Faroe sheep

[4] The first known law regarding earmarks is in the Sheep letter from 1298, where it is stated among other things in the fifth section:Enn ef hann markar þann sað sem aðr er markaðr.

oc sætr sina æinkunn a ofan a hins er aðr atti þann sað.

The Royal Danish monopoly received 100,000 home made sweaters and 14,000 pairs of socks in 1849, at a time when only 8,000 people lived on the archipelago.

[citation needed] The time of year the sheep will start shedding their wool, is heavily determined by the weather.

The outer layer made up of coarse long hairs, traditionally used for heavy duty clothing, such as thick sweaters for fishermen, or even some early arctic explorers.

[9] Today, the breed is mainly kept for its meat, with a wide variety of local dishes being favoured heavily over foreign inspired culinary art.

Búnaðarstovan (Office for Agriculture) has calculated that locally produced mutton and lamb has an estimated value of 35 million Dkk yearly.

Stamp FR 36 of the Faroe Islands issued on 19 March 1979
Faroese sheep with the town of Sumba in the background