Established in 1908, Sölufélag Austur Húnvetninga (SAH) has been one of the first slaughterhouses in Iceland. It is a cooporative, owned by the farmers in the district of Austur Húnavatnssýsla, as well as other farmers who do buisness with the company.

The turnover in 2003 was 636.000.000 ISK (about 7.4 mio €). A similar turnover is expected for the year of 2004.

The oldest parts of the buildings are from 1930, but the processing halls have been renewed continuosly. The sheep slaughtering line was redesigned and renewed in 1997. The line for cattle, pigs and horses in 1996, and the meat processing area was renewed in 1996-1997.

The Icelandic lamb is the core of our business. The lamb is born in May, grazed in the highlands during the short summer, and then gathered and slaugthered in September and October. To supply fresh meet, the season can be stretched to August and November if neccesary. Afther gathering, the lambs are trucked to SAH for slaughtering, which is done in accordance with EEC standards. After slaughtering, the meat is cooled down, and then put into freezer or into distribution if demand is for fresh meat.

As agricultural and market demands have developed, the company has expanded. Now the annual killing is 92.000 lambs, 2.000 horses and 1.000 cattle. On annual basis SAH employs on average 40 people, but that varies over the year. During the lamb slaughtering season up to 90 people work for SAH, but during the winter time it goes down to about 25. Thereby SAH is one of the biggest companies in the village of Blönduós, and a very important player in the local community.