. I hold my sheep in reverence, and am inspired by their gentle, rugged magic and grounded by their seasonal rhythms. I aim to steward them in a way that is reflective of their natural environment and behaviors, moving them rotationally through field and forest as they graze. This allows the flock to nourish themselves selectively while simultaneously enriching the soils. I am passionate about the quality and characteristics of my sheep, and I am excited to have a selection of Icelandic lambs and adults available to new or established shepherds as breeding stock this season.
Breeding Selection
I select for large framed, well conformed sheep with lovely fleeces, consistent parasite resistance, and breed to encourage wide horn sets. My foundation flock has strong A.I. genetics and dairy lines. I hand milk the ewes when possible for soap and personal cheesemaking, and retain ewes who are milky with good udder conformation and who display ease of lambing and strong mothering instincts. I spend time interacting with the flock, and my sheep are sociable and used to being handled. I am building the flock annually, carefully adding diverse genetics with an intent to offer solid, quality sheep as breeding stock, to harvest large lambs off pasture, and to provide myself and my community with premium fiber, nutritious lamb, increased soil fertility and resiliency, and beautiful sheepskins in a range of natural colors and patterns.
Practices.
The Rough Forage flock is 100% grass and forest foraged, accessing deciduous leaves, raspberry, evergreen, wildflowers, lichens, and more in addition to lush pastures. I supplement this diet with a mineral mix and wild foraged kelp and seaweed. In the spring, summer and fall the sheep move every 1 -3 days through a carefully planned and observed holistic rotational grazing system, and in the winter I feed out second cut hay. I I utilize the Icelandic sheeps’ ability to thrive on marginal forage while restoring rough pastures through intentional grazing practices, ultimately working towards sequestering carbon into the soil. I use herbal medicinals for treatment and prevention when possible in caring for the health of the flock, reserving chemical dewormers for use only when necessary. The sheep and lambs receive an annual CD+T vaccine. The flock is healthy with no history of CL, Johnes, OPP, or other illness. It is a scrapie compliant flock.