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by avar 3410 days ago
Leaving aside that these numbers seem like some April Fools' gag...

    > But the shepherd must manage the sheep year round.
You're obviously just making stuff up and not familiar with how this is done in Iceland.

Sheep aren't being constantly herded around. During the winter they're inside a barn because everything is covered in snow, during the entirety of the summer they free range getting fatter, raising lambs etc. In the autumn there's a big coordinated herding event (göngur) where farmers and volunteers in an entire area coordinate to herd all the free-range sheep into pens for the winter.

So literally nobody in the country works as a full-time sheepherder. Since it's all over in a matter of days.

1 comments

> You're obviously just making stuff up

I am passingly familiar with sheep and cattle management on a small farm in the US, and based my assumptions on this process.

> and not familiar with how this is done in Iceland.

That, however, is true. Your description is fascinating! So Icelandic shepherds aren't managing the sheep during the summer? No feeding, medicating, breeding, etc?