Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.08.2005, Side 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 26 August 2005
píeneer ín
\m in Ganr/óo
People from Canada, the United States
and lceland attended the recent lceFest in
Kinmount, Ontario. Stefanía
Sveinbjarnardóttir-Dignum was there
with her daughter Louise and they in-
troduced lcelandic sheep to the visitors.
Steinþór Guðbjartsson heard a familiar
sound and checked it out.
About 25 years ago, Ste-
fanía and her husband
moved to their farm
in Parham in eastem Ontario,
about 56 km north of Kingston.
They came from traditional
sheep countries, she from Ice-
land and he from England, and
they wanted to have sheep as
their primary livestock. Stefanía
envisioned nothing but the Ice-
landic sheep, and in 1985 her
dream became a reality.
“I got a permit to export 12
sheep from Iceland to Canada,
chartered a plane and flew two
rams and 10 ewes to Quebec,”
she recalls. “After the sheep had
been in quarantine for 30 days,
I picked them up and got them
to our farm in July, 1985.”
Ali ewes lambed during
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PHOTO: STEINPÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Stefanía Sveinbjarnardóttir-Dignum and her daughter Louise with Icelandic sheep in Kinmount.
their first spring in Canada, and
later they imported 12 rams and
62 ewes. “Our goal has always
been to promote the Icelandic
meat sheep and the Icelandic
wool,” Stefanía says. “One time
our purebred Icelandic flock
was 110 head but now we are
down to 50. My husband is not
very interested in the business
and now that my daughter has
left, I have to take sole care of
the sheep. That’s why I want to
lower the number.”
According to Stefanía,
there are about 6,000 Icelandic
sheep in North America. They
sell sheep all over Canada and
some to the United States. Fur-
thermore, they sell wool for
handspinners, yams, sheepskin
rugs and frozen lamb meat. “I
was the first one to import Ice-
landic sheep to North America
and now the stock is fairly sta-
ble,” she says. “I think it is here
to stay.”
Stefanía is proud of her ac-
complishment. Her dog Trygg-
ur is pure Icelandic and at one
time she also had Icelandic
horses. “I was the second one
to have the Icelandic set — a
dog, a horse and a sheep,” she
says. “A woman in BC beat me
by three weeks.”
Annual meeting
coming up
Theyearly Annual General
Meeting of the Icelandic Sheep
Breeders of North America
(ISBONA) is scheduled to be
held in conjunction with the
New York State Sheep & Wool
Festival, in Rheinbeck, NY on
October 15 and 16.
Stefanía Sveinbjamar-
dóttir has been called the
“godmother” of the Icelandic
sheep in North America. She
is a proud member of ISBONA
(www.isbona.com/isbona.
html). Its purpose is to provide
information about Icelandic
sheep to the general public and
to facilitate the exchange of
information between members
and breeders. ISBONA also
promotes the special attributes
and products of the Icelandic
sheep.
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