Faeroe Islands sheep, (30)

 

The Faeroe sheep are of ancient origin, probably from wild sheep that existed on the islands more than 1000 years ago. The breed has been kept in isolation on the islands and genetic influence from other breeds is meant to be minimal.  The sheep are short-tailed, mostly white (30%), black (30%) or grey (30%), with a high frequency of piebald animals. There is also some occurence of brown, black/brown mouflon, black/brown badgerface and lateral stripes. Most rams are horned and most ewes are polled. The wool is double coated and is used for knitting yarns. The greasy fleece weight is around 1 kg.  Adult wither height of rams is 80-85 cm and 70-80 cm of the ewes. The live weight of rams is 75-85 kg and of ewes is 45-50 kg. The main use of the sheep is for meat production. The mean litter size is 1.1 lambs at birth and 1.05 weaned. Mean carcass weight of lambs is 12.5 kg when slaughtered at the age of 4 months. The population size is around 70,000 adult sheep and stable (year 2000).


See also Breeds of Livestock:

Local name: Føroyskur seyður
References: Gunnar Bjarnason, FO 210 á Sandi, Faeroe Islands.
Photographs: Gunnar Bjarnason, FO 210 á Sandi, Faeroe Islands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Created by ThEP and EE Edited by Emma Eythorsdottir for the North SheD group.
Agricultural Research Institute of Iceland.