How transhumance is the future
For centuries, in the flatlands of southern Spain, one of the country’s longest cattle migrations has occurred. But now, technology is opening up new possibilities for farmers.
A 300km journey
Early each summer in the hot flatlands of southern Spain, one of the longest cattle migrations in the country begins. Known as transhumance, this long-distance movement takes livestock from pastures in one region to another with more food available for grazing.
While large herbivores migrated naturally before being domesticated, this pastoral instinct has been mimicked by their human handlers for thousands of years. This summer, 547 cows belonging to three different animal husbandries came together to complete the 15-day, 300km journey from the dry south to the verdant meadows of the Sistema Central mountain range.
Rooted in tradition
Transhumance is deeply rooted in Spain's cultural heritage, with knowledge transmitted from generation to generation. José Pedro (pictured), 52, has been practicing transhumance since he was a child. Twenty years ago, he started to teach his nephews Diego, 39, and Andrés, 30, everything he knew about this ancient tradition. And this summer, he and his 130 cows have joined up with his nephews and their herds to head northwards to the pastures in the green mountains. In winter, when the mountains become covered in snow, they'll do the trip in reverse, heading back to the warm southern flatlands.
A tough cow
Migrations are a challenging endeavour for the cattle, who must cover long distances each day, often with limited access to food and water. However, the Avileña-Negra Ibérica, an endemic black cow, is such a sturdy breed that their calves are able to handle the migration at just one week old.
Protected roads
Transhumance is made possible by the 'drove roads' ('vías pecuarias' in Spanish) that were created for livestock movement (for sheep and cows) between different regions many centuries ago. The Mesta, an association of sheep breeders created in 1273 by the Castile king, achieved legal recognition and classification of the routes in order to protect them from farmers who cultivated fields adjacent to the route, and guaranteed the cowboys rights over pasturelands during the migration. These roads were made with a width of 75.22m at their widest part and 20.89m at their narrowest (as a reference point, the average parking space in Spain ranges from 2-2.5m wide). This unusual width was due to the fact that the road had to provide enough pasture for the cattle during the trips. Though largely in disuse nowadays, the Spanish government passed new legislation in 1995 to protect the drove roads, which total more than 124,000km in length, which is eight to nine times longer than Spain's current rail network.
A rustic rest
Back in the day, up until the 1960s, the drove roads were lined with inns for the cowboys and corrals for the cattle to rest, but now just a few ruins of those structures remain. With the introduction of railroads in the second half of the 19th Century, and trucks, the traditional 15- to 30-day trip on foot has turned into a quick, one-day journey, rendering the routes more or less obsolete. Nevertheless, the Torres family and three other cow husbandries still practice transhumance along Spain's western region. But now, instead of staying at inns, they must take a more rustic approach by camping each night. They use wood from the oak trees growing along the route for fire at night, and rest under the trees during the hottest and sunniest hours of the day. The siesta is a welcome break for both the cowboys and cows, who after a couple of hours will continue the march until sunset.
A high price to pay
While modernisation has sped up the cattle-moving process, it has come at a cost to the environment. In largely semi-arid countries like Spain, animal migratory systems are important to the ecosystem as the cows eat seeds, fertilise them, and then distribute them many kilometres away through their dung, contributing to the biodiversity of the region's vegetal cover. On drove roads, for instance, there can be up to 40 different species of flora per sq m. Without transhumance, the number of species is dramatically reduced. Additionally, when cows don't migrate on foot, they are left to graze in pastures for too long (until they're moved by rail or truck), which leads to the overconsumption of the grasslands and deterioration of the soil, which then becomes vulnerable to the sun, wind and rain.
For centuries, in the flatlands of southern Spain, one of the country’s longest cattle migrations has occurred. But now, technology is opening up new possibilities for farmers.
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