Sheep pens disappear from highlands

Two decades ago, there used to be 40 to 50 sheep pens in the highlands of Batasedanda of Thasang Rural Municipality-1 of Mustang during the three months of monsoon.

There were only 15 sheep pens in Batasedanda highlands this year. Batasedanda serves as the common pasture land for farmers from Raghunganga and Annapurna rural municipality of Myagdi and Thasang of Mustang.

Nanda Bahadur Bhandari (68) from Bhagawati in Raghuganga-2 of Myagdi, who moved down his sheep pen from Batase pasture to Lete in Thasang-3 last week, said that the practice of rearing sheep, goats and cattle is disappearing due to increasing attraction among youths towards foreign employment and urban life.

Bhandari has been moving his sheep between highlands and lowlands with the change in season for the past 54 years. With a herd of more than 500 sheep and goats, he moves to the highlands in summer and lowlands in winter. He, however, is worried that this nomadic animal farming practice will vanish with his generation.

“The culture of feeling ashamed to work in our own country but being ready to serve others abroad has led to the disappearance of sheep pens,” he said. “Only elderly like us are giving continuity to this profession.”

Ran Bahadur BK (72) from Khungkhani in Tamakhola-5 of Baglung, who has been raising sheep since his grandfather's time, has been gradually reducing the number of his sheep and goats in his farm.

BK, who has been grazing cattle in the grazing grounds in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, said he is looking to sell his sheep farm that he has maintained for 32 years. “Earlier, I used to move between highlands and lowlands with a hundred sheep and goats, along with other cattle. I have sold all the big cattle. Now I have about 40 sheep and goats,” he said. “My children did not choose this profession. They went abroad. As I am getting older and finding it difficult to move around, I am planning to sell the remaining sheep and goats and retire.”

The mobile pens maintained by the elderly are decreasing with their increasing age. Young and middle-aged herders are hard to find.

Netra Prasad Ramjali from Dova in Annapurna-1 of Myagdi, said that this traditional profession, which is a good source of livelihood and income, is in crisis due to the attraction of youths towards foreign employment, the lack of willingness to work hard in one's own country and the lack of a conducive working environment. “It has become impossible to find herders to stay in the pens,” said Ramjali, who owns 500 sheep. “We can earn as much as Rs 800,000 a year. But it is getting difficult to find herders.”

Herders are paid an annual pay of Rs 150,000 in the highlands of Myagdi and Mustang.

As the temperature rises, there’s a practice of taking animals to graze in highland pastures rich in medicinal herbs. According to Ramjali, animals which graze in the highlands become healthier, fatter, produce more milk and have tastier meat.

Farmers start to bring down their sheep to the lowlands once cold days of winter arrive. 

Farmers say the new generation finds it difficult to stay in temporary sheds in the highlands for months, disconnected from their families

Ganga Bahadur Pahare Pun (77) from Muna in Dhaulagiri-3 of Baglung said every household used to keep cows for manure, dairy products and religious purposes, and oxen to till the farm, and practiced seasonal migration between highlands and lowlands in the past. “As people started going abroad for work, it became hard to find people to stay in the village, let alone animal sheds in the highlands,” he said. “The arrival of hand tractors have made oxen obsolete.”

According to Pun, now one person takes care of the livestock from an entire neighborhood in a single pen.