Crossbreeze Farm Icelandic Sheep and Sheepdogs

I am no longer breeding sheep.  I do maintane a fiber flock of pure Icelandic sheep and sell fleeces, roving, and felted products in my Etsy store: Crossbreeze.

Icelandic Sheep Care

Crossbreeze Farm 

Here are a few tips I have picked up from experience and other shepherds: 

1. Shelter:  Always provide shade.  Sheep are more sensitive to heat than to cold. 
2. Water:  Fresh water must always be available. 
3. Food:  Icelandic sheep thrive on good grass, legumes, and hay.  They will eat almost anything, but introduce new foods gradually.  Avoid too much alfalfa.  If a sheep eats too much rich food, it can “bloat.”  You should keep a bottle of Therabloat on hand just in case.  Otherwise, 1/2 cup veg. oil, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup baking soda syringed into the sheep will help bloat.
   
4. Minerals:  I use a brand of mineral called Sweetlix.  I have begun to add SelPlex natural selenium (http://www.sel-plex.com/en/about/pages/default.aspx) and vit. E to my minerals. I use a mix suggested by Elaine Clark of Frelsi Farm:                                  Sweetlix Sheep and Goat (25 lb bag) and add 8 lbs of Sweetlix 16:8 Meat Maker (goat  mineral) .  I add 20-30 oz of SelPlex selenium yeast and 5-10oz of Vit E powder (125,000  units per lb). The selenium and vitamin E varies according to time of year and age of animals. I also mix some Vit E and Selenium into the kelp meal and put it in the feeders with the minerals.  The Selplex can be obtained from North Central Feeds, Gonvick, MN 218-487-6040218-487-6040 ask for Zena. She'll box up small amts.  I also offer dried kelp separately as well as a product called Dyna-Min (http://www.agri-dynamics.com/) that contains copper, cobalt, and many other trace minerals.  Recently it has come to my attention that sheep need more cobalt, so try to find a mineral mix which has cobalt in it.  If you have a grain elevator, they may carry these products or be able to get them for you.  If you can’t locate them, I may be able to help you find a source.
5. Protein block:  If the sheep are stressed by heat, lambing, travel, heavy worm infestations, etc. I give them a Dumor Sheep or Goat Protein block.  The goat block has some copper in it which Icelandic sheep need in their diet.  They love these! 
6. Treats:   sunflower seeds and shredded beat pulp are healthy snacks. 
7. Worming:  There are many chemical wormers.  Some are no longer effective on sheep parasites. I use: Levasole (levamisole), and Cydectin (Moxidectin).  Valbazen (albendazole) is used for liver flukes and tapeworm,  Check with a vet, Pipestone Sheep Supply, or other livestock supply co. for availability.  Worm according to weight and do not underdose!  Wt. Formula: measure around sheep. This is the girth (G).  Measure the length of the sheep from shoulder to hip (L).  G x G x L divided by 300 = weight.  Worm the sheep based on the color of its inner eyelid.  Pull out the lower lid and examine it.  If it is pale pink or white, worm the sheep.  In spring and summer, check eyelids often (every week or two).  Another sign of serious parasites is “bottle jaw.”  This is a swelling under the lower jaw.  If you see this, worm immediately!  Some shepherds use organic methods of worming with or instead of chemical wormers.  See Drench Recipe in packet for one vitamin and mineral drench that I use.  Parasite information:  http://www.sheep101.info/201/parasite.html 
8. Vaccinations:  Sheep should receive a CDT booster every spring.  Lambs need two doses the first year.
   
9. Shearing:  Icelandic sheep are generally sheared in spring and fall (March and October.)  The spring clip is shorter and better for felting; the fall clip is longer and is used for spinning. 
10. Hooves:  Most shepherds trim their sheep’s hooves a couple of time per year with trimmers made for that purpose. (Pipestone or Premier) 
11. Supplies:  Syringes and needles, BoSe (selenium and vit. E) PenG and LA 200 (antibiotics)  
12. Ask questions!  Call or e-mail myself (269-792-1437269-792-1437, colleen@crossbreeze.com), other shepherds, the Yahoo ISBONA group, Pipestone Vets, or your own vet.   The Maryland Small Ruminant web site has a ton of information:  http://www.sheepandgoat.com/    

Happy to announce all of my sheep for sale are SOLD!

Welcome to Crossbreeze Farm! 

We specialize in raising and selling registered Icelandic Sheep. This ancient breed is known for its high quality wool, meat and milk.  

Our sheep are registered with the Canadian Livestock Corp. and we participate in the Voluntary Scrapie Prevention Program 

We have found Icelandic sheep to be wonderful animals for a small farm setting. They are excellent mothers, usually producing twins and raising fast growing lambs on hay or pasture without grain supplementation. They are curious, friendly and playful. We halter train all of our lambs for ease of handling. Icelandic sheep are wonderful for clearing brush. They will eat just about anything (they love poison ivy!) Some farms milk their sheep and use the milk in cheese or soap production. Their fleeces are great for hand spinning and felting art. These sheep are truly versatile! 

Feel welcome to tour our site to view our Icelandics. We are certain you will enjoy them as much as we do. We believe that these beautiful creatures are a gift of God for all to enjoy.  

Thanks for visiting. 

Enjoy your stay at Crossbreeze! 

Adonis at 3 months

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Jonquil at 3 months

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Caius at 3 months

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Felicity had twins on 4/6/14.  A 7 pound black/gray spotted ewe lamb and a 7.5 pound homozygous gray (double gray gene) ram lamb fathered by Stitch. Both carry moorit (brown) from their sire. 

BOTH SOLD: Gray Ram $350,  Spotted Ewe $450 

Felicity's pedigree and Stitch's Pedigree

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Rosalind followed on 4/7/14 with a large (10 pound) ram lamb with big horn buds.  Father is Crispin. Lamb carries moorit (brown) from his sire.  He is available.  This lamb is not related to the lambs above or the yearlings below and could be put together in a package/ starter flock.  Keeping this guy.

Crispin's pedigree   Rosalind's pedigree

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2013 Lambs for sale

Grass fed, halter trained, friendly, hardy lambs

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Callisto:  Ewe, Full Sister (twin) to Supreme Grand Champion Ram at Michigan Fiber Festival. (Her sire's offspring have won grand champion two years in a row.)  Callisto has proven to be hardy and healthy with a nice fleece.  She is also friendly, with a curious nature like her mother. Artemis had these beautiful twins (Jason and Callisto) on April 15th, 2013.  They are black gray mouflon and carry moorit (from sire Stitch )  Artemis' Pedigree, Stitch's Pedigree

$400 SOLD

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Lexus:  Ewe, Half Sister to Supreme Grand Champion Ram at Michigan Fiber Festival. (Her sire's offspring have won grand champion two years in a row.) She is well halter trained, friendly and hardy. Lexus is black mouflon.    She carries moorit from her sire.  Look at that long back!

Mercedes delivered her big lambs (Lexus and Bentley) on April 19th, 2013.   Sire is Stitch, so they carry moorit (brown).  Mercedes' Pedigree, Stitch's Pedigree

$400 SOLD

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Felicity is a coming two year old ewe that is black homozygous gray.  She is from Creek's Edge Icelandics.  She is very healthy with a beautiful soft fleece.  Pedigree

$550  SOLD

Exposed to Stitch for lambs in the Spring of 2014

Felicity won Reserve Grand Champion Icelandic Ewe at Michigan Fiber Festival 2013

She was bred to Stitch (below) for spring 2014 lambs.

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"Stitch" is also from The Creek's Edge Icelandics. 

TCE 626X is 25% Eldar, 6% Laekur, 12% Grimur, 6% Bambi and 6% Morro

for a total of 55% AI bloodlines.

He is a 4 year old ram who has never failed to cover his ewes.  He is moorit gray and always produces a big fleece that people are eager to buy.  His sons have won Championships the last two years at Michgan Fiber Festival.  This ram is healthy and respectful.  His horns went very wide and had to be trimmed when they came back toward his face.

Pedigree  $500 SOLD

I decided to keep him at least one more year.  He produces GREAT lambs!

 Discounts available on pairs and groups

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2014 Lambs will be ready to go after weaning in July

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Some comments from our customers:

"When your daughter gets a chance, can you have her write what she does to tame/train your lambs to lead and be handled?  I really appreciate having such well behaved and easy to handle ewes.  Andromeda lets us touch her any time, and I’ve never had a sheep like that before. " 

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"Athena is real character! She was looking out the windows, nosing about the back of the Jeep and talking to us when we said something. And she's beautiful, too!"

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All of our lambs are handled and halter trained at a young age. 

Ask about starter flock and multiple sheep discount prices. 

Check out the ram and ewe page for photos of the sires and dams.