Icelandic sheep

This is Joash, one of our two yearling rams. He is a purebred Icelandic and although he looks mostly white, he is actually black with spotting. In Icelandic sheep, spots are always white and are controlled by a gene separate from the one which determines color - either black or moorit (brown). The color white is actually caused by a third gene which governs pattern - solid, white, gray, mouflon and badgerface. And that exhausts my knowledge on the subject. Click here to learn more.

We chose to raise Icelandic sheep for four basic reasons. The breed has been selected for over one thousand years to thrive on forage alone, they are beautiful, they have wonderful wool, and they taste great.

In Sheep! magazine, editor Nathan Griffith often discusses the wide variation in the flavor of lamb meat. This causes the commercial sheep industry untold problems when consumers who like the domestic leg of lamb they buy in the supermarket one week don't like it the next. It also explains why New Zealand lamb is gaining market share in the U.S.

None of this matters, though, to the smallholder who can sell lamb that always tastes the same to loyal customers with whom he has a relationship. In our case, we have mild tasting lamb to offer. If a potential customer wants a stronger flavored lamb I will gladly direct her to someone who raises a different breed. This is the beauty of local food production and sales and one of the things we look forward to as we grow Liberty Farm.

The fact that these sheep are beautiful to us as well is not to be downplayed. While we don't necessarily want to place form over function, beauty is something that we strive for here. The ultimate beauty, for me, will be to see the various parts of this farm functioning holistically in a system that is greater than the sum of its parts.

weather today: 17°F/35°F cloudy

tags: Icelandic sheep, lamb, local food