The Gotland
Curious Gotlands love to have their pictures taken
Originally from Gotland, Sweden, Gotlands were introduced into the US via semen and a breed-up program. Here in Canada, we had to bring percentage animals up from the US for our breeding-up program, we have now progressed to the point where we are producing North American purebred Gotlands here on Dover Farm. Gotlands are a medium sized friendly breed and in both Canada and the US, they are finding a place on small farms as a dual purpose sheep. The wool grows quickly and the sheep need to be shorn twice a year. The fleeces are shades of grey from silver to black, and are lustrous, silky and they are highly sought after by fibre artists.
Our Gotlands are registered with the American Gotland Sheep Society their web site is americangotlandsheep.org
Today's Gotland is a member of the Lustre Long Wools, which includes breeds such as the Teeswater, Wensleydale and Blue Face Leicester, and is known for producing remarkably fine fleece with beautiful lustre.
Gotland colours range through the gray scale, from silver to charcoal with subtle shading within the fleece. Locks are long (3-7 inches) and lustrous with a strong wavy crimp. Gotland fleece is known for its incredible softness in relation to micron counts that fall between 29 and 34 for adults and in the low to mid 20s for a lamb. Dover Farm's use of Finnsheep (see below) as a foundation breed produces Gotland fleeces with micron counts in the mid to high 20s.
Dover Farm is a member of American Gotland Sheep Society and follows their established breeding standards. Finnsheep were used as the foundation breed for developing their Gotland bloodlines. Dover Farm is proud to use Gotland rams from Martin Dally, who first imported Gotland semen to North America.
Dover Farm offers Gotland breeding stock, as well as a limited supply of whethers. Please contact Dover Farm for more information.