The Ovine Triple Threat

by Torrey Douglass

I love Mendocino County, in no small part because it is full of unassuming people doing remarkable things. If, for example, you passed Susan Engwall on the street, you might note her calm demeanor, direct gaze, and thoughtful smile, but you probably wouldn’t flag her as North America’s preeminent expert on artificial insemination for Icelandic sheep.

Susan knew by the age of five that she wanted a career working with animals, and she has realized that dream in multiple ways. She’s been a veterinarian for over 33 years and currently works at a practice in Gualala. She also taught at a vet tech program in Connecticut, raised Wagyu cattle with her husband in both Connecticut and Kentucky, and now breeds Icelandic sheep on Alder Creek Ranch just north of Manchester on the Mendocino coast.

The ranch includes over 60 flat, fenced acres where her 46 sheep can roam free range for most of the year. They are only confined to corrals during the short breeding season so they can be easily caught and paired when the ever-so-fleeting opportune moment arrives. Otherwise, they spend their days munching down the large expanse of lush pasture, with ambient music courtesy of the Pacific Ocean.

The Icelandic sheep breed is the ovine triple threat—raised for meat, fleece, and milk. The breed dates back 1100 years, making it one of the oldest and purest breeds in existence, and they are immensely hardy, particularly to cold, because of their long history surviving in the forbidding Icelandic climate. It is the only type of sheep in Iceland, and they have been carefully managed within its borders due to their importance to the country’s economy. The animals are forbidden to travel outside of defined regions to prevent disease from spreading, should an outbreak occur.

In Iceland, the sheep are primarily used for meat. In recent years, however, artisans have increased demand for the fleece, so breeding now prioritizes the animals’ coats as well. Susan goes her own way and breeds her sheep for milk. “I like sheep that produce lots of milk because they produce very healthy, fast growing, vigorous lambs,” she explains. She also selects rams with good temperament so they are easier to manage.

Icelandic sheep are stocky, with short legs and long, luscious coats with a crimp that makes them look something like a pufferfish with a perm. Their coats can be single-hued or mixed and include variations of white, cream, tan, brown, grey, charcoal, and jet black. Not surprisingly, the breed is beloved by weavers and other artisans who work with wool. Possessing fewer follicles per square inch of skin, their double-coated fleece resembles fur and consists of both an inner and outer coat. Susan explains that “the outer coat is strong, glossy, and sheds water, and is often used for weaving—historically it was woven into Viking ship sails. The undercoat, known as thel, is soft and fine. Both coats can be used together in the production of yarn and felt.” Local weaver Jennie Henderson creates her rugs with wool produced by Alder Creek Ranch sheep, and Susan’s fleece entries routinely bring home blue ribbons at the California Fiber Festival. She’s won first place in the Double-Coated Hand Spinner category six times, and earned six blue ribbons in the category of Icelandic ram and ewe fleeces.

While the breed has a long history in Iceland, its time in the Americas has been considerably shorter. Icelandic Sheep were originally imported to North America by Icelandic immigrant Stefania Sveinbjarnardottir-Dignum. Far from Iceland, she missed the sheep of her homeland, eventually importing twelve ewes and two rams to her farm in Canada in 1985. Because of their vigorous constitutions and multi-purpose uses, they adapt well to a variety of farming conditions, including coastal pasture in Mendocino county. Susan purchased her first sheep—six ewes and two rams—from the Dancing Lamb Dairy in New York State and Morning Star Farm in Connecticut in 2015.

Susan is a hybrid medical professional and ranch woman. She clearly loves her flock, smiling as she feeds them grain by hand—a rare treat, as their diet mainly consists of pasture grasses and hay. She moves calmly among the frisky rams, gently adjusting slipped halters while looking over each animal. While most Icelandic sheep ranchers in North America breed November through January, Susan breeds her sheep in December, like they do in Iceland. She says May lambs are healthier and experience fewer parasites.

Hiring help at the right time of year is not always possible, so Susan shears the sheep herself twice a year. The August/September shearing provides wool that makes excellent yarn, while the March/April shearing yields felted fleeces, sometimes in single, large pieces that make excellent dog beds. Felted fleece is also used to make wigs, replace traditional “fur” trim on coats and costumes, and even serve as mulch. If it’s dirty from the field, felted fleece can be soaked for three weeks in rainwater or well water, then rinsed to achieve a glorious and clean wool (see the ranch’s Instagram posts for some great images). The oils in the wool create their own soap, and the resulting mucky water is excellent fertilizer for flowering plants.

Susan’s vaginal artificial insemination (VAI) program combines her love of animals with her scientific expertise, and with so few ranchers raising Icelandic sheep, it’s a necessary part of maintaining diverse bloodlines so the breed can thrive on this side of the Atlantic. There are currently only a handful of sheep ranchers using VAI in North America, all trained by Susan, and she is working to expand that number by training more—a total of eight in the past two years alone.

Iceland runs a government-controlled breeding program, rigorously testing potential rams and their progeny for the best physique, leanness of meat, and other characteristics. The top performers are sent to South Ram, a stud farm in the south of Iceland, where they live out their days generating the semen used to artificially inseminate ewes across the country and around the world.

With the help of Google Translate, Susan peruses the catalog of South Ram studs, finding candidates to keep her flock genetically diverse and physically healthy. All of her sheep are registered with Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America (ISBONA), a 250-member organization that tracks the lineage of Iceland sheep on this continent. Iceland ranchers get first pick of the “source material” provided by South Ram. Semen from exciting new arrivals can sell out before international ranchers get their turn, but since the rams are ongoing residents of the breeding facility, there’s always next year.

Choosing the right ram is like solving a puzzle, selecting traits that will help the flock prosper—keeping them healthy in our coastal climate and maintaining genetic diversity—while also emphasizing traits that keep the sheep commercially viable, resulting in the premium fleece, milk, and meat they provide. The breed has been around for over a millenium, enduring in the cold, sparse terrain of Iceland. With ranchers like Susan tending to her herd, keeping a careful eye on bloodlines, and sharing her knowledge with others, Icelandic sheep can thrive on this side of the Atlantic, as well.

Follow AlderCreekRanch1 on Instagram to purchase wool, meat, and registered Icelandic breeding stock, or to just consume your daily recommended allowance of ridiculously adorable sheep photos.

Susan Engwall photo p20 by Torrey Douglass. All other photos by Susan Engwall.

Torrey Douglass is a web and graphic designer living in Boonville.