ABOUT THE GOTLAND SHEEP
It is believed that the Gotland Breed was first established on the Swedish island of Gotland by the Vikings. They crossed the native Swedish Gute sheep with Karakul and Romanov sheep brought back from expeditions deep into Russia. The Vikings took these sheep on their travels providing their crew with meat and skins along the route.
Intensive and selective breeding in Sweden since the 1920's has produced the Gotland sheep we know today. While Gotland fleece is best known for having made up the magic Eleven cloaks in the Lord of the Rings movies, Gotlands are a true multipurpose breed. The Gotland pelts are prized world wide. Gotland wool, is a beautiful, lustrous, long curly fiber excellent for spinning and is a favorite wool for felting. Gotland meat is mild with good flavor.
As well as producing furskins and beautiful fleeces for spinning or felting, gotlands are easy to lamb, prolific, milky and very motherly. Their lambs are active and fast growing from birth. These qualities, together with their hardy and adaptive nature, also make Gotlands suitable for extensive/rough grazing commercial systems.
Gotland sheep are not a rare breed worldwide, but were newly introduced to USA in 2003 through cross-breeding program using artificial insemination.
