Sheep and Rettir Gallery
Black. White. Multi-coloured. No matter the colour, they’re all fat. A gallery for those passionate about sheep. Admit it, this is the one that you’ve been waiting for.
Verskrikte sheep on the road
When everyone else was breeding sheep for uniformity, Iceland was doing the opposite
By autumn the ladies are extremely well-fed
Don’t mess with me
Sheep in the wild interior of Iceland, where only super-jeeps (and sheep) go
San-Marié finds a good vantage point at the rettir
Sheep arrive for the regional rettir, the annual round-up and sorting of the island’s free-roaming sheep
A farmer’s wife demonstrates the proper technique for walking a sheep to the correct pen, once you’ve captured one of yours
The same technique is used by all
Even the younger generation display good mastery of the sheep-walk
Sometimes it takes two to move a stubborn sheep
Hard work for some; the best game of the year for others
A sheep escapes its handler, to the delight of two young trainees
Towards the end of the sorting, things get rather tight in the pens
Packed in like sardines
Maybe if everyone lines up, there’ll be more space?
Sorted and ready to go
Each farmer’s sheep in their own pen, with one truck already loaded on the outside.
Two satisfied sheep farmers survey a packed pen
More kibbitzing than working going on here
The inevitable and traditional conclusion to a rettir (ok, I admit the pasta with blue cheese sauce is not that traditional)
Such beauties. The other galleries are pale in comparison.
Some rough looking weapons on these babies heads compared to local North Eastern Cape Merino breed. SM – may have missed it are they farmed more for wool or meat … looking at lamb piece on plate pic it looks the latter
Definitely both meat and wool, Gramps. Have a look at how many of the locals at the rettir are wearing those thick Icelandic jerseys with the patterns around the collar. Icelanders LOVE those jerseys – even rock bands wear them on stage, as we saw at the Akureyri music festival.