The lambs at Bloomin' Acres call out and crowd around Marilyn Miles when she visits them twice a day on the 70-acre hilltop farm in rural Washington County.
"They are being friendly because they hope we have a bottle somewhere in their future," said Marilyn just before the month-old lambs begin to scatter. They realize she is just there to visit them under the Cedar trees, where their mommas are taking cover from the late spring heat on a recent Saturday in May.
The flock came to be here just south of Lincoln on Arkansas 59 in rural Washington County quite by chance, but their presence has given Marilyn and Dennis the dubious distinction of being the only Icelandic sheep farmers in all of Arkansas. The breed imported 12 years ago to North America, and about 3,500 head are in the United States and Canada.
Ten years ago, Marilyn, who is from Mississippi, and Dennis, who is from northeast Arkansas, moved from Dallas to Northwest Arkansas. About six years ago, friends visiting from Dallas suggested the couple purchase sheep after discovering how much time Dennis spent mowing the vast farm.
Intrigued by the concept, the couple researched the breed and became convinced that the docile sheep would be maintenance-free, feed-efficient, prolific breeders with a strong, reactive immune system. "We just fell in love with them," said Marilyn, so they started with nine ewes and a ram.
“We got into it thinking it would supplement our retirement income,” said Marilyn whose "day job" is in electrical sales; Dennis owns EMS Cable and Harness, an electrical/electronic manufacturing company, and sells mini-trucks. "We feel really blessed to be able to raise them."
Marilyn and Dennis have a diversified farm, selling perennial plants and gourds, but their main income is from the sale of breeding stock. The sheep they sell bring about $1,000 a head.
Although the sheep are capable of surviving on pasture and other vegetation, the couple supplement the flock's diet with a mineral mix, soybean meal, alfalfa pellets and kelp. Dahlia, a donkey, and Blossom, a great Pyrenees, keep predators like bobcats, coyotes and stray dogs away from the three breeding rams, five yearling rams, 25 momma ewes and 38 month-old lambs that occupy the hilltop farm overlooking Barren Fork Creek. And what Dahlia and Blossom cannot protect against – parasites – are kept under control by rotating paddocks every two to three days.
The Icelandic breed is treasured for its meat, milk and fiber. The water-resistant wool of Icelandic sheep is a hand spinner’s dream because of the beautiful, naturally occurring colors and the fine texture, said Marilyn, who is learning to spin on a drop spindle. The Icelandic sheep are dual-coated animals with a fine, soft undercoat, which makes the yarn somewhat bumpy.
The breed's coat can grow 10-13 inches a year, so they shear the sheep in March and November. She sells wool in various stages at Knit Wicks in Rogers, Ark., and at the Fayetteville Farmers' Market and elsewhere throughout Northwest Arkansas. The couple also are marketing wool from Icelandic sheep owned by Susan Briggs, the deceased shepherd of Tongue River Farm in Missouri.
Marilyn's love of fiber art led her and her friend, Janice Neighbor, to obtain a grant to host the first Fayetteville Animal and Fiber Festival in October 2008 at the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Arena. The event, designed to bring fiber producers together with suppliers and consumers, included shearing and carding demonstrations, animal exhibits and classes. That's a project Marilyn hopes to repeat this year provided she can find a new host site.
"The sheep have worked out really well for us," Marilyn said. "This is the most beautiful breed out there."
