Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Herding

Herding is the agricultural practice of managing domesticated livestock, such as sheep, cattle, goats, and horses, through activities including caring, controlling, feeding, gathering, moving, tending, and sorting, typically on open ranges or pastures away from concentrated facilities.^[1] This method ensures the animals' access to grazing lands while protecting them from predators and environmental hazards, forming a core component of pastoralism where livestock serve as the primary source of subsistence.^[2] The origins of herding trace back to the Neolithic Revolution, approximately 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, when early human societies in regions like Mesopotamia, sub-Saharan Africa, China, and South America began domesticating wild animals for managed herding rather than hunting.^[3] By around 5,000 years ago, specialized pastoral societies had developed in Eurasia, particularly on the Indo-European steppes, and later in Arabia and African savannas, with groups like the Mongols, Maasai, and Fulani adopting semi-nomadic lifestyles centered on seasonal migrations to optimize pasture use.^[2] These early systems transitioned from basic animal tending to complex economies, where herds functioned as mobile wealth, traded for crops and goods along routes like the Silk Road.^[2] In practice, herding involves diverse strategies adapted to environments, from transhumance—seasonal vertical movement between highlands and lowlands—to more sedentary management on fenced ranches, often employing tools like herding dogs for efficient control of flocks.^[4] Breeds such as Border Collies and Australian Shepherds, developed over centuries, assist by instinctively gathering and directing livestock, reducing labor needs and enhancing safety in remote areas.^[4] Modern herding also incorporates technologies like GPS tracking and drones for monitoring, while regulatory frameworks, such as U.S. labor certifications, address workforce challenges in range-based operations.^[1] Globally, herding remains vital to food security and economies, supporting between 200 and 500 million pastoralists who produce essential dairy, meat, and fiber while sustaining biodiversity through rotational grazing.^[5] However, it faces pressures from climate change, land encroachment, and sedentarization policies, prompting adaptations like integrated crop-livestock systems to balance traditional mobility with contemporary demands.^[5]

Definition and Basics

Core Concept of Herding

Herding is the deliberate, human-directed practice of assembling, controlling, and moving groups of livestock across open ranges or pastures to achieve specific management objectives. This involves mustering animals into cohesive units, guiding their movement through droving techniques, and maintaining group integrity to facilitate efficient resource use.^[6] At its foundation, herding leverages the natural grouping instincts of livestock species, which evolved for survival in wild environments. For instance, cattle exhibit a flight zone—an invisible boundary around the animal beyond which it feels secure—and a point of balance at the shoulder, where pressure from a handler prompts forward movement while pressure behind encourages retreat. These behavioral responses allow humans to intervene effectively without causing undue stress, transforming innate flocking tendencies into directed management.^[7]^[8] The primary purposes of herding include protecting livestock from predators by keeping animals in tight groups, which deters attacks on isolated individuals; providing access to optimal grazing lands through controlled movement; and enabling seasonal migrations to follow available forage and water sources. Herding dogs serve as instinctive assistants in this process, using their predatory drive to gather and direct livestock.^[9]^[6]^[10] Basic terminology distinguishes group compositions: a herd is commonly used for groups of cattle and similar large livestock; a flock for sheep, goats, or poultry; and a drove for cattle or pigs, especially when being driven. These terms underscore the organized nature of herding as a collective endeavor.^[11]^[12]

Types of Herding Practices

Herding practices vary primarily by mobility patterns, environmental adaptations, and organizational structures, influencing how livestock are managed across different ecosystems. These include nomadic and transhumant systems, which involve movement to access seasonal resources, and sedentary approaches that rely on fixed locations. Additionally, practices differ in ownership models, such as communal sharing versus individual control, and in operational scale, from family-based units to expansive commercial enterprises.^[13]^[14]^[15] Nomadic herding entails continuous movement without a permanent base, typically in arid or semi-arid regions where herders follow rainfall patterns or water sources to sustain pastures. Herders travel in small family or tribal groups, managing herds for subsistence needs like milk and meat while minimizing environmental impact through rotational grazing. In contrast, transhumant herding features predictable seasonal migrations between fixed low-altitude winter pastures and high-altitude summer grazing areas, allowing for some settlement integration. This practice is common in mountainous or Mediterranean environments, such as the European Alps where sheep and cattle are moved annually, or in arid African zones where southward dry-season treks access crop residues. Both nomadic and transhumant approaches adapt to livestock like sheep or cattle, promoting resilience in variable climates.^[13]^[14]^[16] Sedentary ranching, also known as stationary pastoralism, involves managing herds on enclosed or designated lands without migration, prevalent in industrialized agricultural settings with reliable water and feed resources. Herds are confined to large tracts, often fenced, enabling year-round grazing on improved pastures or supplemented forage, as seen in Australian or North American operations. This method supports higher stocking densities but requires infrastructure to prevent overgrazing and disease spread.^[13]^[17]^[14] Communal herding emphasizes collective ownership and labor, where multiple households pool animals into shared herds managed by designated herders, fostering risk-sharing and efficient resource use in resource-scarce areas. For instance, in Eritrean semi-sedentary communities like the Beni-Amer, families combine livestock into large groups (known as murah) herded by clan members who receive compensation in kind. This contrasts with individual herding, where private operators control and manage their own herds independently, often on allocated or privatized lands, prioritizing personal economic goals over group dynamics. Cooperative systems in indigenous groups, such as those in East African pastoral societies, highlight communal practices' role in social cohesion and sustainable land access.^[18]^[19]^[20] Scale differences further distinguish herding, with small-scale family operations relying on household labor to manage modest herds—often 10-50 animals—for subsistence and local markets, using indigenous knowledge to navigate rangelands. These are typical in pastoral communities globally, supporting an estimated 200-500 million people worldwide and contributing 15-40% (up to 60% in some rangeland-dominant countries) to dryland agricultural GDP, as of 2019. Large commercial operations, however, involve hundreds or thousands of livestock on vast properties, emphasizing efficiency, mechanization, and export-oriented production, as in U.S. or Argentine ranches where economies of scale reduce costs but demand significant capital investment.^[21]^[22]^[23]

Historical Development

Origins in Prehistoric and Ancient Societies

The transition from hunter-gatherer societies to early herding practices marked a pivotal shift in human subsistence strategies during the Neolithic period, beginning around 11,500 calibrated years before present (cal BP), or approximately 9500 BCE, in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia. This region, encompassing parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, saw the initial management of wild animals such as goats and sheep, evolving into domestication by about 10,000 cal BP. Archaeological evidence from sites like Ganj Dareh in the Zagros Mountains (dated to 9900 cal BP) reveals early goat herding through changes in culling patterns, where young males were preferentially killed to preserve breeding females, indicating human control over herd demographics rather than opportunistic hunting. Similarly, at Nevali Çori (10,500 cal BP) and Abu Hureyra (9600 cal BP), faunal remains show a decline in gazelle hunting and an increase in managed caprines, reflecting a strategic move toward sustainable animal husbandry. Göbekli Tepe, a monumental site in southeastern Turkey dating to around 9600–8200 cal BCE, while primarily associated with hunter-gatherer feasting on wild ungulates like gazelle and aurochs, suggests social gatherings that may have facilitated the exchange of knowledge on animal management, preceding fuller domestication nearby. Sheep domestication specifically occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 BCE in Southwest Asia, with genetic evidence pointing to Central Anatolia as a primary center, supported by early herding at sites like Aşıklı Höyük.^[24]^[24]^[24]^[24]^[25]^[26] Herding practices also developed independently in other regions. In East Asia, particularly northern China, domestication of pigs and cattle began around 8000 BCE at sites like Cishan and Jiahu, integrating with early millet and rice cultivation. In sub-Saharan Africa, goats were domesticated by around 5000 BCE in regions like Kenya and Tanzania, as evidenced by sites such as Gogo Falls, supporting pastoral economies alongside fishing and gathering. In South America, camelids such as llamas and alpacas were domesticated in the Andes by approximately 5000 BCE, with archaeological evidence from sites like Telarmachay showing managed herds for wool, meat, and transport in highland environments.^[27]^[28]^[29] In ancient Mesopotamia, herding of sheep and goats became formalized by the third millennium BCE, integral to Sumerian urban economies centered around temple complexes like ziggurats. These animals were primarily valued for secondary products—wool and milk—alongside sacrificial and meat uses, with administrative texts from the Ur III period (circa 2100–2000 BCE) documenting herd management norms, such as annual deliveries of butter oil (5 sila per cow) and cheese (7.5 sila per cow) from dairy herds, and similar yields from goats (0.5 sila butter oil and 0.75 sila cheese per nanny goat). Wool production was equally critical, with large-scale shearing and textile output supporting temple redistribution systems, as evidenced by cuneiform records tracking thousands of sheep under state-supervised herders. In contemporary ancient Egypt, sheep and goat herding emerged during the Neolithic (circa 5400–4000 BCE) in the Fayum region, where faunal assemblages show sheep outnumbering goats, providing milk, wool, and offerings in early agricultural settlements. By the Old Kingdom (circa 2686–2181 BCE), herding supported the Nile Valley's mixed economy, with isotopic analysis of animal remains indicating trade in live sheep and goats from the southern Levant for wool and sacrificial purposes, integrating pastoralism with flood-based farming. Herding drew briefly on natural flocking instincts of caprines, which facilitated group management in open landscapes.^[30]^[30]^[30]^[31]^[32] Further east, the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan phase, circa 2600–1900 BCE) demonstrates early pastoralism focused on cattle herding, with zooarchaeological evidence from urban sites like Harappa and Rakhigarhi showing cattle comprising 50–60% of faunal remains, many preserved until 3–3.5 years of age to maximize dairy production. Lipid residue analysis of pottery confirms limited but present ruminant fat processing, underscoring cattle's role in a mixed agro-pastoral system alongside wheat and barley cultivation. Key developments in these ancient societies included the beginnings of selective breeding, evident in Neolithic sites like Gritille Höyük (seventh millennium BCE) through morphological changes such as reduced body size in sheep and goats (e.g., cattle phalanges averaging 56 mm versus 81–109 mm in wild forms) and helical horn cores in goats, resulting from human-controlled reproduction favoring traits like docility and productivity. This herding innovation integrated seamlessly with agriculture, as seen across the Fertile Crescent where animal management concurrent with plant cultivation by 10,000 cal BP enhanced food security and surplus generation, laying foundations for sedentary communities.^[33]^[33]^[34]^[34]^[24]

Evolution in Medieval and Modern Eras

In medieval Europe, herding practices were deeply embedded in the feudal manorial system, where lords controlled vast estates and peasants managed livestock on communal open fields. Under this structure, common lands allowed for shared grazing of sheep, cattle, and other animals, integrating pastoral activities with arable farming in a three-field rotation that left portions fallow for herd browsing. Shepherding communities, particularly in regions like central Italy, organized around transhumance routes to seasonally move flocks between highlands and lowlands, fostering specialized herding networks that supported the wool trade.^[35] The Black Death, which devastated populations between 1347 and 1351, exacerbated labor shortages in agriculture, prompting a shift from labor-intensive crop cultivation to less demanding pastoralism, such as expanded sheep herding, as landowners adapted to reduced workforce availability.^[36] This transition improved wages for surviving laborers over subsequent generations but entrenched economic inequalities by favoring elite property holders.^[37] During the colonial era in the Americas, European cattle herding was introduced by Spanish settlers in the 16th century, transforming indigenous landscapes into expansive ranchos. Cattle arrived via expeditions like those of Nuño de Guzmán in 1529–1530, originating from Cuba and adapting Iberian open-range techniques from regions like the Marismas of Seville to Mexico's tropical lowlands.^[38] Vaqueros, skilled mestizo and Spanish herders, managed these herds using branding, long drives, and minimal tools like herding poles, establishing a vaquero tradition that emphasized horsemanship and roping.^[38] By the mid-1500s, this system had spread northward, influencing emerging cowboy culture through vaquero expertise in equipment, language (e.g., terms like "riata" and "buckaroo" derived from Spanish), and practices that Anglo-American ranchers later adopted in California and the Great Basin.^[39] The 19th century saw dramatic expansions of herding through long-distance drives amid economic booms. In the American West, post-Civil War cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail, established in 1865 and first used in 1866, transported millions of Texas longhorns northward to Kansas railheads like Abilene, peaking at around 700,000 cattle in 1871 alone.^[40] These drives, covering 10–12 miles daily over 3–4 months, fueled the beef industry but declined by the late 1880s due to barbed wire fencing and expanded railroads.^[40] Similarly, in Australia, stockmen—often called drovers—herded cattle overland to gold rush frontiers, such as from New South Wales stations to Victorian fields in the 1850s and Northern Territory sites like Borroloola by the 1880s, supplying meat to miners while navigating vast, unfenced outback routes.^[41]^[42] Industrialization prompted significant shifts in herding, notably through Britain's enclosure movement from the 1700s to 1800s, which privatized open fields and commons via parliamentary acts, converting arable land to enclosed pastures for sheep to capitalize on wool demand.^[43] This reduced communal grazing rights for smallholders and laborers, displacing traditional herding and intensifying social conflicts, while promoting more efficient, fenced ranching systems managed by larger estates.^[43] By the 19th century, these changes influenced global practices, transitioning herding from open communal models to bounded, commercial operations that prioritized productivity over shared access.^[43]

Methods and Techniques

Traditional Human-Led Herding Methods

Traditional human-led herding methods rely on the herder's direct physical presence, vocalizations, and spatial awareness to control livestock movements without mechanical or animal assistance. In driving techniques, herders position themselves strategically at the front, flanks, or rear of the herd to guide animals along predetermined paths toward grazing areas or enclosures, leveraging the animals' natural flocking instincts to maintain cohesion over long distances.^[13] Gathering involves herders circling or approaching the periphery of dispersed livestock to consolidate them into a unified group, often using repetitive calls or shouts to signal direction and prevent straying during transitions between pastures.^[13] These methods, honed through generations in nomadic pastoral systems, emphasize the herder's intimate knowledge of terrain and animal behavior to navigate seasonal migrations efficiently.^[44] Predator deterrence in traditional herding centers on vigilant manual guarding, where herders employ simple weapons such as wooden staffs for prodding threats or slings to hurl stones at approaching carnivores like wolves or coyotes, thereby intimidating and repelling them without lethal force.^[45] Night watches form a core practice, with herders maintaining constant surveillance around the herd in vulnerable open areas, often rotating shifts to ensure uninterrupted protection.^[46] This hands-on approach not only minimizes losses but also fosters a defensive posture that integrates the herder's physical endurance with environmental cues. Grazing management through rotational patterns allows herders to prevent overgrazing by systematically shifting herds between pastures, permitting vegetation recovery while optimizing forage quality across diverse landscapes.^[46] In some pastoral traditions, such as among the Wodaabe of West Africa, movements are timed according to lunar cycles, with camps relocated every two to three days during waxing phases to align with cooler nights and reduced parasite exposure.^[46] These practices promote ecological balance by distributing grazing pressure and adapting to seasonal rainfall patterns observed over centuries. Health monitoring in traditional herding incorporates basic veterinary interventions performed manually by herders, including foot trimming to address lameness caused by overgrown hooves or infections, where affected areas are washed with warm water and decayed tissue is carefully removed to restore mobility.^[47] Parasite control relies on herbal remedies derived from local plants, such as wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) using extracts effective against gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep and goats, providing a culturally embedded alternative to modern pharmaceuticals.^[48] These techniques, passed down through oral traditions, enable early detection and treatment during routine inspections, sustaining herd vitality in remote settings.^[49]

Use of Herding Animals and Assistance

Herding animals play a crucial role in augmenting human efforts to manage livestock, leveraging their instincts and training to control movement over varied terrains. Herding dogs, in particular, are essential partners in directing sheep, cattle, and other stock, employing innate predatory behaviors modified for non-lethal control. Breeds such as the Border Collie exemplify this, utilizing an intense "eye" stare to fixate and intimidate livestock, vocal barking to signal or intimidate, and chasing to guide or gather the herd, all derived from amplified predatory sequences like stalking and pursuit while suppressing biting instincts.^[50] Training for herding dogs emphasizes harnessing these natural tendencies through structured methods, including instinct tests that assess a dog's innate drive to herd by observing responses to livestock in controlled settings, helping identify suitable working candidates early. Once selected, dogs learn commands via voice and whistle signals, with Border Collies capable of mastering up to 60 such cues for precise control during tasks like outruns or drives, often starting with basic obedience and progressing to flock-specific exercises.^[51]^[52] Mounted assistance from horses enhances herding efficiency, particularly for large-scale operations involving cattle, where riders cover extensive distances to monitor and redirect herds during drives or roundups. Horses enable quick maneuvers essential for techniques like "cutting," in which a trained mount isolates strays or specific animals from the main group by positioning the rider to block and turn the target livestock, reducing the physical strain on herders and allowing control over vast open ranges.^[53]^[54] Beyond dogs and horses, other species provide specialized assistance in herding contexts. Goats sometimes serve as "leader" animals within sheep herds, capitalizing on their bold exploratory behavior to guide the flock to new grazing areas or through unfamiliar terrain, as observed in mixed-species groups where a dominant goat establishes a path that sheep follow due to their flocking tendencies.^[55] In South American herding practices, llamas act as guardian animals for sheep and goat flocks, deterring predators like coyotes through aggressive displays, spitting, or charging, thereby reducing losses without the need for constant human vigilance.^[56]^[57] Competitive sheepdog trials showcase the refined partnership between herders and dogs, serving as demonstrations of practical skills where handlers direct their dogs via whistles and voice to perform tasks like fetching, driving, and penning livestock on a course, evaluated for precision, control, and minimal stress to the animals. These events highlight the dogs' trained instincts in simulated farm scenarios, promoting breeding and training standards among working breeds.^[58]^[59]

Herding by Livestock Type

Cattle and Large Ruminant Herding

Cattle and large ruminant herding encompasses the management of robust animals such as cattle and water buffalo, which demand strategies attuned to their strength, flight responses, and group behaviors. Long-distance drives formed a cornerstone of historical practices, notably in the U.S. Great Plains, where routes like the Great Western Trail extended about 2,000 miles from southern Texas northward through nine states, enabling the transport of an estimated six million head of cattle to railheads and markets between the 1870s and 1890s.^[60]^[61] For example, in 1874, drover John T. Lytle guided a herd of 3,500 Texas longhorns from Medina County, Texas, to Red Cloud Agency in present-day Nebraska, navigating vast open ranges while maintaining herd cohesion over weeks or months.^[62] A key challenge during these drives was managing stampedes—sudden, chaotic flights triggered by noise, predators, or weather—where herders applied the point-of-balance technique, positioning themselves relative to the animal's shoulder to direct movement and restore order without entering the flight zone, thus reducing panic and losses.^[63]^[8] Ownership identification relies on traditional branding and marking methods tailored to large ruminants' durable hides and ears. Hot-iron branding applies a heated symbol to the flank or hip, creating a permanent scar for ranch or herd affiliation, a practice refined in 19th-century American ranching to deter theft amid expansive grazing lands.^[64] Complementing this, ear-notching cuts precise V-shaped or rectangular patterns into the ear's edge—such as starting from the tip and progressing inward—to encode numerical or symbolic identifiers, allowing quick visual recognition without invasive tools.^[65]^[66] These techniques, often performed during roundups, ensure traceability in herds numbering thousands, though they require skill to avoid infection or distress. In arid and semi-arid regions, effective water and forage management drives migratory herding patterns, as large ruminants consume substantial volumes—typically 40-120 liters (about 10-30 gallons) of water daily per animal, varying by body weight, temperature, and production stage—necessitating routes to perennial sources.^[67] Herders in such environments, including pastoralists in East Africa and the American Southwest, time migrations to align with seasonal river flows and regrowth, herding cattle to riparian corridors for drinking and grazing while rotating pastures to prevent overgrazing and soil degradation.^[68]^[69] For water buffalo, a key large ruminant in Asian systems, strategies involve directing herds via lead animals and wooden rods to wallows or streams, capitalizing on their affinity for aquatic cooling to sustain productivity in hot, dry climates.^[70]^[71] Regional practices reflect environmental and cultural adaptations; Mexican vaquero traditions, originating in the 16th century on colonial haciendas, prioritize mounted roping and lariat use to corral semi-feral cattle across rugged terrains, techniques that spread northward via Spanish missions.^[72] In Australia, droving emerged in the late 1800s as overland expeditions moved herds thousands of kilometers through the arid outback to ports or abattoirs, relying on horseback relays and water-hole scouting to cover up to 20 kilometers daily.^[73]^[74] Herding dogs in these contexts often employ a bold staring method to intimidate and redirect cattle, contrasting with the subtler eyeing used for sheep.^[75]

Sheep, Goat, and Smaller Herd Management

Sheep and goats, as smaller herd animals, are managed through techniques that capitalize on their distinct behavioral traits to maintain mobility and containment. Sheep display a pronounced flocking instinct, where individuals follow a leader, enabling herders to corral groups efficiently by directing the lead animal while the rest follow in a cohesive unit.^[76] This behavior contrasts with goats, which are more independent and prone to scattering, necessitating robust fencing to prevent escapes, particularly due to their climbing agility. For goats, containment relies on high-tensile or woven wire fences at least 39 inches tall, often supplemented with interior electric strands to deter climbing and reduce injury risks from horn entanglement.^[77] Unlike larger ruminants such as cattle, which require fewer anti-climbing measures, goat herding emphasizes secure barriers to support rotational grazing in varied terrains. Shearing and wool production form a core aspect of sheep management, involving seasonal gatherings typically in spring to remove the fleece before summer heat. Historically, this was accomplished using hand shears—long-bladed, scissor-like tools that clipped the wool close to the skin in a single piece, requiring skilled labor to avoid nicks.^[78] The process begins with securing the sheep, followed by separating coarser belly and leg wool from finer body fleece, which is then folded and tied for processing into yarn. This annual clipping not only promotes animal health by preventing heat stress and parasite buildup but also sustains wool as a key renewable fiber in pastoral economies. Milking routines in goat herds demand daily herding to centralized stations, where does are milked twice per day to optimize production for commercial use. Herders drive the group to stanchions or parlors, ensuring hygienic collection while monitoring udder health. Kid separation is a standard practice, occurring shortly after birth to minimize disease transmission like caprine arthritis encephalitis and to reserve colostrum and subsequent milk for human consumption, with kids fed via bottle or bucket.^[79] This separation enhances lactation yields but requires vigilant rearing to support kid growth. Predator deterrence for these smaller herds often incorporates guardian animals tailored to their scale and mobility. Guard dogs, such as Great Pyrenees or Anatolian Shepherds, bond early with the flock and patrol actively, deterring coyotes and foxes through barking and confrontation without harming livestock.^[80] Donkeys serve as cost-effective alternatives, particularly for flocks under 300 head, using their innate aggression—braying, chasing, and kicking—to repel canids and smaller threats in open pastures.^[81] These strategies integrate with fencing to provide layered protection, reducing losses in vulnerable, dispersed herds.

Tools and Equipment

Historical and Traditional Tools

Historical and traditional tools for herding were primarily handmade from natural materials, serving essential functions in guiding, containing, and protecting livestock without reliance on mechanized aids. These implements evolved from basic prehistoric walking aids into specialized devices tailored to regional environments and pastoral needs.^[82] Staffs and crooks formed the cornerstone of herding tools, typically crafted from sturdy woods like ash, maple, or olive with a hooked end for precision handling. The shepherd's crook, a long stick with a flared hook, enabled herders to guide animals by applying gentle pressure, catch stragglers around the neck or leg, and provide physical support during long treks. In Greek pastoral communities, such crooks—known locally as glitsa or katsoúna—also served defensive roles against predators like wolves and marked newborn lambs, with lengths reaching up to three meters in regions like Crete. Regional variations included the Alpine alpenstock, a tall wooden pole tipped with an iron spike, used by medieval shepherds to maintain balance while traversing snowfields and glaciers with herds in the Swiss and Austrian Alps.^[83]^[84]^[85] Whips and lassos complemented staffs by extending a herder's reach for signaling and capture. Leather bullwhips, braided from rawhide and often exceeding ten feet in length, produced a sharp crack to direct cattle without physical contact, a technique central to 19th-century American cattle drives and Florida Cracker traditions where they cleared brush and moved semi-wild herds. In Western cowboy practices, rawhide lassos—derived from Spanish vaquero methods and twisted into durable loops—allowed mounted herders to rope individual animals for sorting or restraint during open-range herding, originating in 16th-century Hispanic America and spreading via Mexican ranch hands.^[86]^[87]^[88] Temporary enclosures provided secure night pens using readily available vegetation to contain herds and deter predators. Woven hurdles, constructed from coppiced hazel or willow rods interlaced into portable panels, were employed from the Middle Ages in British downlands for folding sheep during grazing, shearing, or dipping, offering lightweight barriers that could be quickly assembled and relocated. In arid regions like East Africa, thorn fences made from interwoven acacia branches formed circular bomas to safeguard livestock overnight, a practice sustained by Maasai and other pastoralists for centuries to withstand wildlife threats.^[82]^[89]^[90]^[91] Navigation aids in nomadic herding relied on environmental cues rather than complex instruments, with star-based wayfinding predominant for long-distance migrations. African pastoralists, such as the Fulani, oriented themselves at night using constellations like Orion's Belt and Sirius to traverse vast savannas and deserts, a skill honed through oral traditions and essential for avoiding heat during seasonal movements.^[92]

Contemporary Technological Aids

In the 20th and 21st centuries, motorized vehicles have become essential for efficient herding on expansive ranches, allowing herders to cover large distances quickly and replace or supplement traditional methods like horseback riding. All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and quad bikes enable rapid mustering of livestock, navigating uneven terrain to gather and move herds with greater speed than walking or horse-based approaches. For instance, ATVs facilitate quicker movement of cattle across fields, reducing labor time while maintaining control during herding operations.^[93]^[94] Quad bikes, similarly, have revolutionized farm tasks by providing maneuverability for herding sheep and cattle over rough landscapes, enhancing overall productivity in pastoral management.^[95] Electric fencing technologies have advanced herding by offering flexible, low-maintenance boundaries that contain livestock without permanent structures, allowing for rotational grazing and dynamic herd control. These systems deliver a mild electric shock upon contact, training animals to respect invisible barriers and enabling herders to subdivide pastures efficiently. Portable electric fences, often using polywire or netting, can be quickly deployed and relocated, supporting intensive management on varied terrains for species like sheep and cattle.^[96]^[97] Solar-powered units further enhance portability by energizing fences in remote areas without access to electricity, using rechargeable batteries to maintain consistent voltage for containing herds over extended periods.^[98]^[99] Communication devices have improved coordination among herders, particularly on large-scale operations where teams must synchronize movements across vast areas. Two-way radios provide instant, reliable contact for directing herd movements, alerting to issues like stragglers, and planning mustering routes, thereby reducing response times and enhancing safety.^[100] Early global positioning system (GPS) handheld units assist in navigation and team positioning, allowing herders to map grazing areas and track each other's locations during multi-person operations.^[101] Basic monitoring tools, such as visual ear tags, support herding by enabling quick individual identification of livestock for health checks, sorting, and inventory during mustering. These durable plastic tags, applied to the ear, bear unique numbers or colors visible from a distance, facilitating efficient management without advanced electronics. Placement in the middle third of the ear ensures retention and readability, aiding herders in maintaining herd records and responding to specific animal needs.^[102]^[103]

Herders' Roles and Lifestyles Across Cultures

Herders worldwide engage in labor-intensive occupations that revolve around the care, movement, and protection of livestock, often dictating their entire way of life in harmony with environmental cycles. In nomadic and semi-nomadic societies, such as those in Mongolia, herders follow a dawn-to-dusk routine centered on animal welfare and seasonal migration, with family members collectively participating in tasks like feeding, watering, and route planning to ensure herd health and pasture sustainability.^[104]^[105] These routines typically begin at first light with milking and grazing, extend through midday monitoring for predators or water sources, and conclude after dusk with penning animals and preparing for the next day's movement, occurring several times annually to access fresh grass and avoid overgrazing.^[106] Gender roles in herding vary significantly across cultures, reflecting both traditional divisions of labor and evolving socio-economic pressures. Among the Maasai of East Africa, women bear primary responsibility for milking cattle, caring for calves and sick animals, processing dairy products, and maintaining home-based herds during male absences, while men focus on herding larger groups, protecting against predators, and negotiating pastures.^[107]^[108] This division has intensified with settlement and climate challenges, as women increasingly manage cultivation and sales to supplement pastoral income, retaining about 24% of crop income for personal use such as food, clothing, and school fees.^[109] In contrast, American cowboy culture in the 19th-century West was predominantly male-dominated, with men handling the bulk of cattle drives, roping, and ranch operations, though women on family ranches contributed by riding, herding, and shooting when needed, often defying Eastern gender norms but holding secondary status.^[110] Social organization among herders often emphasizes kinship, cooperation, and hierarchical structures to manage resources and risks collectively. In modern Fulani pastoralist clans across West Africa, families form agnatic lineage groups led by elders selected for descent, age, and wealth, with tasks divided by gender and age—men overseeing herd mobility and women handling milking and dairy trade—enabling seasonal migrations of 10-20 households covering up to 180 miles.^[111]^[112] These clans maintain distinct identities through endogamous marriages and shared cattle ownership, fostering resilience against droughts or conflicts via mutual aid in breeding and grazing. In medieval European pastoral communities, such as those in Aragon, shepherds operated within broader feudal systems but formed cooperative networks for transhumance, pooling labor for seasonal sheep migrations and communal pasture rights to sustain wool economies from the 13th to 17th centuries.^[113] Herders face substantial health risks stemming from their occupational environment, including zoonotic diseases, physical injuries, and isolation. Close contact with livestock exposes them to infections like brucellosis, tuberculosis, and rabies through milking, birthing, or slaughtering, with 74% of Mongolian herding households aware of animal-to-human transmission risks exacerbated by poor sanitation and limited veterinary access.^[114]^[115] Occupational hazards include animal-related injuries, such as kicks or goring, musculoskeletal strains from heavy lifting, and needlestick wounds.^[116]^[117] Additionally, prolonged exposure to extreme weather—such as average winter temperatures of around -22°C and lows reaching -40°C or below in Mongolia or heat in arid zones—combined with remote locations and seasonal mobility, leads to hypothermia, dehydration, and mental health strains from isolation, often delaying medical care due to poor infrastructure. Recent extreme events, like the 2023–2024 dzud, have intensified these risks, with over 7.1 million livestock losses affecting herder mobility and mental health as of early 2024.^[114]^[118]^[119]

Symbolism, Traditions, and Folklore

In various religious traditions, herding serves as a profound metaphor for leadership and divine care, particularly in the Hebrew Bible where the shepherd figure symbolizes guidance and protection. Psalm 23, for instance, portrays God as a shepherd who leads the faithful to green pastures and still waters, establishing a foundational image of benevolent authority that has influenced Christian and Jewish interpretations of leadership as nurturing and restorative.^[120] This motif extends to human rulers, as seen in ancient Near Eastern texts where kings adopted the shepherd archetype to legitimize their rule over nomadic and agrarian communities.^[121] In ancient Judaism, herding also intertwined with sacrificial practices, where livestock from herds and flocks—primarily cattle, sheep, and goats—were offered in rituals to atone for sins or express devotion, as detailed in Leviticus, underscoring the herdsman's role in facilitating communal piety.^[122] Folklore across cultures often romanticizes herding through tales that blend survival, adventure, and the human-animal bond. In Australian bush traditions, drover songs like "The Drover" capture the solitary trials of cattle drivers traversing vast outback routes, evoking themes of endurance and mateship in oral ballads passed down among stockmen.^[123] Similarly, Native American legends, such as the Lakota story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, depict buffalo hunts as sacred quests where the animal's spirit imparts teachings on harmony with nature, with hunters embodying communal responsibility in rituals that ensured the herd's renewal.^[124] These narratives, rooted in oral histories, highlight herding not merely as labor but as a conduit for cultural wisdom and spiritual connection to the land.^[125] Herding inspires vibrant festivals and rituals that celebrate seasonal migrations and communal labor. In New Zealand, the Golden Shears International Shearing and Woolhandling Championships, held annually in Masterton since 1961, honor sheep herders through competitive displays of skill, drawing thousands to witness the precision of shearing thousands of sheep in a single event.^[126] In the European Alps, transhumance celebrations like the Almabtrieb in South Tyrol mark the autumn descent of cattle from high pastures with parades of flower-adorned animals, brass bands, and feasts, preserving a UNESCO-recognized intangible heritage that dates back centuries.^[127] These gatherings reinforce social ties among herders, transforming practical routines into joyous affirmations of heritage. Artistic representations of herding further embed its symbolism in visual and literary traditions. During the Renaissance, painters like Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicted herding in works such as The Return of the Herd (1565), illustrating the seasonal return of livestock to villages against stark autumn landscapes, symbolizing the cyclical harmony of rural life and human diligence.^[128] In modern literature, James Rebanks's The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (2015) chronicles the rhythms of Herdwick sheep farming in England's Lake District, portraying herders as stewards of timeless landscapes amid contemporary pressures, thus bridging folklore with personal narrative.^[129]

Economic and Environmental Significance

Economic Role in Pastoral Economies

Herding plays a central role in the economies of pastoral societies by generating income through the sale of livestock products such as meat, wool, milk, and hides. In many pastoral regions, these sales constitute a primary revenue stream, often accounting for more than half of agricultural GDP. For instance, meat from sheep, goats, and cattle provides a key export commodity, while wool from sheep and cashmere from goats supports textile industries. Milk, processed into dairy products like cheese and yogurt, offers both local consumption and trade value, and hides are utilized for leather goods, contributing to diversified income sources that buffer against market fluctuations.^[130]^[131] In pastoral nations like Mongolia, the livestock sector underpins economic stability, with herding activities linked to approximately 7% of national GDP as of 2024 through direct contributions from animal products and related processing.^[132] This sector employs about one in four Mongolians, primarily in rural areas, and sustains traditional economies by integrating herding with broader agricultural outputs. Globally, such contributions highlight herding's role in poverty alleviation and food security, as seen in exports that bolster national revenues.^[133]^[134] Trade networks have long amplified herding's economic impact, from historical routes like the Silk Road—where woolen textiles and pastoral products from Central Asian nomads were exchanged for silk and other goods—to modern global markets. Along the ancient Silk Road, pastoral economies traded wool, carpets, and hides, fostering cultural and economic interconnections across Eurasia. Today, countries like New Zealand exemplify this through lamb exports, which generated $2.28 billion in 2023, representing about 12% of total goods export value and supporting rural employment and GDP growth. Meat and wool exports from such nations reached $12.3 billion in the year to June 2025, underscoring herding's integration into international trade.^[135]^[136]^[137] Herding serves as a low-capital entry point into economic activity for rural poor populations, requiring minimal infrastructure beyond access to grazing lands and initial livestock acquisition, which can be obtained through communal or family systems. This accessibility contrasts with capital-intensive farming, enabling livelihoods in arid or marginal areas where crop agriculture is unviable. In commercial ranches, herders often operate under structured wage systems, with median annual earnings around $35,000-40,000 in regions like the United States, including benefits like housing, though seasonal variations affect income stability.^[138]^[139] In mixed farming systems, herding integrates with crop production to enhance overall efficiency, as livestock provide manure for soil fertilization—supplying organic matter and nitrogen—and serve as draft animals for plowing and transport. This synergy reduces reliance on synthetic inputs, improves nutrient cycling, and boosts farm productivity in diverse agroecological zones. For example, cattle and donkeys offer traction power while their waste enriches fields, creating closed-loop systems that support sustainable income generation.^[140]^[141]

Environmental Interactions and Sustainability

Herding practices significantly influence ecosystem dynamics through grazing, which can either degrade or enhance environmental health depending on management intensity. Overgrazing reduces vegetative ground cover, leading to increased soil compaction, bare ground exposure, and accelerated erosion from wind and water runoff.^[142]^[143] In contrast, rotational grazing systems mitigate these risks by allowing vegetation recovery periods, thereby improving soil structure, organic matter, and biodiversity.^[144] Such practices have been shown to enhance microbial bioactivity and functional diversity in soils, while supporting greater plant species richness and abundance of invertebrates like dung beetles in grasslands.^[145] Climate variability shapes herding adaptations, particularly in arid regions like the Sahel, where pastoralists employ mobility strategies to cope with droughts. Fulani herders, for instance, practice transhumance—seasonal livestock movement following vegetation and water cycles—to manage feed and water scarcity, reducing overgrazing risks and enhancing resilience to environmental stressors.^[146]^[147] Grasslands under herding also contribute to climate regulation via carbon sequestration, storing approximately one-third of global terrestrial carbon stocks in soils.^[148] Improved grazing management can further boost soil organic carbon accumulation, potentially sequestering 2.3 to 7.3 billion metric tons (2,300–7,300 megatons) of CO₂ equivalent annually by promoting belowground biomass and microbial processes.^[148]^[149] Sustainability in herding relies on practices like holistic management, developed by Allan Savory, which uses planned grazing to mimic natural herd movements and regenerate ecosystems.^[150] This approach focuses on adaptive decision-making to balance resource use, fostering soil health, biodiversity, and long-term land productivity without relying on chemical inputs.^[150] In water-scarce areas, herding interacts with riparian zones, where unmanaged access can cause degradation through trampling, erosion, and reduced plant vigor, elevating stream temperatures and harming aquatic habitats.^[151] However, conservation-oriented herding—such as timing grazing to avoid peak vegetation growth and limiting biomass removal to under 40%—preserves riparian functions, increases native forb diversity, and maintains ecosystem services like water filtration.^[151]^[152]

Modern Challenges and Innovations

Current Challenges Facing Herders

Herders worldwide face multifaceted challenges that threaten the sustainability of pastoral livelihoods, exacerbated by environmental shifts, resource competition, and socioeconomic pressures. These issues, prominent in the 2020s, include intensified climate variability, territorial disputes, health risks to livestock and humans, and restrictive governance frameworks, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where over 200 million people depend on herding for their primary income.^[153] Climate change has profoundly disrupted herding practices through more frequent and severe droughts, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather events, reducing pasture availability and livestock productivity. In pastoral communities across Africa and Asia, these changes have led to heightened vulnerability, with droughts responsible for significant livestock losses and forced migrations in search of water and forage. For instance, the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, intensified by prolonged dry conditions linked to climate variability, resulted in the death or euthanasia of over 56,000 livestock, including cattle, in affected areas, alongside widespread habitat destruction that hampered recovery efforts for surviving herds.^[154]^[155] Land conflicts arise from the encroachment of agricultural expansion and urban development on traditional grazing lands, displacing herders and sparking violent disputes. In the Brazilian Amazon, cattle ranching has driven the occupation of public and indigenous territories, accounting for nearly 80% of deforestation and leading to ongoing clashes between ranchers, small-scale herders, and conservation advocates over land rights. Similarly, in sub-Saharan Africa, southward herder migrations due to desertification have intensified farmer-herder conflicts, as expanding settlements and croplands fragment migratory routes and grazing areas.^[156]^[157] Disease outbreaks pose zoonotic risks to both livestock and herders, compounded by labor shortages from youth outmigration to urban centers. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral infection affecting cloven-hoofed animals, has seen recurrent outbreaks in pastoral regions, such as those reported by the FAO in 2025, causing severe economic losses through trade restrictions and herd culling while posing mild zoonotic threats via direct contact with infected materials. In rural areas globally, the exodus of young people seeking better opportunities has created acute labor gaps in herding operations, with farms struggling to maintain daily tasks amid an aging workforce.^[158]^[159]^[160] Policy barriers, including insecure land tenure and grazing restrictions, further marginalize herders in developing regions by limiting access to communal pastures. Insecure tenure systems hinder investment in sustainable practices and exacerbate poverty among pastoralists, as seen in parts of Africa and Asia where formal recognition of herding rights lags behind sedentary agriculture. In Tibet, Chinese government policies implemented in the early 2020s, such as three-year grazing bans in counties like Sangchu, have prohibited herders from using ancestral lands under the guise of environmental protection, leading to livelihood disruptions and forced relocations for thousands of nomadic families.^[161]^[162]^[163]

Innovations and Future Directions

Emerging technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing herding practices by enabling precise aerial monitoring and predictive analytics for herd management. Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging facilitate real-time tracking of livestock locations, automated counting, and early detection of health issues like injuries or illnesses, reducing labor demands and improving animal welfare in expansive rangelands.^[164] In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, innovators are deploying drone networks integrated with AI to monitor herd behavior and optimize resource allocation, allowing herders to respond swiftly to threats such as predation or disease outbreaks.^[165] Complementing this, AI-driven predictive analytics utilize satellite imagery and multispectral remote sensing to forecast pasture biomass and nutrient quality, enabling dynamic grazing rotations that enhance forage utilization by up to 20% while minimizing overgrazing.^[166] For instance, in West Africa's Sahel, pastoralists employ AI tools to identify optimal grazing areas amid droughts and heatwaves, projecting improved resilience into the late 2020s as these systems integrate with mobile alerts for broader adoption.^[167] Genetic advancements in livestock breeding are fostering climate-resilient herds, particularly through selective programs targeting drought tolerance and thermotolerance in cattle. Researchers have developed strains like those derived from indigenous breeds such as Fogera cattle in Ethiopia, which demonstrate enhanced resilience to rising temperature-humidity indices and reduced rainfall, with genomic selection identifying markers for heat stress resistance.^[168] In Botswana, initiatives promote crossbreeds of longhorn and Zebu cattle that thrive on sparse vegetation and exhibit superior drought tolerance, supporting sustainable pastoral economies in arid zones.^[169] These efforts, grounded in quantitative genetics, prioritize traits like improved feed efficiency and disease resistance, with projections for widespread implementation by the late 2020s through international breeding networks that could boost milk yields by 10-20 times in vulnerable regions.^[170] Sustainable technologies are addressing water scarcity and market isolation for remote herders, with solar-powered water pumps emerging as a key innovation. In Kenya's arid northeastern regions, solar pumps installed in pastoralist communities provide reliable access to groundwater for livestock, enabling herders to maintain herds closer to settlements and reduce migration risks during dry spells.^[171] Similarly, World Food Programme projects in Garissa County have greened parched landscapes by powering irrigation for fodder production, cutting operational costs and enhancing food security.^[172] Parallel to this, mobile applications are bridging market gaps by delivering real-time price information, veterinary advice, and direct buyer connections to pastoralists in East Africa, transforming traditional herding into data-driven enterprises that improve income stability.^[173] These app-based platforms, often integrated with GPS for herd tracking, are expected to expand access to global value chains by the late 2020s, fostering economic empowerment in nomadic communities.^[174] Policy frameworks and educational initiatives are pivotal for scaling these innovations, with a focus on youth training in precision pastoralism and global support structures. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) promotes pastoralism as a climate adaptation strategy, emphasizing integrated frameworks that secure rangeland access and integrate technology for sustainable management.^[175] Complementing this, the African Union's Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa outlines strategies for cross-border mobility and resource security, projecting enhanced resilience through 2030.^[176] On the education front, FAO's Pastoralist Field Schools train youth groups in observation-based learning, incorporating precision tools like GIS for pasture management and fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer.^[177] The upcoming International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026 will amplify these efforts, advocating for youth mentorship programs that blend traditional practices with digital innovations to build a skilled workforce for future pastoral systems.^[178]

References

[1]
20 CFR 655.201 -- Definition of herding and range livestock terms.
Herding. Activities associated with the caring, controlling, feeding, gathering, moving, tending, and sorting of livestock on the range. Livestock. An ...
[2]
[PDF] Chapter 5. PASTORAL SOCIETIES
Pastoral societies are those that have a disproportionate subsistence emphasis on herding domesticated livestock. Many horticultural, agrarian, and industrial ...
[3]
The dawn of agriculture (article) - Khan Academy
The first agriculture was likely cultivation of wild species of plants and basic herding of livestock. As time went on, humans became more and more ...
[4]
[PDF] LIVESTOCK HERDING DOGS - UNL Digital Commons
Animal damage management practitioners may want to consider the use of livestock herding dogs as a possible tool in resolving future damage complaints ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[5]
Early Pastoral Economies and Herding Transitions in Eastern Eurasia
Jan 22, 2020 · Pastoral herding of domestic animals has been a historically significant lifeway across much of this region, but the species emphasized by ...
[6]
Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa
Studying the transition from pastoralism to ranching is important because it has major implications, including increasing economic inequality, weaker community ...
[7]
Section 1 - Module 10: Management practices
Herding is one important element in management. It can be defined as the deliberate control and movement of livestock for the purposes of feeding, watering, ...
[8]
[PDF] Chapter 6: Low-Stress Handling Basics - SDSU Extension
A good stockman must understand that each animal has unique awareness and flight zones, and every herd has different social dynamics. It is important to be able ...
[9]
Low Stress Cattle Handling | VCE Publications - Virginia Tech
When you are within the flight zone, walking past the point of balance will encourage the animal to move in the direction of the least pressure, behind your ...
[10]
Potential predation prevention: Remind cattle they are herd animals
Jan 24, 2020 · Researchers are testing whether cattle that are urged to live as a herd will protect themselves from wolves and bears.
[11]
Animal Handling Tips - Penn State Extension
Jul 29, 2025 · Flight Zone. All livestock have a "flight zone." That flight zone space varies with how tame or wild the animal is. An excited animal has a ...Missing: definition | Show results with:definition
[12]
Animal Terms - The Livestock Conservancy
Herd is a grouping of a single species of livestock. There may be ... Flock is a group comprised of one species of poultry. Trio is typically a ...
[13]
Animal Group Terminology - Fact Monster
Jan 27, 2023 · Animal Group Terminology ; sheep, drove, flock, herd ; squirrels, dray, scurry ; tigers, streak ; whales, pod, gam, herd.
[14]
Herding - National Geographic Education
Nov 20, 2024 · Herding is the practice of caring for roaming groups of livestock over a large area. Herding developed about 10,000 years ago, as prehistoric ...Missing: instincts | Show results with:instincts
[15]
3. Traditional ruminant production systems
nomadic pastoralism, which is a pure pastoral system, characterized by little or no agriculture and by high mobility of people and animals in search of grazing ...
[16]
Dynamics of pastoral traditional ecological knowledge: a global ...
Regardless of the lifestyle that pastoralists have (nomadism, transhumance, or sedentarism), loss of unnecessary knowledge and accumulation of new knowledge ...Missing: communal | Show results with:communal
[17]
[PDF] Transhumance-and-nomadic-pastoralism-in-the-Mediterranean ...
Transhumance in Spain is the seasonal movement of herds to summer pastures in the mountains at the onset of drought in the valleys, and their return to ...
[18]
[PDF] Common animals: sedentary pastoralism and the emergence of the ...
Jul 2, 2024 · “Nomadic pastoralism” implies that no such base was used. Pastoralism can also operate where human communities are fully sedentary, and ...
[19]
[PDF] Pastoralism as a Conservation Strategy and Contributing Towards ...
Communal herding is widely practised among the semi-sedentary groups both around their homesteads and migrant herds belonging to different families. Strong ...
[20]
Understanding the Role of Power in Changes to Pastoral Institutions ...
Oct 30, 2019 · Individual herders can obtain exclusive access to pastures: negotiations between them and the community herders, which determine whether the ...
[21]
Pastoralism and the Demise of Communal Property in Tanzania ...
The Sangu have been virtually pushed out of pastoralism by widespread herd loss. They have been unable to adapt to the new social and ecological conditions ...
[22]
None
### Summary: Pastoralists as Family Farmers – Small-Scale vs. Large Commercial
[23]
[PDF] Commercialisation and Pastoral Dairying in Africa - ODI
i) Scale of production: larger versus smaller herd owners ii) Production system: mobile versus settled livestock management iii) Labour and management: gender ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[24]
[PDF] America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance: 2024 Edition - USDA ERS
Small family farms often have cow/calf operations, while large-scale family farms are more likely to operate feedlots.Missing: herding: | Show results with:herding:
[25]
The Origins of Agriculture in the Near East | Current Anthropology
New perspectives on livestock domestication in the Fertile Crescent as viewed from the Zagros Mountains. In The first steps of animal domestication: new ...
[26]
(PDF) Göbekli Tepe: Agriculture and Domestication - ResearchGate
Mar 20, 2015 · Recent discoveries at Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük (present-day Turkey) have revealed surprisingly large and highly developed quasi-urban ...
[27]
The Population History of Domestic Sheep Revealed by ...
Oct 22, 2024 · Sheep, among the first such herded livestock species, were domesticated in southwest Asia c. 10,000 to 8,000 Before the Common Era (BCE) (Zeder ...
[28]
[PDF] Regulating Dairy Productivity in the Ur III Period
fleece, lambs, goats and milk products) and surpluses (of shorn sheep and goat's hair) are found in the balance. These balance entries can be left un ...
[29]
New Archaeozoological Data from the Fayum “Neolithic” with a ...
Oct 13, 2014 · Remains of sheep/goat are the most numerous (about 1800 compared to less than 600 cattle bones) and sheep are more frequent than goats. Five ...
[30]
Isotopic Evidence for Early Trade in Animals between Old Kingdom ...
Jun 20, 2016 · This hilly region is very suitable for the herding of both grazers (sheep) and browsers (goats), while the flatter dark brown alluvium vertisol ...
[31]
Lipid residues in pottery from the Indus Civilisation in northwest India
According to Miller (2004), at Harappa, 90% of cattle were kept alive until the age of 3–3.5 years, suggesting that females were used for dairying production, ...Missing: BCE | Show results with:BCE
[32]
Expedition Magazine | Herding Strategies at Neolithic Gritille
In short, the early effects of domestication can be characterized as the eventual emergence of selectively bred sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs that were smaller ...
[33]
Economics, Ethics, and Animal Life in Medieval Franciscan ... - jstor
78. for that was the site of medieval Italy's most extensive shepherding com- munities, all of which engaged in the practice of transhumance, that is, the ...
[34]
[PDF] Agriculture In The Middle Ages
The three-field system allowed farmers to rotate crops across three fields, with one left fallow each year. This method improved soil fertility and increased ...
[35]
The Black Death and Consequences for Labor - Duke University Press
May 1, 2023 · This essay explores the silver lining for labor after the dramatic crash in population caused by the Black Death and subsequent waves of plague.
[36]
[PDF] Cattle and Sheep from Old to New Spain: Historical Antecedents
Abstract. The transfer of cattle and sheep from Spain to Mexico during the sixteenth century raises questions about regional evo-.Missing: cowboy | Show results with:cowboy
[37]
Vaqueros | Buckaroo: Views of a Western Way of Life
In the Great Basin range cattle industry, the vaqueros came first--not Anglo or black cowboys, but Hispanic California horsemen. In the Spanish colonial days ...
[38]
[PDF] Chisholm Trail - Texas Historical Commission
The Chisholm Trail was a popular route for cattle drives from South Texas to Central Kansas, linked to Chisholm's name, and a vital part of Texas' cattle ...
[39]
[PDF] old colonials - NSW Government
CONTENTS. PAGE. The Stockman. 1. The Shepherd. 6. The Drover. 9. The Pioneer. 1J>. The Fencer. 19. The Splitter. 23. The Timber-Getter. 27. The Cockatoo Farmer.
[40]
Always a Trace : Archaeological Absence, Indigenous Presence ...
Mar 21, 2024 · In 1881, lands in this area were opened to pastoralists, and gold diggers and stockmen droving cattle traveled through Borroloola township on ...
[41]
[PDF] The evolving use and management of the nation's ... - AgEcon Search
Common rights of villagers to use certain meadows, woods, and other lands in common were being with- drawn. Small land holders and laborers were facing a.
[42]
Human-animal “joint commitment” in a reindeer herding system | HAU
This study explores the grounds and paradoxes of cooperative interaction in a reindeer herding system in Southern Siberia.
[43]
[PDF] Liberty University Rawlings School of Divinity The Prophets' Use of ...
Apr 5, 2023 · carried a sling with which to intimidate predators. The shepherd ... The shepherds became the predator instead of the protector. The ...
[44]
2. LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SYSTEMS OF NATURAL ...
For example, the Wodaabe use lunar cycles to move to new pastures, which in effect results in moving camp every 2-3 days, and moving out of an area every week.
[45]
[PDF] Traditional ethnoveterinary medicine in East Africa: - cifor-icraf
Treatments (Before applying any treatment, wash the foot with hot water, especially the skin between the claws of the hoof, and gently trim away any decayed ...
[46]
[PDF] Traditional Latvian herbal medicinal plants used to treat parasite ...
Jun 17, 2021 · Local, traditional herbal plants such as tansy, mugwort, wormwood, and heather may serve as treatments for intestinal parasites of sheep.Missing: trimming | Show results with:trimming
[47]
Ethno-veterinary practice for the treatment of animal diseases ... - NIH
Apr 30, 2021 · The herbal remedies are an essential part of the traditional medicinal practices in the indigenous Himalayan mountain communities. Plant ...
[48]
[PDF] Livestock guarding dogs: their current use world wide
Oct 21, 2001 · Herding dogs, by contrast, retain predatory sequences which can be seen in their eye-stalk-chase approach to livestock (Coppinger et al 1985 ...
[49]
Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal Neurological Genes for ...
Herding derives from predatory behavior by amplifying some predatory instincts such as eye staring, stalking, and chasing while suppressing other instincts as ...<|separator|>
[50]
[PDF] Herding Dog Training Colorado
Known as the quintessential herding dog, Border Collies are highly intelligent and ... Whistle Training: Particularly useful in open spaces, whistle commands ...
[51]
[PDF] A Guide to the Livestock-working Dog - UNH Extension
The Border Collie is quick to learn and easy to train. It can understand up to 60 commands of both whistle and voice, and is extremely affectionate to its.
[52]
Testing and characterization of herding dogs' behaviors - PMC
A new herding dog field trial, with a specific scoring system, was set up and implemented in France with 460 young Border Collies.
[53]
[PDF] Working Ranch Horse Program - Utah State University Extension
The purpose of this guide is to instruct in the safe and effective use of western horses for the purpose of handling, sorting, and moving cattle. It also ...
[54]
[PDF] Incorporating a Horse into your Cattle Operation to Increase ...
In recent decades many cattle producers have moved away from the use of horses in their operations with the advent of four-wheelers and other motorized ...
[55]
Leadership in a domestic goat herd - ScienceDirect.com
Leadership in a domestic goat herd. Author links open overlay panel. J ... Analysis of socialization in sheep and goats. Ecology, 37 (1956), pp. 228-239.
[56]
[PDF] Review of Methods to Reduce Livestock Depredation: I. Guardian ...
Llamas are members of the South American camelid family ... with their guard llamas, citing predator control and ease of maintenance as the top benefits.
[57]
[PDF] The use of llamas to protect goats, cattle, and poultry from canid ...
According to Cavalcanti and Knowlton (1998), llamas can either guard "actively" by chasing a predator away or "passively" by putting themselves between the ...
[58]
The domestication of South American camelids: a review - PMC
Jun 19, 2021 · For llama domestication, a multilocation model has been developed that includes two phases: herd protection and captivity-selective breeding ( ...
[59]
Sheep and Cattle Dog Trials - American Border Collie Association
The video below illustrates the different phases of work at sheepdog trials, and how they relate to practical work situations on the farm.
[60]
Herding - American Kennel Club
Herding Trials are competitive and dogs are scored on their herding abilities according to test level, course type, and livestock type. ... Throughout all field ...Get Started · Regulation Updates · Eligible Breeds · Farm Dog Certified Test
[61]
Great Western Trail - Texas State Historical Association
May 7, 2024 · The Great Western Trail, a nineteenth-century longhorn cattle trail, stretched 2,000 miles from Mexico, across nine Great Plains states, ...
[62]
History - western cattle trail association
The Western Trail funneled an estimated six million head of cattle from the plains of Texas northward, fundamentally shaping the American West.
[63]
The Western Trail: The Greatest Cattle Trail of Them All at 150
In March 1874, cattleman and drover John T. Lytle drove a herd of 3500 Texas cattle from Medina County, Texas, to Red Cloud Agency (now Fort Robinson),
[64]
Understanding Flight Zone and Point of Balance for Low Stress ...
When cattle are being handled in confined areas such as races and chutes the point of balance will usually be at the shoulder as shown in the diagrams. When a ...
[65]
From Branding to Ear Tags: Exploring Livestock Marking Techniques
May 21, 2018 · Notch placement is used to indicate identification—starting at the head and working around the perimeter of the ear until reaching the head ...
[66]
Methods for Effective Livestock Identification - Agriculture Institute
Nov 11, 2023 · Ear notching involves cutting small notches in specific locations on the ear to create a unique identification pattern. This method is ...
[67]
Various options are available to ranchers for identifying cattle ...
Mar 11, 2017 · Traditional ID. Traditional methods for ownership included earmarks and skin wattles. An earmark – be that a split ear, undercut ear, ear notch ...
[68]
Developing a Grazing System for Arid Climates - Publications
This publication evaluates the two general classifications of grazing systems commonly observed in arid climates, and describes factors of importance.Missing: herding migrations
[69]
(PDF) Livestock Management in the Arid Zone - ResearchGate
Aug 11, 2020 · The arid and semi-arid area includes land that has an imbalance between precipitation and losses through evaporation. The maximum forage ...
[70]
The Joyful Buffalo Herder – The Mindfulness Bell - Parallax Press
The first duty of the herder is to collect the herd using three tools: a wooden rod, a long piece of rope, and the best-behaved buffalo, called the “herd ...
[71]
Handling and Physiological Aspects of the Dual-Purpose Water ...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the characteristics of the dual-purpose water buffalo production based on the Mexican production system as a model ...
[72]
The History of the Vaquero - National Ranching Heritage Center
Oct 13, 2022 · The early Mexican techniques for handling cattle can be seen throughout the modern livestock industry, like whenever a cowboy cinches a saddle ...
[73]
A Brief History of Beef - Princess Royal Station
Nov 16, 2015 · Cattle descended from Aurochs, introduced in Australia in 1788, herds grew to 8.6 million by 1900, and now there are 26 million cattle. Beef is ...
[74]
History of Kimberley cattle | Small group tour for senior
Jun 27, 2021 · This article explores the expedition of Alexander Forrest and resulting development of the pastoral industry in the Kimberley.
[75]
Getting Started With Bison Ranching - SDSU Extension
Sep 12, 2025 · Bison retain many wild traits lost in cattle that include large flight-zone distances, short tempers and overall minimal domestication traits.
[76]
None
Below is a merged summary of the flocking instinct in sheep and goats for handling, consolidating all the information from the provided segments into a single, comprehensive response. To maximize detail and clarity, I’ve organized the key information into a table format where appropriate, followed by a narrative summary and a consolidated list of useful URLs. This ensures all details are retained while maintaining readability.
[77]
Meat Goat Production
### Fencing for Goats to Prevent Climbing
[78]
Spinning Wool to Clothe the Ironworker - National Park Service
Feb 4, 2025 · In the 1800s sheep were shorn using a pair of hand shears, but today, most shearers use electric clippers. After the fleece is completely ...
[79]
[PDF] Raising Dairy Goat Kids - ANR Catalog
All goats require water in order to live, grow and produce milk, but water is often overlooked when considering a goat's nutritional needs. While water is ...Missing: routines | Show results with:routines
[80]
None
### Summary of Guard Dogs and Donkeys for Protecting Sheep and Goat Herds
[81]
Predator Control for Sheep and Goats - Alabama Extension
Dec 15, 2022 · Predator control for sheep and goats includes proper fencing with electrical wire, and using guardian animals like donkeys, llamas, or guard ...
[82]
Hurdle making - Heritage Crafts
From the Middle Ages onwards, wattle hurdles were mainly used as a portable fencing panel for penning sheep when grazing, being dipped, or being sheared, and ...Missing: herding | Show results with:herding
[83]
https://journals.openedition.org/etnografica/12669
[84]
Walking with an Ice Axe - Scottish Rock & Water
Oct 19, 2018 · The predecessor of the ice axe was the alpenstock, a long wooden pole with an iron spike tip, used by shepherds for travel on snowfields and ...
[85]
Hiking through History - Gstaadlife
Sep 5, 2022 · No one knows the origin of the alpenstock. It was undoubtedly used by Medieval alpine shepherds crossing high glacial passes with their herds, ...
[86]
Cracker Cowmen - The Historical Society of Sarasota County
Feb 10, 2021 · The cattlemen rounding up the loose cattle used long, braided leather bullwhips to bring cattle out from the underdeveloped forest brush.
[87]
The role of bullwhips in cattle herding.
Feb 22, 2025 · Historically, bullwhips have maintained a significant role in the realm of livestock management, specifically in cattle herding. Used for ...
[88]
How Mexican Vaqueros Inspired the American Cowboy - History.com
Sep 24, 2021 · Skillfully handling a lasso allowed vaqueros to both hunt and rope in wayward cattle. Having workers who could successfully herd cows was ...
[89]
Alan and Steve Brown of Wool, Dorset - Hurdlemakers
During the 19th century the use of wattle hurdles was widespread for folding sheep and a large number of men were employed making them. Most Dorset villages ...
[90]
Lion-proof enclosures, beehive barriers, and chilies stem human ...
Dec 27, 2019 · Bomas are traditional wooden or thorn-bush/wire mesh enclosures designed to keep cattle in and predators out. With help from African ...
[91]
Livestock and lions make uneasy neighbours: how a fence upgrade ...
Jul 22, 2025 · Sometimes acacia-thorn night enclosures (known locally as bomas), intensive herding practices, and guarding dogs work well. Other times, and ...
[92]
A Review of African Ethno-Astronomy - jstor
Furthermore, many pastoralists are used to travelling long distances by horse or camel at night, in order to avoid the heat, and they have therefore been ...
[93]
The Safe Use of ATVs in Agriculture - Penn State Extension
Oct 30, 2025 · Herding animals with an ATV can be very hazardous. High-speed travel across a field may cause the front end of the ATV to drop into a ditch or ...
[94]
Working Cattle on ATV or Horseback - American Angus Association
Advantages of an ATV include increased mobility and speed in getting where you need to go to gather cows, get them moved, and then get back quicker to your ...
[95]
Quad bikes make farming fun - ABC News
Aug 3, 2010 · The nippy, manoeuvrable quad bike has revolutionised land management tasks on farms and rural properties. Quad bikes make farming fun!
[96]
Electric Fencing for Sheep | Oklahoma State University
Permanent Electric Fencing Experience has shown that a seven or eight wire fence that is approximately 48 inches high is ideal for sheep and cattle. This fence ...
[97]
Livestock Fencing Systems for Pasture Management | The Beef Site
Electric fencing is more cost effective, easier to install and repair, and requires fewer posts in the fence than barbed wire fencing. Electric fence can be ...
[98]
Considerations for Selecting & Installing an Electric Fence Charger
Jun 22, 2022 · This bulletin covers the factors involved when selecting and installing an electric fence charger system to contain your livestock safely.
[99]
[PDF] Fence and Water Systems - MU Extension
Portable electric fence reels can be used with wire or polytape. Figure 9 ... Portable systems are practical for dairy herds of up to about. 100 cows.<|separator|>
[100]
How to Improve Communication Between Farmworkers ...
Nov 26, 2024 · By using farm two way radios, farmers can stay connected across large areas, tackle issues quickly, and coordinate efficiently. Let RCS ...
[101]
https://www.atlanticradiocorp.com/blogs/news/how-two-way-radios-enhance-agriculture-operations
[102]
Livestock Tagging - OSU Extension - Oklahoma State University
Tags should be applied in the middle third of the ear between the upper and lower ribs (Figure 1). It is important, when using electronic identification (EID) ...
[103]
[PDF] Methods of Livestock Identification, AS-556-W - Purdue Extension
Ear tags are often used in conjunction with ear notches in a breeding herd. Table 2: Number identification system. Year of Birth Birth Order ID. 1995. 1st. 5001.
[104]
Mongol nomad migration and its associated practices
This includes taking care of and selecting livestock, learning migration routes, and assembling and disassembling yurts. Every member of the family participates ...
[105]
The Mongols' Pastoral-Nomadic Life - Asia for Educators
The Mongolian pastoral nomads relied on their animals for survival and moved their habitat several times a year in search of water and grass for their herds.Missing: routines | Show results with:routines
[106]
[PDF] Nomadic Knowledge of the Yak: A Case Study in the Khangai ...
The herders of Mongolia live a nomadic lifestyle, which requires them to be mobile. Almost every herder that I interviewed moved at least 4 times over the ...
[107]
The Cattle Economy of the Maasai
### Gender Roles in Maasai Herding
[108]
[PDF] The Relationship of Male and Female Pastoralist Income with ...
While Maasai women's responsibilities include caring for calves and sick animals, milking cattle, distributing milk to the household members, and processing.
[109]
A Co-Wife for the Cow: Gender Dimensions of Land Change and ...
East African pastoralists' gendered roles are changing as people settle. In the past, Maasai women spent less time than men and children on livestock activities ...
[110]
Women in Ranching | Oklahoma Historical Society
Women performed tasks that did not match the societal norms back East: women would ride horses, help with the cattle herding, and learn to shoot.
[111]
Expedition Magazine | The Pastoral Nomads of Nigeria
Fulani families are grouped into agnatic lineage clans established as a result of a system of preferred cousin marriages. The clan has a leader selected by ...
[112]
Fulani Herding System - GAMJI
Having raised livestock for centuries, the Fulani have evolved a herding system that withstands time, weather, social change, and government intervention.Missing: clans structure
[113]
Communities and sustainability in medieval and early modern ...
Sep 14, 2011 · This paper examines the case of sheep raising in Aragon from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century to explore the political dynamics and ...
[114]
Knowledge and practices surrounding zoonotic disease among ...
Apr 20, 2020 · This study highlights zoonotic disease exposure risks from animal husbandry practices and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene access and behaviours
[115]
Occupational exposure to livestock and risk of tuberculosis and ...
Exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) among occupational groups is one of the most serious health risks- nowadays, one out of every four people is ...Missing: herders | Show results with:herders
[116]
(PDF) Occupational health hazards in Livestock farming: A case ...
Jan 3, 2025 · These hazards include noise, slips and falls, physical injuries and musculoskeletal strains. From the study, it was found that 95% of Gaddi ...
[117]
Rural Agricultural Health and Safety Overview
Mar 6, 2025 · Risk of injury and illness from working with livestock, including needlestick injuries and zoonotic diseases; Risk of electrocution, including ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[118]
Physical strain, external demands, and work pleasure in a mobile ...
Mar 17, 2018 · There is reason to believe that those stressors threaten the reindeer herders' limits of resilience, their health and sustainable living.Missing: hazards | Show results with:hazards
[119]
[PDF] The Shepherd Metaphor and Its Primacy for Biblical Leadership
God himself is pictured as a shepherd (e.g. Gen 49:24; Ps 23; Isa 40:11; Ezk. 34:11-24). Jesus declares himself the shepherd of God's people (Mt 9:6; John 10:1- ...
[120]
An Ancient Near East Scholar (and Cancer Patient) Looks at Psalm 23
Aug 26, 2019 · [1] Shepherding is a well-established metaphor for kingship. When human kings used the metaphor, no one assumed that the king had actual, ...
[121]
The Sacrificial Process of Ancient Israel - Oxford Academic
Israel's animal sacrifices came primarily from the herd and flock—cattle, sheep, and goats—along with certain species of domesticated birds.
[122]
The Drover - Australian Folk Songs
We lounge round the fire enjoying a smoke, While yarning of Home, or the life of a drover, Till all join in chorus to Grandfather's Clock. Next night through ...
[123]
What the White Buffalo Calf tells us about Indigenous history
May 11, 2023 · For more than 2,000 years, Lakota (Sioux) elders have been passing the legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman to younger generations. The legend ...Missing: folklore | Show results with:folklore
[124]
HUNTING LORE | Encyclopedia of the Great Plains
The buffalo was their crucial game, providing food and many other products for survival. No part of the animal was wasted, and the symbiotic relationship ...Missing: folklore | Show results with:folklore
[125]
The Golden Shears
The world's premier shearing and woolhandling championship takes place in Masterton, 'capital' of New Zealand shearing.Live Streaming · Media Releases 2025 · About · Golden Shears 2026
[126]
Sheep transhumance in Schnals - South Tyrol
Transhumance, a kind of nomadic pasture farming, is an international UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and a border-crossing tradition in Schnals Valley.
[127]
Return of the Herd by Pieter Bruegel - Art history
As the name implies, the painting shows several cows being herded together by men on horses wielding sticks.
[128]
The Shepherd's Life - Macmillan Publishers
``The Shepherd's Life weaves together the human history of the farmers with factual history of the farms, the spiritual pull of the land with the physical ...Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[129]
Pastoralism | Family Farming Knowledge Platform
In many countries, livestock sales, meat, milk, hair and hides contribute to more than half of the agricultural GDP. Tourism is gaining more importance.
[130]
What do pastoralists produce and how do they market it?
HIDES, SKINS AND OTHER PRODUCTS Livestock fibres and hides can also be of substantial economic importance. Woolled sheep tend to be found in temperate zones; ...
[131]
Greening Growth in Mongolia - International Monetary Fund
Dec 10, 2019 · The livestock industry in Mongolia accounts for about 90 percent of agricultural production and employs 1 in 4 Mongolians—more than any other ...
[132]
Publication: Mongolia : Livestock Sector Study
Recent statistics demonstrate that the livestock sector contributes 13.1 percent of the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and 5 percent of the national ...
[133]
What Was Traded on the Silk Road and Why (10 Items)
Then, woolen clothes, carpets, curtains, blankets, and rugs came to China from Central Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. These products impressed the Chinese, ...Missing: evidence | Show results with:evidence
[134]
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/d8aea56b-05a2-5a6e-8dda-6cfdd3ba8e5f
[135]
Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries | NZ Government
Jul 8, 2025 · Meat and wool export revenue is forecast to increase 8% to $12.3 billion in the year to 30 June 2025. A lift in key meat export prices is ...<|separator|>
[136]
[PDF] Pastoralism and the Green Economy – a natural nexus? - IUCN Portal
Dec 15, 2013 · Pastoralists suffer both from low investment and mal-investment, which have combined to weaken natural resource management and the pastoral ...
[137]
9 Jobs in the Livestock Industry (Plus Salaries and Duties) - Indeed
Jun 9, 2025 · National average salary: $36,406 per year Primary duties: Ranch hands oversee the hands-on care of livestock on a ranch. They clean animal ...
[138]
What are integrated crop-livestock systems
Animals graze under trees or on stubble, they provide draught and manure for crops, while they also serve as a savings account. Types of technology. Several ...
[139]
INTEGRATING CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS ...
Indirectly, it affected the nature of mixed farming systems, because mechanization made draft animals unnecessary and mineral fertilizers made animal manure ...
[140]
Soil Erosion and Land Degradation | World Wildlife Fund
Overgrazing can reduce ground cover, enabling erosion and compaction of the land by wind and rain.. This reduces the ability for plants to grow and water to ...
[141]
The Lasting Effects of Overgrazing on Rangeland Ecosystems
Mar 4, 2025 · Increased percentages of bare ground, leading to increased wind erosion and water runoff, along with higher soil temperatures that cause faster ...
[142]
https://www.worldwildlife.org/our-work/forests/soil-erosion-and-degradation/
[143]
How Biodiversity-Friendly Is Regenerative Grazing? - Frontiers
Evidence (from 58 studies) that ReGM benefits biodiversity is reviewed. Soils enriched by ReGM have increased microbial bioactivity, higher fungal:bacteria ...Abstract · Introduction · Response of Biota to... · How ReGM Benefits and...
[144]
Supporting Africa's Sahel Pastoralists to Secure a Resilient Future
Sep 21, 2020 · With 75% of the Sahel being too dry to allow livestock herders to be sedentary, they adapt, moving their herds according to the availability of ...
[145]
Harnessing indigenous knowledge and practices for effective ...
To adapt to feed and water scarcity during drought periods, Fulani herders in the Sahel usually make use of their rich and extensive knowledge of their ...<|separator|>
[146]
Grassland soil carbon sequestration: Current understanding ...
Aug 4, 2022 · Grasslands store approximately one third of the global terrestrial carbon stocks and can act as an important soil carbon sink.
[147]
SL373/SS574: Carbon Sequestration in Grazing Land Ecosystems
Soil Carbon Sequestration in Grazing Lands. Grazing lands can be important sinks of atmospheric CO2 and play a major role in the overall carbon cycle fluxes.
[148]
[PDF] Holistic Management - A Whole-Farm Decision Making Framework
Holistic Management™ is a decision making framework that assists farmers and others in establishing a long-term goal, a detailed financial plan, a biological ...
[149]
Riparian Meadow Response to Modern Conservation Grazing ...
Jun 2, 2017 · At the root of this degradation was excessive defoliation of riparian meadow vegetation that reduced plant vigor, reproductive capacity, and ...
[150]
[PDF] Managed Grazing in Riparian Areas - Utah State University Extension
Grazing can also alter both hydrologic and fire dis- turbance regimes, accelerate erosion, and reduce plant or animal reproductive success and /or establishment ...Missing: preservation | Show results with:preservation
[151]
Are world's 200 million pastoral herders a climate threat?
Apr 24, 2024 · A UN report suggests that pastoralism may be part of the global emissions problem. Some researchers see the climate math on herders differently.
[152]
Analysis of vulnerability, its drivers, and strategies applied towards ...
Jan 20, 2025 · Drought, erratic rainfall and temperatures are the most common shocks and stresses caused by climate change. They are responsible for the ...
[153]
The Australian 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires: Analysis of the ...
3 580 cattle (7%) were euthanized or died due to bushfire burns. Nearly all the district farming land burned during the fire, and there were extensive areas of ...
[154]
Livestock Farm Recovery Following Bushfire in South-Eastern ... - NIH
Jun 14, 2025 · These bushfires had devastating effects on many farms, with estimates of more than 56,000 livestock killed or euthanised in New South Wales (NSW) ...
[155]
Why cattle ranching is the biggest deforestation driver in the Amazon
Sep 19, 2022 · The second part of our new Amazon series explains how expansion of cattle farms has driven the occupation of public lands in the rainforest.
[156]
Herders against Farmers: Nigeria's Expanding Deadly Conflict
Sep 19, 2017 · Propelled by desertification, insecurity and the loss of grazing land to expanding settlements, the southward migration of Nigeria's herders ...
[157]
FAO calls for action amid foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks
May 5, 2025 · FMD is a highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and various wild species.<|separator|>
[158]
Challenges of Controlling Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Pastoral ...
Feb 8, 2024 · Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease that affects all cloven-hoofed livestock and wildlife animals, with impacts on food ...
[159]
Rural America is Facing a Mounting Labor Crisis - Dairy Herd
Jul 14, 2025 · Farms, food processors, equipment dealers and cooperatives are struggling to find and keep the workers they need to maintain daily operations.Missing: herding youth migration
[160]
Land tenure for resilient and inclusive rural transformation
Land tenure played a major role in structural transformation in the XX century. Tenure security and access to land are central to inclusive rural ...Missing: herders | Show results with:herders
[161]
China bans grazing in Tibet for three years in the name of ...
Nov 22, 2022 · Most Tibetans depend on domestic animals, but China prohibits herders in Sangchu County from grazing animals on hereditary Tibetan pastures ...
[162]
Relocation and Resettlement of Tibetan Nomads
Mar 29, 2025 · They further argue that careless overgrazing and unscientific land management by ignorant herders has caused grassland degradation, erosion ...
[163]
Drone Livestock Monitoring | Benefits, Tech & How it Works - Saiwa
Jun 30, 2024 · Drones enable real-time aerial surveillance, automated animal counting, health assessments, and behavior analysis, significantly enhancing herd management.Missing: herding innovations
[164]
Flying farmers and herding via satellite: How tech is reshaping ...
Jul 30, 2025 · As climate pressures mount, African innovators are using digital tools to boost yields, track livestock, and bring precision agriculture to ...
[165]
Pixels to Pasture: How AI Can Help Farmers Predict Their Pasture
Aug 9, 2024 · In a 2024 paper Pixels to pasture: Using machine learning and multispectral remote sensing to predict biomass and nutrient quality in tropical ...Missing: analytics pastoralism
[166]
These West African Herders Are Using AI To Find Food For Livestock
Sep 29, 2020 · Herders in West Africa's Sahel are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tele-detection to help find food for livestock, navigate droughts, heatwaves, ...
[167]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2020/09/29/these-west-african-herders-are-using-ai-to-find-food-for-livestock/
[168]
Botswana: Drought resistant cattle moving in - UNEP-CCC
Jun 23, 2023 · Breeding and promotion of drought-tolerant livestock was one of the prioritized technologies in Botswana's Technology Needs Assessment (TNA), ...
[169]
Genetic Selection for Thermotolerance in Ruminants - PMC
In this review we have proposed that genetic selection and breeding of thermotolerant ruminants provide a sustainable means of minimizing the effect of climate ...
[170]
Solar powered water pumps support pastoralists' livelihoods in times ...
Nov 29, 2023 · FAO excavated a water reservoir and provided a solar-powered water pump so that Lokuru and other pastoralists could avoid grazing their livestock far from ...Missing: herders | Show results with:herders
[171]
COP27: Solar pump helps green parched northeastern Kenya - WFP
Nov 7, 2022 · Abdi Raman is staying afloat, thanks to a solar-powered pump installed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the County Government of Garissa.
[172]
Governing digital innovation in livestock systems: institutional gaps ...
Digital technologies offer transformative potential for livestock systems by enhancing productivity, resource efficiency, and market access.
[173]
Herding by Mobile Phone: Technology, Social Networks and the ...
Aug 5, 2025 · Butt (2015) finds that, across East Africa, pastoralists are using mobile phones to check pasture and water conditions, compare market prices, ...
[174]
Rangelands and pastoralists - UNCCD
Pastoralists are food security champions. Pastoralism is an integrated strategy to simultaneously tackle adaptation to and mitigation of climate change while ...
[175]
[PDF] POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR PASTORALISM IN AFRICA:
Strategy 1.1 Recognize the role of pastoralism in development ............................... 24. Strategy 1.2 Demonstrating commitment to pastoral policy ...
[176]
[PDF] PFS Pastoralist Field Schools TRAINING OF FACILITATORS MANUAL
group of between 25 and 30 pastoralists (including elders, men, women and youths) who meet regularly over a defined period of time to make observations that ...
[177]
UN names 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and ...
Mar 15, 2022 · The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists aims to raise awareness and advocate for the value of healthy rangelands and sustainable ...