Icelandic Sheep in North Carolina?! How's that working out?
Icelandic Sheep do wonderfully in Asheville!
While we're not currently breeding Icelandic sheep for sale at Asheville Farm, we've had tremendous results. Most of our ewe's had twins with an occassional single or set of triplets. Rarely did we have stillbirths and the great majority delivered without assistance. As for the heat, we make sure that the herd always has access to plentiful, fresh drinking water and shade. Our local shearer visits twice a year... usually around April and late July or early August (since Icelandic wool grows about an inch a month). Flys can be a problem, however, so we breed with the hope that the ewes will deliver in March, before fly season starts. Fly openings on rams are a bigger problem for us since rams tend to butt heads -- which causes ugly skin openings. And, unfortunately, our Icelandic rams are extremely difficult to catch and patch (in order to prevent flies from irritating their battle cuts).
If you need an immediate Icelandic sheep experience (just without any of the adorable sheep sounds and smells), visit our shearing day before-and-after photo gallery.
Where to buy sheep around Asheville
If you are looking specifically for Icelandic sheep there are a few number of farms in Western NC that raise them. The first place to look is on the website of the Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America.
If you're simply looking for meat sheep in general, our two sheep shearers raise lots of them for sale. Their names and phone numbers are Jonathan Hearn at (828) 215-4473 and Anthony Cole at (828) 775-4902.
Lastly, you can often find sheep for sale in the Farm & Garden section at Asheville.CraigsList.org or by checking the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Projects local farm directory.
"Do you sell your Icelandic sheep wool?"
Yes we do. But, since we currently have a very small flock, it is on a first-to-call-first-to-buy basis.
