Gute sheep are the most primitive breed in the collection of
breeds that make up the Swedish Landrace breed group. These breeds belong to
the North European Short Tailed Breeds and are related to such breeds as the
Finnsheep, Romanov, Spelsau, Shetland, Faroe, Orkney, and Icelandic sheep.
Both rams and ewes have two well-developed, slightly turned,
converging or diverging, symmetrical horns which are strongly curved and deeply
ringed. The rams' horns are large and strong; the ewes' are thinner. Gute wool
is coarse and may be straight or wavy. It is a mixture of fine wool, long
coarser hair, and kemp fibers. Most sheep shed their fleece partly or entirely
in the beginning of the summer.