We just picked up our Icelandic Sheep.
Icelandic sheep are used for milking, meat and wool as well as tallow and grass grazers/fertilizers.
We got ours from: LightHouseFarms.com and he has some high quality grass fed animals there. He does natural animal care and does it well!
A word about fencing: YUCK. That's all I can say about conventional fencing methods. We could do miles and miles of working a fence if we had large animals. And once the fencing is done - go back and repair it again where tree limbs have fallen, or grass grew too close. . .it is just problematic. But we don't and do not plan to do large animals like beef or horses in any number that would warrent needing fencing.
What we are trying at the farm is intensive grazing with our smaller animals so we use "animal tractors" large enough for the goats (who have yet to figure their way out of the pen) and sheep.
Since we only do a max of 10 animals of goats and 10 of sheep, we stock 2 - 3 animals per tractor depending on the size of the animal being tractored.
For added safety from dogs, coyotes and coons, we border the outside of our tractors with solar electric fencing. If you run several tractors - the solar line can connect together. The males stay out all night, but the lambs, kids and dairy animals get moved into the barn at night for separation till the morning milkings. And a word about fiber: Sheep need to be shorn once a year and I love black or dark sheep just for the color of rugs made from them. If you are planning on doing fiber animals in small places on a small scale, Baby Doll Sheep or Angora goats are also good options and will give you small amounts of milk. Both are good choices for small holdings or urban dwellers.
