picture-perfect animals made us rouse ourselves, shake off The Blues,
and work to try and make our farm the perfect frame.
BUT FIRST (and HIGHLY recommended) I read everything I could
find about Icelandic sheep and how to care for them. Two of the finest
sources of information for me were The Lavender Fleece and Tongue
River Farms. I found both shepherds to be honest and thorough in
dispensing their accumulated knowledge. I also went to the Southram
Station website (links on the ISBONA site under "Resources") and read
everything I could about Iceland genetics, carcass grading, and overall
performance measurements. I learned about the AI Super Rams, and
read lots and lots of pedigrees (find these in the CLRC registry, also a
link on ISBONA). I went and looked at as many flocks of Icelandics
as I could reasonably drive to, and discovered that there's a lot of
variation in size and quality in the North American flocks. I went to a
Fibre Festival to see just what was involved in producing a marketable
fleece. I also learned about health issues; why breeders use
biosecurity to prevent such diseases as OPP, CL, and Scrapie. I also
found out that F1 generation lambs (those from an AI sire) can only be
sold into a flock that is registered with the Federal Scrapie Program.
Not all programs are created equal! Be sure you enroll your flock in the
voluntary certified program - the mandatory program does not count as
far as F1 offspring are concerned! I also learned that you must have
animals and be enrolled before you can bring an F1 animal home. This
meant that we had to get our flock started right away, and get all the
paperwork done so that I could bring in the bloodlines that I wanted.
goal was to have sheep on the farm to qualify for the Scrapie Program, I didn't
really care what we bought, as long as they had horns and were
registry-qualified. Carrie only had a few animals for sale, as she was
expanding her flock to accommodate her growing gourmet meat business.
From the ewes that she had available, we chose a black grey, a moorit grey,
and a set of twin lambs, moorit and moorit spotted. As it turns out, we did
much better than we had a right to, given the fact that I had yet to spend time
learning the difference between an average animal and a superior one (check
out "how does your flock compare" on The Lavender Fleece website). Our Fab
Four, though not quite Southram quality, are nice gals with bloodlines worth
keeping in the flock. One thing for sure - purchase the best animals you can
afford: You won't always be fortunate enough to find a "Carrie".
Remember, too, that breeding unimproved ewes to exceptional rams can bring
an average flock up to par in no time. We had tremendous results our first
season due for the most part to our foundation herdsires.
our farm into shape, three months before the balance of the flock was due to
arrive. Thirteen junk cars later, we realized that we had a titanic job on our
hands. No time to sit around and brood; no time for aches and pains, no time
to relax in front the tube; no time for sleeping late!!! The troops rallied, and
before we knew it, we were mowing burdock and pigweed, setting fence
posts, stretching woven wire, shoveling out barns, building loafing sheds, and
setting lots of bonfires (Buddys' speciality). Everyone in our family pitched
in to help make our Icelandic business a success: My husband, Tom,
provided so much muscle cleaning, constructing, loading, unloading, sheep
wrangling, and fence-stretching - he might not have been making money, but
he sure was working! Our oldest daughter, Heather, helped with painting,
marking fiberglass fence posts and designing these web pages. Her husband,
Pat, used his days off from the Marine Corp to help with fencing and brush
removal. Our oldest son, Evan, helped out with building materials and moral
support. Buddy is a partner in this enterprise, and he's going to be a shepherd,
whether he grows up or not! He has had hands-on in every project we've
undertaken to get our place back on its feet, and often beats us out the door in
the morning. It's not work if it's something you love. Our youngest daughter,
Kelsey, baby-sits for our grand daughters Aubrianna and Talia when
necessary, and keeps the house livable while we're mucking around in the
barn. Our youngest son, Tyler, is on weed patrol and fire-stirring duty, not to
mention handling the job of Step and Fetch It with good humor. Grandma
Jean (the silent one)keeps us going with great marketing ideas and infusions
of tax-deductible funds when necessary. She even taught me how to knit!
We have some friends who have come out and donated time to work on
fence and general clean-up: James Steele, weed-puller and general
de-construction expert, dug a 4'X4' hole by hand to find out why our water
was leaking, and calls several times a week to ask after "The Girls". Timmy
Worley, who can barely see a hand in front of his face, spent hours pounding
nails out of boards - all by feel. Thanks also goes to Roger Wills, his wife
Joyce, and his mother Doris for providing us with equipment, dinners, and
good solid companionship.
There is no way to measure the magic that having these sheep has brought
into our experience. Every person wants to feel like they're a part of
something bigger... If you let them, Icelandic sheep can SuperSize your life!