Why Icelandic Sheep?
Hillyard Farms is a small family run farm located in the piedmont of North Carolina. After a great deal of research, a lot of telephone calls and emails to shepherds across the country, we decided to add Icelandic sheep to our farm. Choosing Icelandic sheep over the multitude of other breeds was not difficult. As one of the world’s oldest and purest breed of sheep, they have survived centuries by being a highly efficient animal. Known as a triple purpose sheep they have provided the shepherd with meat for the dinner table, fiber to clothe their family and milk for their children. They are a cold hardy, disease resistant sheep that is able to be pasture raised without additional feed supplements. Icelandic sheep are great mothers which is a plus since they are genetically predisposed to multiple births which may result in triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets or sextuplets. Ultrasounds performed during the early stages of pregnancy allow us to monitor and maximize our ewes’ nutrition, their health and their lamb’s health.
Ultimately what led us to choose Icelandics was their premium fleece. Their fleece is dual coated consisting of the thel, a fine, soft undercoat and the tog, a longer, coarser outer coat. The average fleece weighs 4-7 lbs, is low in lanolin and therefore has less weight loss when washed then other breeds. Icelandics are typically sheared twice a year with the fall fleece being very soft and clean. Icelandic sheep offer a wide variety of base colors and color combinations. The depth of the color may range from a soft gray to black, white to cream to apricot and more. The undercoat is luxurious with a spinning count of 64-70, a micron count of 19-22 with a length of 2-4 inches. The outer coat is true wool, not guard hair and has a spinning count of 56-60, micron count of 27-30 and may be 6-8 inches in length. These two coats may be used together or separately for handspinning, knitting, weaving and felting. These qualities make Icelandic fleece a truly premium wool.
So what have we learned in having Icelandic sheep on our farm? Icelandics are a truly wonderful breed of sheep. Their fleece exceeds all expectations in the color and quality. They are easy keepers (horse owners will understand this), have dispositions and personalities as different as each member of a family, they frequently keep us laughing and are as a whole an amazing animal. We practice pasture management to minimize introducing chemicals into their environment or medication into their system. We heavily skirt our fleeces, hand remove all vegetable matter, wash and card all our wool on site. For additional information about Icelandic sheep visit Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America at www.isbona.com. 
