Faroe sheep
Faroese ewe with lambs in Porkeri, Faroe Islands
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| Country of origin | Faroe Islands |
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| Use | Meat |
| Traits | |
| Weight |
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| Horn status | Rams are horned and ewes are polled (hornless) |
| Notes | |
| Very little flocking instinct | |
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The Faroese sheep is a breed of sheep native to the Faroe Islands.
First introduced in the 9th century, Faroese sheep have long been an integral part of the island traditions. The name Faeroe itself is thought to mean "sheep islands", and the animal is depicted on the Faroe Islands' historic coat of arms. One of the Northern European short-tailed sheep, it is a small, very hardy breed. Faroes ewes weigh around 45 pounds (20 kg) at maturity, and rams are 45–90 pounds (20–40 kg). Rams are horned and ewes are usually , and the breed occurs naturally in many different colours, with at least 300 different combinations with each their own unique name.
Faroese sheep tend to have very little flocking instinct due to no natural predators, and will range freely year round in small groups in pastureland, which ranges from meadows, to rugged rocky mountaintops and lush bird-cliffs. They are most closely related to the Norwegian Spælsau and Icelandic sheep.
Ears are usually cut with various simple designs, to denote ownership and what pastures the sheep belong on. There are 54 different official cuts, which can be paired in a vast variety of ways; it is not permitted to use the same combination twice on the same island. The first known law regarding earmarks is in the Sheep letter from 1298, where it is stated among other things in the fifth section:
Enn ef hann markar þann sað sem aðr er markaðr. oc sætr sina æinkunn a ofan a hins er aðr atti þann sað. þa er hann þiofr.
But if he marks sheep which are already marked and puts his mark over that of the owner, he is a thief.
The agricultural policies of the Faroe Islands, have over the centuries divided the pasture into 463 different land lots, with a value measured in mark, and between 40 and 48 ewes going on each mark has resulted in the total prescribed number of ewes that the land can support, being 70.384.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Scottish sheep were imported, mostly in order to produce better wool. This has resulted in some Faroese sheep being of a mixed breed; the majority are still pure.
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