lease sheep

Available for lease or purchase - three purebred, registered Icelandic ewes and three Icelandic x Gotland crossbred ewes. 

Add new bloodlines to your existing Icelandic flock, or if new to Icelandics or sheep in general, see if you enjoy raising this breed by leasing our girls for no money down. 

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Icelandic sheep are one of the oldest and purest sheep breeds in existence, their history encompassing 1100 years of breeding for meat, wool and milk. Prior to the 1950's they were the only dairy animal in Iceland. They truly are a "triple purpose" breed. Icelandics come in a range of colors from white to browns, greys and black. They can be horned or polled. 

The Icelandic sheep produces a premium fleece. The fleece is dual coated, with a fine, soft undercoat called thel and a longer, coarser outer coat called tog. The tog fiber with a spinning count of 56-60 and a micron count of 27-30, grows to a length of 6-8" in six months (thus requiring shearing twice a year).

Gotland is another old heritage breed of sheep, originating in Sweden. Gotland sheep are fine-boned and of medium size. Gotlands are polled and have no wool on their black heads and legs. They are born black and fade to silver-grey ringlets. 

Crossbreeds of Icelandic x Gotland have the benefit of hardiness from both bloodlines, milking from the Icelandics, meat from both bloodlines, and the calmer personalities of the Gotland. Coats can vary in color and will be combination of attributes of both breeds. 

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Please see our icelandic sheep page for specific details on the individual sheep in this lease.  All six of our ewes are currently available for lease or sale. 

We also have rams available for your consideration. 

Lease terms are as follows: 

Lease is for a full year. We deliver the sheep to your farm in the fall, before breeding. You provide all the labor, feed, minerals, supplements, hay and vet care. We split the lamb crop 50:50 (we get first pick of the crop). We pick up all our sheep and our half of the lambs in late summer/early fall. You keep the other half of the lamb crop. After one year of leasing you should have up to six new lambs to add to your farm, for little to no money. 

Qualified applicants will need to show proof of appropriate fencing, shelter, feed/forage and a vet relationship before the transfer will occur. 

So why are we leasing out our sheep? This practice is actually very common among other livestock. Many people own cows without keeping bulls on their property. It allows shepherds to add new bloodlines or start a new flock without being cost prohibitive, and to get a feel for raising sheep without the financial commitment (heaven forbid someone spends thousands of dollars on breeding stock only to find out they don't like raising sheep!). 

It also frees up labor on our farm (we both work off the farm as well) while still yielding a lamb crop for us every year. We vet our applicants carefully to ensure our sheep are going to a good farm before they leave our property. It is a win-win for everyone. 

Six ewes and no money down, a nice starter flock!

Thank you!

The farmers of Litengård - Little Farm