Starting out with Icelandic Sheep?

Any tips for starting out with Icelandic? Iv had goats but never sheep. Are they hard on fences? We have 2 acres available to pasture and I'm not sure if 6 for milking and wool would be under or over stocking it and if the cattle fencing that's currently up would be enough to keep them in safely. Google says we are good but I like hearing confirmation from people who have had on the ground experience  

It really depends on the kind of pasture. Is it irrigated? How good is the pasture (wet, dry, bushy, grassy, etc)?
By cattle fencing, do you mean some kind of wire mesh, or barbed wire? Additionally, what are they used to being penned with?

There is a unit of measurement that is used called Animal unit. 1 AU refers to 1000lb of animal per acre.

Like Elena mentioned, it really depends on the land. You would need a really good pasture to handle that amount of animals per acre. I have never kept sheep, but I've been told 500lb per acre is more reasonable if you don't have awesome pasture. If you use that measurement... and sheep are what like 150lb?... then six sheep might be a bit much for 2 acres.  Did my math wrong... six sheep on 2 acres would probably about right.

Based on my friend's set-up, having a way to cross fence the 2 acres into paddocks would give the grass recovery time and improve the situation. Cross fencing can be electric wire, or something portable, because if they break through, they won't be lost.

Nice to know, the pasture has been empty for quite a few years and is mostly filled with tall grass. No brush or I'd do goats personally. I have no clue how to tell the quality of the pasture but it's been mowed probably about once a year at least. Its a grid like fence, they used to use it to house bulls is my understanding so it's going to need some repairs. I think il start with 4 to 5 sheep just to keep it hopfuly understocked. Anyone have hands on experience with the milk and wool of the Icelandics?

Where are you located? Your local weather and pasture conditions will dictate your stocking rate. They should be similar to goats, and roughly 5:1 compared to cattle.

They aren't hard on fences in my experience. I run 4' woven wire on the perimeter, which is probably overkill but I may get into larger animals and I'm not taking chances on them escaping. Internally, I rotate them with 2 hot wires, which usually works but it depends on the individual animal. I had to rehome an ewe that decided she didn't care about the electric fence anymore. Last winter I had them in the garden with electric on the front and 4' chicken wire on the back, and the only escapes were through the electric.

If they have enough to eat where they're at, they don't take much to contain. If they get hungry, the fencing needs go up. Trying to keep them on hay in the spring as things start to green up but before you want them out is challenging.

I have friends with Icelandics that have (iirc) 5 or 6 strand high tensile that isn't electric, which mostly works but they do get out once in a while. If it was electrified I'd expect they'd stay in pretty well.

Pay attention to your gates (and fences) when you have lambs, they are much more prone to wandering off and slipping through smaller gaps that normally aren't a problem.

So electric has a good chance but not a 100 percent chance of keeping them in. Il take your advice and run electric on the inside but not as my main on the outside. I had to go take a proper look to see what it currently is. It is 4 foot woven cattle fencing with some loose barb wire that will need removed. I plan on getting the sheep in the spring. And the grass has all gone to seed. Is it better if I mow that now in the fall or in the spring? I did goats as a way to clear brush so the pasture care is new to me.

Sam Potter wrote:So electric has a good chance but not a 100 percent chance of keeping them in. Il take your advice and run electric on the inside but not as my main on the outside. I had to go take a proper look to see what it currently is. It is 4 foot woven cattle fencing with some loose barb wire that will need removed. I plan on getting the sheep in the spring. And the grass has all gone to seed. Is it better if I mow that now in the fall or in the spring? I did goats as a way to clear brush so the pasture care is new to me.

Yes, electric is a psychological barrier, not a physical one. It only works if they don't think they can/want to go through it. You'll want to train them to it before expecting them to be contained by it. Sounds like that fence is good, and removing the barbed wire is also good.

As far as mowing - you wouldn't _have_ to mow it at all. The winter will break some of it down and they'll eat or trample most of what's left. If you do want to mow, I guess I'd go for the doing it now, so you get the old stuff started decomposing over the winter and you don't disturb the new growth in the spring with the mowing. By the time things have dried out enough to mow in the spring, you'd probably end up cutting a decent amount of new growth.

This year I decided to mow the pasture mid-summer after they'd been through a couple times, to knock down the stuff that they weren't eating as well. It wasn't a lot to cut, but it leveled things out and pushed the less palatable stuff back down to the same level as stuff that had been grazed.

Honestly, pasture care is an art form; there's many ways to do it and always more to learn. If you don't already, I'd recommend getting a subscription to the Stockman Grass Farmer...lots of good stuff in there about pasture management.

I am gonna send you a PM with info on milking abilities and fleece of the Icelandics so it doesn't get lost.
We run ours in electric netting and most of them do really well, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Mostly keep your fences tight and rotate at a good pace. I would get poultry netting specifically, though, so you can make sure to get the hole size and fence height you're gonna need. Premier1 is where we get our fences, and they're really nice!
Can you get a picture of the pasture? That'll help us know how good it is.

Elena Sparks wrote:I am gonna send you a PM with info on milking abilities and fleece of the Icelandics so it doesn't get lost.

Can I get a copy of this too, please?

@Elana
I would actually be interested as well. As long as there is no personal info, could you post it here for everyone?

I don't think any particular breed of sheep is more or less hard on fences. I suppose horned breeds are more likely to get caught in a fence and break something. If you put up woven wire perimeter it will be plenty enough to hold any sheep so long as it is built properly and there are no gaps in the ground that they can crawl underneath.

High-tensile with at least 6 strands can work if it's nice and hot and the bottom wire is low enough to the ground, <6 inches I'd say. The important thing is training them to it after they've been shorn and keeping it hot. Not allowing them to go more than a day without good forage of course helps.

In regards to stocking rate - on good pasture you should be able to keep 6 on 2 acres in general, but it very much depends on your location. Parasites are also a huge concern because Icelandics are a very geographically isolated breed and thus have not developed resistance to many of the parasites that other breeds have. Definitely check them regularly and give de-wormers to any showing symptoms.