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Volume 4, Number 4 Fall 2000
Editor, Kathy Hayes
Icelandic Sheep as a Dairy Animal
Susan Mongold
History
Icelandic Sheep have been used for the main dairy animal in Iceland and known as the poor
mans cow for 1000 years. Not until the 1940’s did this change with the advent of
mechanized haying in Iceland, which allowed enough hay to be harvested to use cows as the
primary dairy animal. Up until that point in time all haying was done by hand. Haying
season was very short and frequent rain was always a problem. Only rich farmers could
afford to put up enough hay with hired labor to keep a cow. So the Icelandic sheep was the
main dairy animal for most farms. The sheep were expected to winter over on the equivalent
of 2 square hay bales, the fat on their backs and winter grazing when conditions were
suitable.
Lambing took place in May and June and was timed for warmer weather and the emergence
of grass. Sometimes a ewe was milked out before she lambed and this watery fluid was used
to make glue that was used in bookbinding, woodworking and made into glazes and ink. The
first milk or colostrum was usually left for the lambs. If an excellent milker had more
than her lamb needed then the colostrum was made into custard.
At 2 weeks of age the lambs started the weaning process by corralling the ewes in the
evening about 6PM. The lambs were separated from the ewes and put in a separate shelter
for the night and the ewes were again let out in the care of the shepherd to graze all
night. In the morning at 6AM the ewes were corralled and milked out. After milking, the
lambs and ewes were reunited to spend the day together.
This process went on for 4 to 6 weeks until the lambs were mature enough to be fully
weaned. At this time the male lambs were castrated and driven up into the mountains or to
inland common pastures along with the horses and other non-milking stock. The cows
and ewes that were being milked were kept behind. The ewes were then milked 2 to 3 times a
day and most gave a liter. Good milkers gave 2 or even 3 liters. The milk was used
to make butter, cheese or skyr, which is a semi-soft cheese similar to thick yogurt mixed
with cream cheese. The last milkings before the ewe was dried up was boiled down into a
thick substance. In some districts, the farmers would establish shelters at the upper
reaches of valleys or on the edge of moors, which in essence were summer dairies. The
usual set up included 3 buildings: a dwelling, a milk house and a summer kitchen. The
shepherd, a milkmaid and a teenage girl who would help with the milking and cheese and
butter-making occupied these shelters. These summer dairies were located near summer
pastures and eliminated the need for long trekking to tend the stock. This also kept
the stock away from the home pastures, which were used exclusively for hay
production.
Today
There is growing interest in establishing small farmer owned sheep dairies.
The lucrative sheep cheese market in the USA has fueled interest in these specialty
farm enterprises. Sheep milk is high in fat and dissolved solids which are what is needed
to make excellent, high yielding cheese from relatively small amounts of milk.
Sheep milk is also being made into very profitable yogurt, which is velvety smooth,
creamy and naturally sweet. It needs no sweetener or fruit to make it palatable. It is a
desert quality dairy product.
The problem is to find excellent milking stock that is both hardy and has an excellent
yield of milk for 180 days. Until now the leading milking sheep breed was the East
Friesian which has been selected for high milk production. Unfortunately the breed is not
hardy and the lambs are frail and have a low survival rate. The East Friesians also need
inputs of grain in order to produce high milk yields. Since grain is the biggest cost in
livestock raising, animals that need grain show lower profits. Icelandic sheep on
the other hand are a hardy grass based breed that produces high yields of milk on grass
alone. Animals that can thrive on forage alone bring higher profits to their shepherd.
Icelandic sheep are reliable twinners and have vigorous lambs that thrive. In addition
their fleeces bring top dollar as specialty wool. Their meat is known world wide as
the best lamb for flavor, texture and tenderness.
For this reason, dairy sheep folks are taking a serious look at the first Icelandic
sheep dairy in the USA, True North Farm. www.truenorthfarm.com In their second year, they
will be in full production with a very young flock this year. If you want sheep that milk
for dairy purposes for yourself, for a home business or to raise market lambs, try
Icelandic. This is the low cost, hardy vigorous productive and profitable breed.
Here on the Tongue River Farm our lambs gain at the rate of three quarters to one pound
a day on mothers milk and grass/clover alone. No grain is fed to the ewe or lambs. Growth
this fast is the product of an excellent milk supply. We can supply milky breeding stock
from a diverse pool of bloodlines some of which are from semen imported from Iceland and
include the best sires from that country. This breed is milky and have udders that dairy
folks can fully appreciate.
This breed is milky and has udders that dairy folks appreciate. The sheep dairy
industry is looking for genetics to improve the udder shape, tea placement and capacity of
their dairy breeds. Most commercial sheep breeds have udders where the bottom of the udder
floor is below the teats, making the complete emptying of the udder difficult without the
intervention of lifting the udder by hand. The teat placement on these breeds is on the
side of the udder, (which makes attaching the milking equipment difficult) and there is
poor medial suspension. Media suspension ligaments support the udder and keep it from
dragging and becoming injured when full. Icelandics have udders similar to good dairy
goats with strong medial suspension, excellent teat placement, and wonderful capacious
elastic udders. This is just what the dairy sheep industry is looking for and indicates
milkiness.
Research from Iceland
The milk production of the ewes depends on many factors, the most important being the
quantity and the quality of forage intake. Also the grazing ewes generally have a higher
maintenance requirement than ewes fed indoors, especially under northern conditions,
because of the greater variation in the environmental temperature, exposure to wind and
rain and because of their greater mobility. (Icelandic ewes have to walk great distances
to harvest the sparse forage in Iceland.)
The Icelandic ewes are noted for good milking ability and longevity. A very limited
amount of information is, however, available on the milk production of the Icelandic ewe
during grazing. Limited studies covering a 3 year period have been done in zero grazing
experiments with ewes fed on grass from a cultivated mire, fertilized with different rates
of nitrogen and or calcium. In the 2-year study, ewes that started with a production of
2700 grams at 10 days into lactation, decreased production by 11 to 15 grams for each day
of the lactation period, which was 1500 at day 90. The difference in the quantity of milk
produced in different years was great and has not been explained. The quantity difference
is even greater than that found between ewes with singles and twins in earlier experiments
when fed indoors on hay and concentrates for approximately two weeks after parturition.
Limited studies are also available on the chemical composition of the milk of the
grazing ewe in Iceland. The average chemical composition in very limited samples from the
zero grazing experiments is:
29 July - protein 5.56%; fat 4.26%; lactose 5.22%
12 August - protein 4.99%; fat 4.95%; lactose 4.95%
3 September - protein 6.21%; fat 6.20%; lactose 4.88%
A few samples have been collected from ewes grazing on a dry mountain shrub land and on
lowland mire. There is not apparent difference in the samples except for the fat, which
was relatively high in the mountain sample: 8.5%
It can be speculated using experimental results from other countries, that during early
lactation, the milk production is relatively independent of the pasture condition, as the
ewes can mobilize their body reserves for energy and protein. This of course depends on
the condition of the ewes at parturition. After 4 to 6 weeks of lactation the ewes depend
entirely on the available herbage for their milk production.
Homestead milk production
Whether you are interested in a full-fledged sheep dairy business, some milk for your own
homestead cheese making, or genetics that will produce lambs (crossbred or purebred) that
will achieve fast growth on good forage, consider Icelandic sheep. Icelandic sheep can
turn grass into copious amounts of milk, lamb meat and high value naturally colored wool.
Small Dairy Publication/Resources
CreamLine is a voice for small dairies. This is excellent information for the small dairy
producer or homesteader interested in producing their own dairy products at home.
Subscriptions are $22/year. Send to CreamLine, P.O. Box 186, Willis, VA 24380
http://www.metalab.unc.edu/creamery has a wonderful list of small
dairy information and equipment sources.
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