We're proud of our sheep because they are the best combination of the efforts of Stefania Dignum who single handedly brought them from Iceland in 1985 and the efforts of American breeders since the first grou in was brought into this country in 1992 by Barbara Webb of Jager Farms, combined with the best current Icelandic genetics through artificial insemination!

As we all know, Iceland has a very different climate from the United States, and the dedicated American breeders who brought  these sheep in from Canada spent years in breeding sheep that were hardy here and could thrive in our warmer climate.  Those breeders have done an admirable job over the years, selecting for hardiness in OUR climate, for improved, more luxurious and softer fleece, and for more and more sheep with the wonderful colors inherent in the breed!

Icelandic sheep farmers in Iceland have worked for years toward breeding some of these same qualities in their stock, but have concentrated on producing white sheep with superior fleece that would produce wool to benefit the commercial market, which utilizes a chemical dye process most successfully used with white wool.  Genetics for superior white fleece and meat conformation have been successfully capitalized upon in Iceland.  Since 1999, breeders in this country have had access to these genetics through artificial insemination.

As result of AI, more diverse genetics are available to us all.  However, we at HeartsEase do not offer sheep whose sires are Icelandic—the sheep we offer for sale are second generation, at least.

Why?  Because we feel strongly that the sheep we offer to our buyers must have not only the combination of all the best genetics for conformation and fleece (AND color), but that have the best chance of developing their potential because they are well acclimated to our climate.

We may ourselves use rams who are from AI, but we will not be offering direct AI offspring to our buyers.  We will take the risk of poor heat tolerance in our breeding rams and breed them to ewes who are the result of American breeders who have bred for hardiness in our climate, in order to produce sheep for our buyers who will exhibit the heat tolerance which our predecessors worked so hard for!  So you will see Icelandic sires behind all our sheep, but they will be at least two generations back.

The Icelandic rams that are white offer outstanding genetics for fleece, but not color.  There are now colored AI ram semen being used to produce color for our markets here.  However, they're not as outstanding for fleece as the white rams from Iceland.  Our policy is to blend the best of both, by using colored rams who come from outstanding white AI ewes that were bred to Icelandic colored rams or the reverse.  We then use these rams to produce the very best lambs (with both outstanding color and fleece) for our customers--and for ourselves, too, of course!  We started by using AI grandsons and doubling up on AI blood in our ewes where we could.  On our lists, you can count on us to always provide information on what AI lines an individual sheep traces back to.

In this way, we can offer you the best of all worlds!

AI RAMS BEHIND OUR SHEEP Ari: #91969, a leader ram born in 1991. Ari is black blazed with white belly and feet. He is intelligent looking and is calm and alert in the barn. Both of Ari's parents are from lines of purebred leader sheep.  ~ Ari was the first leader ram AI sire imported to the U.S. Askur - 93992.  Polled white, born 1993.   Askur is a long bodied ram with a wide chest and a well muscled hind quarters.    His lambs did well and were graded well for meat quality.  Barbara Webb of Jager Farms says:  "Our Askur lambs were very fast growing, and were amongst the first of the year's lambs to reach what we considered a market weight.  There is no indication that Askur carries color, but the fleece is thick and plentiful." Biskup: #96-822, a horned black ram born in 1996.  He carries moorit and is blazed with white socks.  He is said to be sensible and calm, with an intelligent look.  Barbara Webb:  "We have used Biskup two years now, and his lambs are typical leader in aspect and build.  Their horns are strong, and their style is very much, "heads-up".  Biskup was the second leader AI sire imported to the U.S."  Blaevar: # 90974, born 1990, is from the Hestur Research Center. He is white, horned and carries solid.  He is described as having a tight curl to his horn, a broad head and thick neck. Although a bit high on the shoulders, the neck is well-muscled. Broad chest with springy ribs, strong back and a meaty rack. Good leg muscle, and strong, straight feet. His fleece shows lots of tan all over and has soft, fine tog. As scored on his individual body parts, he netted an overall score of 8 out of a possible score of 10. Barb Webb, Jager Farms: "Our experience showed his lambs to be easily birthed and very lively. The fleece is softer than most other AI offspring. We have had five lambs from Blaevar; a set each of twins and triplets.  His lambs are smaller than those from some of the other  sires, explaining why they birthed so easily. We like his lambs a great deal" Butur is white,  horns are close to the head, neck is thick and ribs are well sprung. The back is domed with thick muscles, muscling in loin and legs is excellent. Legs are placed widely. Butur has exceptionally hard muscles. Butur's offspring were analyzed in 1994 and he came first of the rams tested at that time in legs and front,  he tied 2nd with back muscle and rib fat, and he came 2nd with dressed weight. Last fall 43 of Butur's lambs were slaughtered and 18 of those or 42% were classified A-1 (Top grading). At the same time a group of very promising ram lambs sired by Butur came up for evaluation so it is obvious that Butur is very strongly prepotent. Eighteen two year old daughters of Butur are kept at Hestur and are very promising. Dropi: #91975, born 1991, is also from the Hestur Station. He is white with speckles on the head and is horned. Dropi is described by the South Ram AI station as having a long, strong head with a broad neck well connected to the shoulder. The shoulder is well muscled but rather narrow. He has a broad wide chest, a muscular rack, and his les is muscular, big and deep. His feet are thick and his gut is big. In summary, he is a powerful ram with excellent leg muscles. His fleece is white, fine and curly with average quantity. There is tan on the back of his head, his tail and up along his back. Dropi carries color. Barbara Webb:  "We had two ram lambs from Dropi in 1999 and they are both stocky and powerfully built. White and well-horned, they are a bold, impressive set of twins.  We had a set of Dropi twin ewe lambs in 2000, and they have proven to be very good mothers." Faldur:  #92990, born 1992.  Faldur is a polled, pure white ram.  He is well muscled, short legged and long bodied.  He scored 99 for 114 lambs graded and 101 for 19 production years of daughters.   Barbara Webb:  "We have one set of twins out of Faldur in 1999 and they are quite impressive.   Square, stocky, short legged, meaty and bold, they cry out to be used as a flock sire.  Faldur has strong polled genes, and we have high hopes for the Faldur line in our flock!  One of the twins is now a highly regarded stud ram at Yeoman Farm in Ontario, and the other was used as a clean-up ram for us this past fall.  His lambs were particularly broad in the chest.   We expect to use Faldur again for AI, as his lambs have outstanding builds."     Glaer:  97-86 , polled white ram.  Glaer is described by SouthRam as a fresh looking, powerful ram with a good overall harmony.. Very broad and vigorous head.  short and thick neck excellently connected to broad and muscular shoulders.  chest is wide and conformation good.  Back is broad and rounded.  Loins broad and very well muscled.  rounded and well shaped gigot muscle with great muscling.  Feet are straight.  Wool white with no tan fibers.  Great wool, lustrous and quantity well above average.  Glaer isn't progeny tested bust has been noticed for great offspring carcass grading and good performance of his sons.  Glaer has great breeding index for carcass grading.  In lamb evaluation 2002 many of Glaer's offspring were dashing, showing great conformation.  Glaer received an extraordinary overall rating of 86.5, one of the highest ever given. Hnykill - 95820.  Hnykill is white, polled and carries mouflon and spotting.  He has extremely good conformation with muscular shoulders, back and loins, and a well-shaped, deep leg.  His wool has a quantity less than average, but the thel is dense and the tog is short.  Both his mother and his daughters are prolific with good milking abilities.   According to Barbara Webb:  "We had seven Hnykill lambs in spring of 2001, three sets of twins, and a single, three of whom are spotted mouflons!  There is heavy phaenomelanin frosting, particularly in the faces and legs of the lambs.  This frosted mouflon was uniformly evident in the Hnykill mouflon lambs, so we are considering it to be a variant gene of the mouflon pattern.  There was hope initially that this Hnykill mouflon was the single gene for the gray/mouflon pattern, a gene we do not yet have in North America, but that has not proven to be the case.  This frosted mouflon pattern is quite distinctive, with a wonderful array of grays, taupe, gold and browns.   The   Hynill offspring were all well-built, and grew out quickly.   On the whole, very good looking lambs.  We used a spotted mouflon Hnykill son this past fall for breeding and his lambs are quite fat and sassy, and with very fancy frosted mouflon fleeces.  We have found the Hnykill lamb fleeces to have short and fine tog, good thel, with an overall feel of soft cotton." Hunn:  #92-809, born 1992, and is from the Hestur Station.  He is a Thoka ram, meaning he carries the Thoka multiple birth gene.  He is white and horned, and has proven to carry both gray and moorit.  Evaluated in 1994, he received a total of 80.0 points.  His eye muscle thickness was determined in 1993 to be 33 mm, and his back fat thickness 4 mm.  He is  described as having coarse shoulders, wide chest, and good conformation, with muscular back and loins, strong feet and well muscled legs.  He is long bodied and vigorous.  His wool quantity is above average with lots of thel.  Barbara Webb:  "We had three Hunn lambs in 2000, a set of ewe lamb twins, and a  ram lamb.  We used Hunn again this past fall, and now have seven Hunn lambs on the ground, including a set of quads! We  used the moorit/gray Hunn quad for breeding this fall and are very pleased with his lambs, in terms of both build and fleece." Sveppur is white, polled with vigorous head. Broad but rather coarse shoulders. Good conformation and exceptionally thick eye muscle. Loins are broad and muscular as the thighs. Sveppur has well placed and strong feet.  Wool:. No black fibers were found. Great quantity with thick thel and medium coarse thog." Sveppur carries on excellent thighs and long body. *Information from SouthRam AI station; quotes from Barbara Webb, Jager Farm Icelandics

We're proud of our sheep because they are the best combination of the efforts of Stefania Dignum who single handedly brought them from Iceland in 1985 and the efforts of American breeders since the first group in was brought into this country in 1992 by Barbara Webb of Jager Farms, combined with the best current Icelandic genetics through artificial insemination!