Gotland Sheep

Currently, we just have 1 pure Gotland sheep, the gorgeous Freda. Freda belongs to a friend along with Eccles and Ena but for the foreseeable future is living here. I am very grateful to be able to have her here she is a very special sheep. I plan to add a couple more pedigree Gotlands to the flock in the future after falling in love with the breed thanks to Freda. They are simply beautiful sheep with an equally beautiful fleece. In 2018 I had the chance to buy a Gotland cross Greyface Dartmoor ewe lamb which I couldn't turn down so we now have Porridge the half Gotland amongst the flock too. She has the same friendly personality as Freda and a wonderful long white lustrous fleece. Freda has also visited our Icelandic ram Sven so there should be another 1 or 2 little half Gotlands joining the flock in 2019 - watch this space!

Just like Shetland, Soay & Icelandic sheep the Gotland belongs to the Northern Short-tailed group of sheep. Gotland sheep were first established on the Swedish island of Gotland by the Vikings. Thought to be the product of crossbreeding between the native landrace sheep of the island — the Gute — with Karakuls and Romanovs during the 1920s and 1930s. They are beautiful friendly sheep with highly prized lustrous grey fleeces. A medium size fine boned sheep, they lamb easily and make great mothers. Gotlands are polled and have no wool on their black heads and legs. Sometimes there may be white markings on the top of the head or around the nose and mouth. The fleece is fine, long, lustrous and dense and can be all shades of grey from silver to charcoal grey and dark enough to be almost black. In some countries, Gotlands can also be found in white and moorit colours! I am surprised they are not more popular throughout the UK as they truly are a beautiful breed.