Craig Schneider Photography

The Round-Up

In September, Iceland celebrates its faming culture and history with the "rettir," or sheep round-up. During the rettir, which can take up to a week, farmers set off on horseback to herd thousands of sheep down from the summer pastures and into pens to be identified and sorted. Family and friends reunite to watch and participate in the sorting, and the event has become increasingly popular with tourists in recent years.

One of the largest rettirs, or sheep round-ups, is in Hunkubakkar in South Iceland. During this year's round-up, about 20 farmers gathered to sort more than 7,000 sheep, and accomplished the feat in just four hours.
   
Farmers ride into the highlands on horseback and quads about four days before the sorting process to gather the sheep that have been grazing on the land all summer. The farmers then herd the flock through Hunkubakkar as locals and tourists watch and cheer.
   
Locals gather on a hilltop in Hunkabukkar to watch as farmers herd the sheep through town on the way to the holding pen in the valley.
     
  
A local farmer drags his sheep to his pen in the traditional way, by the horns. About 20 farmers came to the rettir to identify and sort their flock from the herd of more than 7,000 sheep, a process that nornally takes about four hours with the help of friends and family.
   
Some farmers have the uncanny ability to identify their sheep by sight. To be certain, however, they'll also check for ear tags with numbers and letters that correspond to their specific farm and round-up area.
   
Farmers herded more than 7,000 sheep down from the highlands to this corral in Hunkabukkar in South Iceland. Locals, their families, and tourists came to watch and help identify and sort the animals into about 20 different holding pens, one for each farm.
     
  
Two boys try to hang onto a sheep, a process that takes as much strength and determination as teamwork.
   
Several times every hour, Icelanders gather in the main holding pen, flapping their arms and yelling "hup", to help herd about 200 of the more than 7,000 sheep into the center circle for sorting.
   
Helgi Vilberg Johannsson holds one of his sheep's horns, branded with his initials. The horns can sometimes break off in the rettir as the sheep jump on top of one another.
     
  
Helgi Johannsson pulls one of his 700 sheep from the main lot, working with his daughter to corral them all in his farm's pen.
   
Despite the rettir's popularity, the diversification of the farming industry away from lamb, rapid urbanization, and erosion, have forced many of Iceland's sheep farmers to go out of business or sell to larger farms in the area.