Just a note about scurred Icelandics:

It's important to remember that the Icelandic breed of sheep is a commercial meat breed in Iceland.  Much of the breeding emphasis has been placed on meat production and wool to some extent rather than for perfect horns or clear polled animals.  Most farmers make every effort to keep the two varieties seperate, but it has been and still is common, both in Iceland and in North America to occasionally cross both polled and horned varieties for various reasons.  These crosses, in some cases, can produce animals with what are called "scurs" or "acorns" (small undeveloped horns/ horn buds) mainly in ram lambs.  They can become a management problem and may require some maintenance.  Though not desirable, scurs should be looked at and accepted as a naturally occurring trait among the Icelandic breed and doesn't necessarily lessen the value of the animal.  Because of the mixed horned/polled genetics in Icelandic sheep, it is rare but not uncommon for two entirely polled individuals to produce a horned animal and visa versa.  Many of the horned and polled AI sires in Iceland have mixed genetics.   We try to avoid scurs and look for clear polled individuals in our breeding flock, but we believe it's far more important to choose animals with other superior qualities.  A perfectly polled sheep or one with beautiful horn-set is useless on a mediocre animal.  However, this should be saved for the very best specimens and not used as an excuse not to cull.