A herder is a
pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a
herd
A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called '' herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals.
The term ''herd'' i ...
or flock of
domestic animals, usually on
open pasture. It is particularly associated with
nomadic or
transhumant
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...
management of stock, or with
common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person who has ...
grazing. The work is often done either on foot or
mounted.
Depending on the type of animal being herd, the english language can give different professional names, for example,
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...
for cows,
shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' ' herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, ...
for sheep, or
goatherd for goat.
Terminology
Herders may be distinguished by sex (''e.g.'', herdsman, herdswoman or herdboy) or by the type of livestock, for example camelherd,
cowherd
Cowherd may refer to:
Worker
* Cowboy, an American who herds cattle on horseback
*Cowman (profession) in the UK, akin to ranch hand or dairy worker in North America
* pastoral farming who works with cattle; also known as pastoralist
* Stockman (Au ...
, duckherd,
goatherd or
shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' ' herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, ...
.
By country
China
Tibetan herding communities living in the
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...
in the
Sichuan Province of southwest China continued to graze herds on common lands even after the 1982
Household responsibility system The household responsibility system ( zh, s=家庭联产承包责任制, t=家庭聯產承包責任制, p=jiātíng liánchǎn chéngbāo zérènzhì), or contract responsibility system, was a practice in China, first adopted in agriculture in 1979 ...
. Several reasons have been given for the endurance of the traditional pastoral lifestyle:
*complex
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
prevents the division of common grazing lands among individual households
*
yaks
The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Kachin ...
require free grazing and become ill in fenced pasture
*rotation of grazing spots
Grassland degradation
Grassland degradation, also called vegetation or steppe degradation, is a biotic disturbance in which grass struggles to grow or can no longer exist on a piece of land due to causes such as overgrazing, burrowing of small mammals, and climate ...
has been an issue. Herding communities and their leaders have taken steps to reach a consensus about
sustainable grazing practices. These include developing the community political organization to enforce commitments to seasonal
rotational grazing.
[
]
By cattle type
Cows
There are numerous regional types of cow herder, many with a specific name; these include the stockman of Australia, the buttero
A buttero (, plural butteri) or cavalcante is a mounted herder, usually of horses, of cattle, or of buffaloes, in Italy, predominantly in the Maremma region of Tuscany and northern Lazio, or in the Pontine Marshes to the south.
History
Th ...
, campino
A campino () is a cattle herder in the Portuguese region of Ribatejo.
Campinos work on horse-back, using a long pole (a ''pampilho'' or lance) to manage and direct the herd.
Campinos are also known for their distinctive attire, which consists o ...
, csikós
The csikós is the mounted horse-herdsman of Hungary. The csikós tradition is closely associated with the Hungarian ''puszta'', in recent times particularly in the environs of Debrecen and Hortobágy National Park. It is also closely linke ...
, gardian and gulyás in Europe, the buckaroo, charro, cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...
and vaquero in North America, and the gaucho, huaso, llanero, morochuco
The Morochucos are the cowboys of the plains of the Peruvian Andes, living mainly in the Region of Ayacucho. They raise cattle and tame horses for their livelihood, and they engage in other typical activities of a cattle-horseman cowboy. They are ...
and of South America.
Goats
Sheep
See also
* Fulani herdsmen
Fulani herdsmen or Fulani pastoralists are nomadic or semi-nomadic Fulani people whose primary occupation is raising livestock. The Fulani herdsmen are largely located in the Sahel and semi-arid parts of West Africa, but due to relatively recen ...
References
{{Authority control
Animal husbandry occupations