Iceland's Majority

According to the internet, Iceland has more sheep than people (500,000 sheep to 300,000 people) and much of its land is devoted to pasture.  Which makes sense, because there's not much else besides grass and other small plants and sheep are incredibly efficient at converting plant mass to energy.  Icelandic sheep are an especially hardy breed, originally brought to Iceland by Viking settlers.  There's a small subset of the population called "leader sheep," which apparently are smarter than the rest.  A leader sheep is necessary to keep the flock out of trouble when they're turned loose to graze.

We had the good fortune to arrive in Iceland for the tail end of the lambing season, and the even better fortune to be offered the chance to visit a sheep farm.  Sheep usually have 2 lambs, and the lambs are kept for a year before either being kept for breeding or sold for their meat.  One sheep only goes for about 80$ tops! 

The little lambs are pretty cute.  They are very active and bounce all over the place!  They're curious but the slightest scare will send them running off to their mother.  We saw one lamb that was only two hours old!

The inside of a sheep barn is pretty crowded and smelly. 

Some sheep out to pasture.

One of two sheep dogs on the farm.  With not too many sheep outside to keep an eye on, this dog is far more concerned with getting someone to throw this stick for him!