Breeding Groups

Breeding Groups

Featured on this page you’ll find a log of our planned breedings. We are planning to start a VAI program within the next few years and will include those crosses alongside our farm breedings below. If you have any questions about a particular pairing, please don’t hesitate to be in touch. For more information on our individual ewes and rams, please visit Our Ewes and Our Rams. To learn more about our breeding goals and management, check out our Goals and Management page.

Lambing Journal

As the lambs are born, we will post photos and quick descriptions of them on our Lambing Journal. The lambing journal is a great tool for those of you who are considering specific crosses; It allows you to “meet” the lambs at birth, mull over the possibilities and ask any questions early on. That way, when the sales list is posted, you’ll have a more concrete idea of which lamb you might like to add. Take me to the Lambing Journal!

Winter Ram Sale

In order to maintain genetic diversity in our flock, we often offer our farm rams for sale at a reduced price once they have finished breeding their ewes. If you would like first dibs on one of our farm boys, please be in touch. Their prices increase in the spring when their lambs are born. Check out our Breeding Stock for Sale page for details on available rams.

VAI

VAI (Vaginal Artificial Insemination), although quite common in cattle and goat operations, has been largely abandoned as an option by shepherds, since it has been proven to be largely ineffective as a means of artificial insemination in sheep. Icelandics, however, have proven to be the exception to this rule. VAI programs began appearing on North American Icelandic sheep farms in 2003, when an initial group of interested and dedicated breeders traveled to Iceland to become certified in the technique and to learn more about assessing, breeding and improving their stock.

In the quick, stress free procedure, a shepherd is able to inseminate fertile ewes with semen imported from the top rams in Iceland and tailor the breedings based on detailed physiological and statistical data acquired for each individual ram.

VAI Certification Seminars are currently offered once a year in North America at various locations across the continent. They are taught by Mundi Johannesson of Iceland who is involved in the evaluation of prospective VAI rams at the South Ram facility and overseas semen exports.

Breeding Groups 2008

Although we had looked forward to starting our own VAI program this year, given the nation’s current economic crisis we are putting it off for one more year.

Lambs from these crosses will hit the ground starting in April ‘09.