A little history: "Sheep of the old Norwegian breed".
It is the finding of bone remains of sheep which shows that there have been sheep in Norway 3000 years ago.
Wild Sheep in Norway belong to the racial group of the northern European short tailed highland sheep, which was dominant over northern Europe in earlier times and in the Nordic countries until the late 1800s. After this time commercial breeds was imported and became dominating breeds in much of sheep industry, when one would have greater and more fullness of meat breeds or breeds with better / other wool quality.
In the Viking age, which had milder climate - warmer than now - there was much activity along the coast, much of the forest was cut down, and coastal areas developed into an ideal area for the sheep. Therefore the sheep husbandry flourished at this time, and heath lands increased in scope. There was also a lot of traveling west, and the wild sheep were brought to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland with North Sea islands, Orkney and Shetland Islands and northern parts of England and Wales, and formed the basic sauehaldet made in these areas. Sheep including Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Orkney islands is today very similar to the Norwegian wild sheep.
The return from the sheep farming with wild sheep was at that time very low, and many thought it was animal abuse to keep sheep in that way. Thus many of the herds in western Norway were slaughtered down and replaced with white sheep. Around 1950 the breed was close on becoming extinct, but thanks to the few enthusiasts in the breed was preserved and saved.
Today the breed has once again spread all along the west coast, on the northwest coast and the coast of Trøndelag and Nordland. Wild Sheep of Møre and Trøndelag and northwards stems from the wild sheep that was purchased in Austin on the 50th century. Because of restrictions in the purchase and sale of sheep within Norway the sheep in the north and south developed somewhat differently. In the north it is perhaps involvement of other small breeds, selection for breeding, etc. that have had influenced the development of the sheep. There the sheep always has been a bit bigger than the sheep are on the west coast.
Appearance
The breed is different from the usual white sheep in many ways. Among other things, they are smaller, have all varieties of color, they have large curling horns, and ewes are horned from pulled to different varieties of the horn. They have very rarely lambing problems.
Name: "Sheep of the old Norwegian breed"
Popular name: "Wild sheep" is mostly used. The Vikings called them the sheep that goes out.
Colors: All varieties of colors. In a crowd one should have the greatest possible to see all variation in colors. Solid white, brown / black, black, gray-blue and gray. More colors in all variants.
Size: Small lightly built and stylish.
Weight males/rams: bodyweight approximately 40-50 kg. Weight females/ewes: bodyweight approximately 30 to 40 kg. Legs: Long / easy straight and bouncy. But in some variants they have short legs and are chubbier. Horn males/ram: Large curling horns in many color variants. Horn females/ewes: From the horned ones the curved horn has many varieties and sizes.
Tail: Short tail with only the outer coat. They should not have “spælsaudott” (long wooly lock of hair) in the forehead/skull it should preferably be smooth or have “coarse” wool. The head is usually long and narrow, but set finest variants with more blunt appearance. Neck: Often more than tall white sheep. Ears: ears are small and pointing diagonally upwards. Wool/fur: Two kinds of wool coat, short fine bottom wool crude and longer guard hairs.
Wool shedding/cutting: Many of the sheep has still got the ability to shed the wool themselves, but not all, and these must be shorn - preferably in June/July.
Lamb: Lambs are small, bouncy and fast from birth. Birth weight is 1.5-2 kg. Lamb carcass approved slaughter weight between 8 and 14 kg.
