Gotland (sheep)

The Gotland sheep ( swedish Gotlandfår ) is a domestic breed of sheep fur type sheep, which is held mainly in Sweden. It was created by breeding work from the original Gotland sheep holdings, the so-called free grazing sheep ( Utegångsfår ), and belongs to the group of Nordic short-tailed sheep.

The term Gotland sheep often leads to confusion, because in Germany often not only the actual Gotland sheep ( the sheep fur, swedish Gotlandfår ), but also the Horned Sheep Good ( swedish Gutefår ) is so named. However, these are two different breeds that have their origin both in Gotland free grazing sheep ( Utegångsfår ).

Features

The Gotland Sheep is a small to medium sized sheep fur. It is considered sufficient, robust and weatherproof hard and relatively undemanding in terms of feeding and husbandry. His wool is silver gray to dark brown, head and legs are not wooly, they wear short black hair. Regularly, the animals have white markings on the head and the legs. In today's breed you value the fact that the animals are polled. With the older breed types show particularly pronounced the goats horns. The property to repel the wool in the spring as shedding itself, went through the breeding activities lost today Gotland sheep must be shorn. The wool is used for producing felt especially. The animals are shorn twice a year, in part; the wool yield is annually at four to six kilograms.

Breeding history

At the beginning of 1920 we began to work on the then widespread free grazing sheep on the type of good sheep on Gotland in the direction of the current Gotland sheep fur type sheep breeding. Around the same time the remaining horned sheep was trying to merge the old type and preserve as a separate breed. This resulted in today's Good sheep.

Stock

Stocks there today except in Sweden and in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.