Seimur at work

[Smalahundur]

These are some pictures of Seimur working today (6. October 2018). This kind of work is what we do most this time of the year; the organized roundups are done, but not all sheep have been found. These two we spotted from the road, they are in the hills over our farm. Not our own, from the next farm , 6 km down the road. On the last pic you can see our farm in the distance.

Seimur is just 16 months old, but doing a great job. I would rather not have put him to work like this, but my main dog´s eyesight has deteriorated to the point I can´t use her anymore. I had to change gears and find out how to use him. Big part of that was daring to trust him....It turned out he was more than ready for the responsibility.

These kind of jobs are not easy; an ewe with just her lamb is much more likely to challenge a dog, defending her lamb, than a group of sheep. Also they are completety non- dogged (no working dog on their farm) and to top it all off they have no interest in going to our farm, they´d rather go home! But Semmi, in stark contrast with Gláma is a courageous dog, and we got the job done, just called my neigbour he can come and pick his sheep up, they are in the stable.

 

[Hooper2]

Thanks for posting these gorgeous pictures.  I've been thinking for a while that I really want to visit Iceland - I'm a great fan of aurora borealis.  Your picture of your farm makes me think I don't want to visit after all.  I want to live there!

[Maja]

This is absolutely spectacular! And the sheep have such lovely wool! 

[Journey]

Fantastic pictures and a nice boy! Sometimes it takes trusting your dog to really see what they can do. It's nice when they so you so much and makes the next step easier. 

[terrecar]

I second maja’s comment. Your sheep have such long, luxurious wool. They are gorgeous.

 

ETA: Or I should say your neighbor’s sheep, but I am assuming yours are similar

[Smalahundur]

Thanks everybody.  I must admit these pictures are a bit deceptive, autumn has hit, and this was a rare beautiful frosty day with hardly any wind. But lately there have been quite some with stormy weather, sleet, snow and rain showers...Days are shortening quickly, the long dark winter is coming, there are reasons this part of the world is rather sparsely populated. But yeah, I would not want to live elsewhere.

The fleece is beautiful, for interested people, here is some info about it https://www.icewear.is/us/what-makes-icelandic-wool-special The sheep, and especially the lambs looktheir best right now, coming down the mountains in full fleece.

[Maja]

Smalahundur,

Don't worry we ain't fooled for a second, and nobody is dreaming secretly of moving to Iceland .  

[amc]

The sheep have such beautiful and interesting faces, full of character.  Good job, Semmi!  Were you on horseback or afoot, Smalahundur?

Amy

[Smalahundur]

Yeah, before I got into sheepkeeping I would not have believed how different two sheep can look, even when they are both white and horned ( "regular" though we also have polled  and quite a variety of color). 

I wasn't on horseback this time, they were not that far away, and the lower parts of terrain are peat moors, most places you can walk through them ( in your wellies) but horses can get in trouble.