Spael

The Norwegian Spael sheep is named after the short, nearly wool-less tail (spælen). It originates from the old Norwegian landrace of sheep. In 1912, two breeding stations were established to prevent extinction of the breed. Icelandic sheep were crossed onto the Spael sheep through semen import in the 1960's and 1970's. Finnsheep and Faeroe Island sheep were also used in the breeding of Spael sheep.

The sheep are most commonly white, but there are also black, brown, grey and blue-grey animals and various forms of piebald are found. Most animals are polled, with about 10% occurrence of horned in both sexes. The wool is double coated, with mean fibre diameter 31.5 micron of underwool and 57.1 micron of outer hair.wool is used for many different products and woolskins and nappa leather are made out of the pelts.

Breed categories: Swedish landrace, short-tailed, double-coated / Distribution: Northern Europe