Sheep Round-up

In Iceland, especially in valleys, you often pass large, circular buildings that look like an eye or a cut cake from above. The buildings are mostly made of wood or metal - they are "réttir", where the region's sheep are distributed to the farms in the autumn after they have been driven from the high pastures.

The sheep drive is always a special local event in September in Iceland - people come together, often the relatives and friends who now live in the city come, and together the sheep are driven down from the high pastures and finally into such large pens like this one near Hveragerði sorted by farm. And when the work is done, people often talk, eat, sing and celebrate for a long time.

However, many of the sheep go straight to the slaughterhouse after the rounding.

Icelandic cuisine has many delicious dishes made with lamb and mutton. You can of course also find corresponding recipes here on the blog, for example for the traditional meat soup ( kjötsúpa ), a leg of lamb from the oven, many stew dishes such as lambakjöt með curry or fried hearts , not to mention the classic sheep's head ( svið ).

By the way, lamb is also used in making the classic Icelandic hot dog sausages!

[Translated from here.]