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Abstract
The pastoral literature place little emphasis on the cooperative aspect of being a pastoralist. Part of the neglect stems from conflating the livestock owning unit, i.e. the household, with the herding group. Among Tibetan pastoralists, the herding group consist of people and animals from one or several households. They herd in groups because there is an optimal size of the herd concerning daily herding: too few animals and the animals disperse while too many negatively affect grazing efficiency and subsequently livestock survival during winter. The individual household also frees up members for e.g. selling or trading livestock products. Furthermore, group formation makes it possible to split herds into smaller sub-herds that consider differing needs for varying livestock species and age-categories. While herding groups can change both seasonally and annually, they are a fundamental unit for pastoral social organisation because they are concerned with daily cooperation.
Highlights
Cooperation entails that individuals pay a cost to the benefit of others (Fotouhi et al, 2018) and cooperative group formation is a widespread phenomenon that entails both benefits and costs (Mendl and Held, 2001)
The formation of herding groups underscores an essential fact of pastoral life: it is almost impossible for nomadic households to maintain production without cooperative labour investment and other forms of mutual help (Khazanov, 1994; see Næss, 2012)
Herding Group 1 consists of in dividuals and animals from three independent households
Summary
Cooperation entails that individuals pay a cost to the benefit of others (Fotouhi et al, 2018) and cooperative group formation is a widespread phenomenon that entails both benefits and costs (Mendl and Held, 2001). Cooperation allows herders to pool risk, defend herds from raiders or predators, protect pastureland, share knowledge and information, loaning or gifting animals to those in need, and exchange labour (Næss, 2012; Thomas et al, 2015). Saami reindeer herders in Norway and Mongolian pastoralists, for example, form groups, called siida and khot ail, where members combine individually owned herds of livestock with the overall goal of sharing labour in connection to day-to-day herding (Næss, 2012). The formation of herding groups underscores an essential fact of pastoral life: it is almost impossible for nomadic households to maintain production without cooperative labour investment and other forms of mutual help (Khazanov, 1994; see Næss, 2012)
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