Welcome to Får Seasons Hotel. We gave the sheep barn this name because the building is only used during part of the year.

Every October, our ewes and rams move into the sheep barn, and in connection with this move we shear them. We then divide them into groups of approximately 50 ewes. At the end of October, one ram is introduced into each group. After one month, the rams are moved back into a separate group.

Five months later, in April, we welcome around 600 lambs. When the lambs are between three and six weeks old, they are moved out to pasture together with their mothers.

Our guests are warmly welcome to enter and greet our bottle-fed lambs—they are very accustomed to people, as they have grown up with us feeding them by hand.

Here at Får Seasons Hotel, there are around 350 ewes that each year give birth to approximately 600 lambs. We also have fifteen rams.

That lambing takes place in spring is genetically determined. The Gotland sheep breed is only in heat during autumn and therefore lambs only in spring—an adaptation to our Nordic climate so that there is sufficient food on the pastures. Keeping the ewes indoors during winter has several advantages. We can monitor their health and ensure they receive enough nutrition. Lambing indoors also has several benefits: we can make sure the lambs receive enough milk while also protecting the young lambs from ravens and foxes.

When the ewes lamb, they give birth to between one and three lambs. Younger ewes more often have one lamb, while older ewes usually have two or three.

All lambs are born indoors within the group, among other ewes and lambs. We do this to avoid the stress that moving to another group with new individuals would cause. After lambing, we move the ewe and her lambs into a closed lambing pen. This gives them peace and quiet and ensures that the lambs first receive the vital colostrum and then milk, while also protecting them from other ewes who sometimes try to take over the lambs.

When the lamb is a few hours old, we open the pen so that the ewe can go out and eat. Often, the lambs also leave the pen on their own. After a few more hours, we move the ewe and her lambs back into the group, and the next ewe that has just lambed can move in.

Nature can be cruel. Unfortunately, not all lambs survive. Some are stillborn, and some die shortly after birth. Often, we do not know why.

If a lamb does not receive colostrum during the first hours of life, it does not get the necessary antibodies, proteins, enzymes, and hormones. The lamb then weakens quickly, and the chances of survival rapidly decrease. When a ewe is ill or does not have enough milk in her udder, the first step is to try to have another ewe adopt the lamb. If a ewe refuses to accept her lamb, we place her and the lamb in a special pen and restrain the ewe’s head so that she cannot deny the lamb access to milk. Sometimes the ewe eventually accepts the lamb or lambs, but not always. In those cases, we take care of the lamb ourselves, and it becomes what we call a bottle-fed lamb.

When a ewe cannot or will not provide enough food for her lamb, we take over and feed the lamb using a bottle with a teat.

As soon as we see that a lamb is not receiving enough food and nutrition, we move it to a special pen with other lambs. There, the lambs are first bottle-fed and later fed using an automatic feeding station. The lambs then grow up in the pen during their first weeks of life under close supervision, before being moved to a pasture near Café Fårhagen, where they stay during the summer.

Our guests are warmly welcome to enter and greet our bottle-fed lambs—they are very accustomed to people, as they have grown up with us feeding them by hand.

The bond between ewe and lamb is created immediately after birth, and communication takes place through scent and sound.

When the lamb is born, the ewe immediately begins to lick it and then recognizes the lamb by its scent.

Sounds are also a way for ewes and lambs to recognize and find each other within the flock. The ewe bleats with soft, low tones that differ from ordinary bleating. If you scan the QR code, you can hear the communication between the ewe and the lamb.

Öströö Sheep Farm is almost self-sufficient in feed for our animals. Every summer, we cut grass and bale it for feeding during the winter.

During the period when the ewes and rams are housed in the sheep barn, we feed them every day, and during lambing often a couple of times per day.

As lambing approaches, we need to give our ewes extra nutrition and energy. We then mix in grain that we have sown and harvested on our own land, often a mix of barley and peas. Before and during lambing, we also add minerals that the ewes need.

All the wool shorn at Öströö Sheep Farm is taken care of and used in various ways. When the sheep are shorn, the wool is collected and sorted.

How the wool is used differs depending on when the sheep are shorn. In autumn, the wool is very fine. The sheep have spent the entire summer outdoors, and the wool can be used for yarn, handicraft products, and decoration. In spring, the sheep have been housed indoors during the winter, lying on straw, and the quality is not as high. In that case, we send the wool to a company on Gotland where they produce wool pellets that can be placed in flower beds to improve plant growth. A large portion of the wool, from both autumn and spring shearing, is sold in the craft shop to be used as a deterrent against deer in gardens. Deer strongly dislike the smell of sheep wool.

All our sheep and lambs spend the entire summer, from May to October, on pastures adjacent to Öströö Sheep Farm.

We often move the animals from one pasture to another to improve growth conditions. Moving the animals also helps combat parasites that affect all our ruminants. The cows eat the sheep’s parasites, and the sheep eat the cows’ parasites—this is why we rotate pastures.

To help us with moving the animals, we have our loyal herding dogs. Öströö Sheep Farm has two herding dogs: Tommy, who lives on the farm with his handler, and Harry, who works on the farm and goes home with his handler, our animal and agricultural manager. Tage, Kristian and Jeanette’s herding dog, also comes to help us during the day. All the dogs are of the Border Collie breed.

From May 1 to August 31, we offer guided tours to lively lambs and shaggy cows in our beautiful natural surroundings.

We set out across Öströö’s wide-open landscapes and drive through our beautiful beech forest. The ride takes us into our pastures, where the animals curiously approach the wagons.

During the tour, the driver talks about our operation as an organic farm and visitor destination, our farm, and our animals. Our lamb safari is a fun and unique experience for both children and adults. The tour lasts approximately 45 minutes.

Scan the QR code to read more and make a booking.

In the 1990s, Öströö Sheep Farm expanded its livestock with a herd of Highland Cattle.

Around twenty Highland Cattle cows, one bull, young stock, and several shaggy calves live here on our farm. Our herd lives outdoors all year round, and during the winter months we feed them with silage—preserved grass—out in the pastures.

Our cows have one calf per cow each year, and our bull is the father of all our calves. The bull runs with the cows during the summer, and in spring we welcome new calves.