A herder or herdsman is a pastoralism worker responsible for herding, i.e., the care and management of a herd or flock of , usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. The work is often done either on foot or riding animal.
Depending on the type of animal being herd, the English language can give different professional names, for example, cowboy for cows, shepherd 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, duckherd,
goatherd or
shepherd.
By country
China
Tibetan herding communities living in the
Tibetan Plateau in the
Sichuan Province of
southwest China continued to graze herds on common lands even after the 1982 Household responsibility system. Several reasons have been given for the endurance of the traditional pastoral lifestyle:
-
complex topography prevents the division of common grazing lands among individual households
-
yaks require free grazing and become ill in fenced pasture
-
rotation of grazing spots
Grassland degradation 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 livestock type
Cows
There are numerous regional types of cow herder, many with a specific name; these include the stockman of Australia, the
buttero, campino, csikós,
gardian and gulyás in Europe, the
Cowboy,
charro,
cowboy and
vaquero in North America, and the
gaucho,
huaso,
llanero,
morochuco and of South America.
Goats
Sheep
Other
-
A or hogherd herds .
-
A herds geese.
See also