Herd Mobility Research Articles

Why Do Herders Insist on Otor? Maintaining Mobility in Inner Mongolia

Abstract Otor is a traditional mobility strategy developed by Mongolian herders to cope with their highly variable and uncertain environment. The Livestock and Rangeland Double-Contract Responsibility System (LRDCRS) implemented in pastoral Inner Mongolia (People's Republic of China during the mid-1980s) has encouraged a settled mode of livestock husbandry within a delimited household rangeland area, depending primarily on fenced pastures. Practical results from the past 20 years indicate that this settled pattern can not completely replace the traditional herd mobility strategy that was anticipated by LRDCRS. A case study from a village in Xilingol Prefecture in Inner Mongolia explores the reasons why herders insist on otor. The paper evaluates the impact of changes in rangeland tenure and social relationships brought by LRDCRS on the herders' ability to access key resources in adverse weather. It is found that otor movement provides herders with the means to maintain livestock husbandry in highly variable and uncertain arid and semi-arid environments. Rangeland semi-privatization results in a loss of de facto guarantee of access to key resources. Faced with barriers to accessing resources, reciprocal bonds are weakened for conducting otor. As a result both sustainable pastoral livelihoods and sustainable use of rangelands are doomed to suffer.

Grazing Practices and Pasture Tenure in the Eastern Pamirs

This paper deals with the relations between grazing practices, pasture potential, and property rights in the Eastern Pamirs of Tajikistan 10 years after the privatization of 1999. It provides an overview of the spatiotemporal variability of current pasture use and livestock numbers. Assumptions about pasture potential are reconsidered in relation to animals' forage needs in order to draw field-based conclusions regarding over- or underuse in particular areas. Data are derived from interdisciplinary research on post-Soviet pastoralism and associated human–environment interactions. We show that pastoralists in the Eastern Pamirs face several problems: As the land cover resources are meager and variable and hay meadows for winter fodder are rare, herd mobility or external forage inputs are necessary to compensate for weather-related shortages. The current multiseasonal pasture use—a change from the mono-seasonal use of Soviet state farms—discourages plant regeneration. Competition between pastoralist groups is exacerbated by unresolved questions about formal user rights. Conflicts seem inevitable, limiting the sustainable use of natural resources. Based on 2 telling examples, we show that pastures close to villages are used year round, particularly in winter, and are heavily overgrazed. There is less grazing pressure on summer pastures, but some distant and hardly accessible summer pastures show high livestock numbers in summer, contradicting former opinions about their underuse.

Will the 2010 'Code Pastoral' Help Herders in Central Niger? Land Rights and Land Use Strategies in the Grasslands of Abalak and Dakoro Departments

Abstract Based on a visit to Niger's pastoral zone at the height of the 2010 drought crisis and shortly after the 'Code Pastoral' legislation had been agreed by the interim government, this article compares land use trends in two Tuareg-led administrative communes. The code has been found to be too late and too weak to bring much support to full-time mobile pastoralists, whose livelihoods are increasingly under threat from demographic pressures and the loss of grazing land. Mobility of people and herds persists, not only in relation to herding but also complementary crop farming and the migratory search for paid labour; at the same time sedentarization is also occurring, not only among impoverished herders but even among the administrative elite. Indeed certain herders' leaders are encouraging it as a way of consolidating herders' land rights. This policy, however, entails further loss of grazing land, further squeezing of the only sustainable livelihood in these semi-arid areas, and renders more likely the recurrence of drought-related crisis and the necessity for exceptional mobility and out migration.

Case report: Engaging farm staff in a lameness control programme

In December 2006 a lameness programme was initiated on a commercial herd of 110 Holstein Friesian milking cows. Previous lameness scoring, conducted about three times per year, had indicated approximately 30–45% of cows were lame at any one time. Following an initial investigation, which inadvertently damaged farm staff morale, regular mobility scoring was implemented combined with quarterly reviews aimed at supporting the farm manager in decision-making. Through a staged process over the course of 12 months the herd lameness improved, taking the farm into the top 25% of farms for herd mobility.

A sero-survey of rinderpest in nomadic pastoral systems in central and southern Somalia from 2002 to 2003 using a spatially integrated random sampling approach

A cross-sectional sero-survey, using a two-stage cluster sampling design, was conducted between 2002 and 2003 in ten administrative regions of central and southern Somalia, to estimate the seroprevalence and geographic distribution of rinderpest (RP) in the study area, as well as to identify potential risk factors for the observed seroprevalence distribution. The study was also used to test the feasibility of the spatially integrated investigation technique in nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral systems. In the absence of a systematic list of livestock holdings, the primary sampling units were selected by generating random map coordinates. A total of 9,216 serum samples were collected from cattle aged 12 to 36 months at 562 sampling sites. Two apparent clusters of RP seroprevalence were detected. Four potential risk factors associated with the observed seroprevalence were identified: the mobility of cattle herds, the cattle population density, the proximity of cattle herds to cattle trade routes and cattle herd size. Risk maps were then generated to assist in designing more targeted surveillance strategies. The observed seroprevalence in these areas declined over time. In subsequent years, similar seroprevalence studies in neighbouring areas of Kenya and Ethiopia also showed a very low seroprevalence of RP or the absence of antibodies against RP. The progressive decline in RP antibody prevalence is consistent with virus extinction. Verification of freedom from RP infection in the Somali ecosystem is currently in progress.

Interclan Cooperation in a Risky Pastoral Ecology: Some lessons from Eastern Ethiopia

This paper explores institutional arrangements governing reciprocal grazing resource sharing among different pastoral and agropastoral clans in eastern Ethiopia. It describes and compares multiple institutional arrangements that define non-exclusive property rights in order to increase the social and economic efficiency of grazing resource uses in a risky environment. Results indicate that social capital, explained using lineage as a proxy, plays a crucial role in facilitating the establishment of and negotiation for non-exclusive forms of rights to grazing resources. Nonetheless, socio-political factors, such as clan politics and regulations restricting cross-border herd mobility, limit the role of customary institutional arrangements in sustaining interclan cooperation. Increased threat from climate change (rainfall variability) and the absence of insurance for the livestock increase the necessity to sustain interclan cooperation over the reciprocal sharing of the grazing commons. This suggests the need for a policy shift in favor of reinforcing customary systems of resource governance to ameliorate interclan cooperation to respond to these challenges.

Mobile pastoralism on the brink of land privatization in Northern Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire’s adoption of land privatization policies promoted by the World Bank and European Union is producing new land use patterns in the countryside. A centerpiece of these policies is the 1998 Rural Land Law that aims to restructure rural economic life along agrarian capitalist lines. The purported “development” objective of land privatization is to stimulate agricultural productivity based on the assumption that land titling will lead farmers and herders to make greater investments in their production systems. This paper argues that the mobile livestock raising system of immigrant FulBe pastoralists in Côte d’Ivoire is threatened by the new land law. Since mobility is crucial to animal health and fertility rates, I argue that reduced mobility will lead to lower livestock productivity. Although the land law has yet to be implemented, its very existence is leading prospective claimants to test their land rights by planting orchards and lending land to immigrant farmers. The monetization of land lending and grazing rights is increasingly common. Land disputes over who has the power to allocate land are also on the rise. I argue that this heightened interest in “tenure building” is constraining herd mobility, especially for herders with limited resources to negotiate access to rangelands. On the other hand, land privatization is strengthening the hand of local cattle-owning farmers who increasingly practice mobile livestock raising and compete with FulBe herders for grazing lands. Under these new conditions of land access, control, and competition, FulBe herd mobility and productivity are at risk of declining.

Herded cattle and wild grazers partition water but share forage resources during dry years in East African savannas

Wild herbivore diversity and abundance have declined in African savannas for the past 20 years. Competition for forage resources between wild herbivore and livestock species might contribute to this decline, given habitat and diet overlap under conditions of resource limitation. Development of conservation and management strategies rely on understanding the spatial distribution of resources for livestock and wildlife, especially since the combination of transhumance pastoralism and wildlife conservation is common over Africa. We studied the distribution patterns of wild grazers in relation to cattle abundance, and distance to permanent and seasonal water bodies in semi-arid Kenya between 1983 and 2000. Cattle were abundant far from permanent water bodies during dry and wet years. Wild grazers less dependent on water also concentrated far from water during all years. Only wild grazer species more dependent on water remained concentrated close to water. Hence, wild grazers and cattle show spatial partitioning in the use of permanent and seasonal water bodies, but not in their forage resources. Our study provides no strong evidence of spatial displacement of wild grazers by cattle. We suggest that pastoralist decisions on cattle distribution do not need to negatively affect wildlife distribution and that coexistence can be possible through spatial partitioning. Our results show that pastoralist decisions play an important role in the interactions between livestock and wildlife in African savannas and that herd mobility is a key component in supporting sustainable use of resources for both wildlife and livestock.

Mobility Patterns of Livestock Keepers in Semi-Arid Communal Rangelands of Namaqualand, South Africa

Abstract In arid and semi-arid environments, pastoralists use herd mobility to manage resource variability. We investigated temporal mobility patterns of livestock keepers on the spatially confined commons of Namaqualand, South Africa, between 1997 and 2006. We conducted semi-structured interviews with about 300 livestock keepers from ten villages in the Leliefontein communal area. Herd mobility varies significantly amongst the herds in the different villages. Mobility in Leliefontein is complex and is influenced by environmental, agricultural, social and personal factors. We conclude that even with a high degree of variability in herd movements, the mobility patterns of livestock keepers over the last ten years have remained relatively stable.

Traditional strategies used by pastoralists to cope with la nina induced drought in Kajiado, Kenya

Pastoralists traditionally relied on herd mobility to cope with drought. In the pastoral areas of Kajiado, Kenya this strategy is now threatened by increased individual land ownership as compared to communal access. Drought frequency as related to El-Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is predicated to increase with climate change. The aim of the study was investigate the use of herd mobility strategy in the ENSO related 1999/2000 la Nina induced drought under different land tenure types and varying household cattle wealth. The study found that despite changes in land tenure, herd mobility was used as a coping strategy. Households rich in livestock applied the herd mobility strategy more than the poorer ones by moving a larger proportion of their herds. Poorer households applied the strategy of keeping drought resistant animals more than richer ones by having a higher proportion of goats and sheep than cattle. Institutional land units of Kiboko Range Research Station and Chyulu National Reserve which had higher herbaceous biomass were the most favored refuge areas for livestock during the drought. In conclusion poorer families are likely to be impacted more from increased incidents of ENSO droughts due inability to use the herd mobility option. Key words: La-Nina, climate change, drought, pastoralist, herd mobility, land use type

The effect of development interventions on the use of indigenous range management strategies in the Borana Lowlands in Ethiopia

AbstractIn the last three decades, the Borana rangelands of Southern Ethiopia have been deteriorating due to unsustainable utilization. This paper analyses the changes in indigenous range management among the Borana pastoralists and the role of development interventions.The fieldwork was carried out during 2000–2002, following a severe drought. Two locations, Dida Hara and Web, that once were part of a large grazing system with seasonally distinct herd movements, experienced differences in development interventions. Indigenous range management strategies and pastoralists' current use of key strategies before and after the last drought were compared based on pastoralists' information about land‐use change collected through participatory appraisals, land‐use mapping, and household surveys. Priorities for future interventions were discussed in multi‐stakeholder workshops.Water development in rainy season grazing areas such as Dida Hara has resulted in year‐round grazing and expansion of permanent encampments. This has affected the traditional dry‐season areas like Web because it interrupted the organization of rangeland management. Herd mobility became less applicable and traditional land‐use classifications have lost their function in range management. The introduction of government‐imposed administration disturbed the indigenous institutional networks and negotiation procedures for controlled herd movements. Aggravated by human population growth, this reinforces a higher and more permanent grazing pressure, leading to the deterioration of rangelands.Despite the disturbance of pastoralists' range management practices considerable technical and management capabilities prevail. Innovative development approaches should integrate indigeneous knowledge‐based (IK) strategies and formal legislation, but this requires strong external support and official recognition from the Ethiopian Government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Climate variability and flexibility in resource access: the case of pastoral mobility in Northern Kenya

In many regions of the world, property rights to natural resources are held under various forms of communal ownership, which often exhibit flexibility for users to access different resources depending on relative need. This paper explores the links between climate variability, transactions costs associated with resource access, and patterns of herd mobility in northern Kenya. Results indicate that greater spatial variability of vegetation leads to greater herd mobility, and that higher transaction costs reduce mobility for herds engaged in long-distance movements. Moreover, long-distance mobility is higher in drought years only in those communities with greater spatial and seasonal variability of vegetation.

Relating long-term rainfall variability to cattle population dynamics in communal rangelands and a government ranch in southern Ethiopia

This study reconstructed 21 years of household cattle population data in key resource ( tula wells) and non-key resource (pond-water) rangelands in southern Ethiopia, as well as 15 years of government cattle breed conservation ranch data, to analyze the relationship between long-term rainfall and cattle population dynamics. For the key-and-non-key resource rangelands, we assessed the reproductive life of cows and the number of calves. For both the communal and ranch systems, we analyzed impacts of multiple droughts on calving rates and herd die-offs. Relationships between pre-drought and post-drought cattle populations were used to evaluate evidence of density-dependence. Breeding females in the key resource tula well rangelands had a longer reproductive life than in the pond-water rangelands, and they produced more calves per reproductive life. Average calving rates were 55% for the communal and 52% for the ranch. Greater reductions in calving rates during droughts implied reduced herd growth potential. Breeding females and immature animals were influenced to a much greater degree by inter-annual rainfall variability than were mature males. The data showed a downward spiral for the total cattle holdings over a 21-year period, with a decline of 54%. The evidence of density-dependence was relatively important at the local land use level as compared with the regional level. Cattle population below carrying capacity under ranch management did not reduce herd die-offs, suggesting that rainfall variability, not density, had greater influence on cattle population dynamics. Long-term trends of cattle populations in the communal and ranch systems synchronized with mean deviations of rainfall. Our results indicate that rainfall variability under the different management systems strongly influenced the dynamics of cattle population, calving rates and mortality. The claim that ranching could be a superior model for range management in Borana over the communal system was not confirmed. The decline in cattle population in southern Ethiopia indicates a need for improved drought management policy. The evidence that droughts were more harmful to breeding females and immature animals than to mature males suggested that drought management needs to focus on herd recruitment potential. For the herders in southern Ethiopia, drought management involved herd mobility and accumulation of herds during periods of favourable rainfall. In the future, the importance of government ranch could be in breed conservation for the maintenance of the Borana cattle breed through distribution of bulls during the drought recovery phase.

Evolution des stratégies d'alimentation des élevages bovins dans le bassin d'approvisionnement en lait de la ville de Sikasso au Mali

Au cours des dernières décennies, l’alimentation des bovins est devenue la principale contrainte après la maîtrise des épizooties. Une étude a été conduite dans la zone périurbaine de Sikasso, ville moyenne en zone cotonnière du Mali, pour caractériser les évolutions de l’alimentation des troupeaux chez les éleveurs commercialisant du lait en ville. Des enquêtes rétrospectives ont été menées auprès de 27 responsables de troupeau pour cerner les changements de pratiques dans le long terme. Un suivi d’une année dans 14 troupeaux a permis de caractériser et quantifier les pratiques d’alimentation et la production de lait. Quatre stratégies d’alimentation des élevages bovins ont été distinguées : 1) troupeaux sédentaires, alimentés au pâturage, complémentation très faible ciblant plutôt les boeufs de labour et les jeunes ; 2) troupeaux sédentaires, alimentés au pâturage, faible soutien de la production laitière ; 3) troupeaux transhumants, avec allotement des laitières restant sur le terroir pour vendre du lait en ville, faible soutien de la production laitière ; 4) troupeaux au pâturage, éloignés de la ville ; laitières en ville, avec recours important aux concentrés. Le recours à une mobilité croissante est lié à la réduction de l’espace pastoral autour de la ville. La complémentation, fondée sur le stockage de biomasse fourragère et surtout l’achat de concentrés, a été facilité chez les agropasteurs par les avances sur les recettes du coton ou du lait mais a du mal à se pérenniser. L’utilisation des revenus du commerce a cependant permis à quelques éleveurs habitant en ville de développer un troupeau de laitières améliorées, avec une forte utilisation de la complémentation.

Screening for Rift Valley fever infection in northern Somalia: A GIS based survey method to overcome the lack of sampling frame

Following repeated import bans imposed by Saudi Arabia on livestock originated from Somalia due to suspicion of Rift Valley fever (RVF) presence and the severe socio-economic consequences of this, it was imperative for the Somaliland government to carry out surveillance activities in order to determine the status of transboundary diseases in its territory. A GIS computer software (Arcview ®) was used to overcome the lack of lists of sampling sites due to the high mobility of pastoral nomadic herds in the study area. This method proved very convenient and flexible for the random selection of sampling sites and thus the compliance with the requirements by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) for statistically valid methods if the surveillance outcome is to meet international recognition and acceptance. Screening in Somaliland in 2001 and in Puntland in 2003 which targeted mainly sheep and goats aged 1–2 years (97% of surveyed animals) revealed no signs compatible with the disease but an overall sero-prevalence of 2 ± 0.02% (90/4570) and 5 ± 0.3% (206/4050), respectively. The spatial distribution showed clusters of high sero-prevalence located mostly in the Nugal Valley. This trend was confirmed by the follow-up survey implemented in Somaliland in 2004 with a herd prevalence of 80 ± 6% and a within-herd prevalence up to 50% located again in the Nugal Valley. This result suggests the maintenance and increase of RVF virus activity in the valley. In addition conditions favourable to the breeding and survival of the vector population and the high density of livestock make the Nugal Valley an area of high risk for a RVF outbreak where sentinel herds will be placed.

Managing Variability: Herding Strategies in Communal Rangelands of Semiarid Namaqualand, South Africa

Herd mobility is a tool for managing environmental variability in African pastoral systems. This study examines the monthly mobility patterns of 24 herds over six years in the 20,000 ha communal area of Paulshoek, Namaqualand, and assesses the social, economic, and ecological factors affecting the livestock movement of individual herds and all herds combined. When the mobility pattern of all herds was considered, no seasonal or between-year differences in response to rainfall were evident. An analysis of individual herd mobility patterns showed that half of the herds were relatively sedentary over the study period while the other half were regularly mobile. Although herders used mobility to manage their herds in the unpredictable semiarid environment, their daily decisions were often made in response to their social, economic, or personal situations. There was no significant difference in livestock production between herding strategies, but sedentary herders had a greater localized impact on the rangeland than mobile herders. Our analysis suggests that non-environmental factors play a significant role in herd mobility and may consequently affect the efficiency of livestock production and environmental management.

Impact Assessment of a Community-based Animal Health Project in Dollo Ado and Dollo Bay Districts, Southern Ethiopia

Participatory methods were used to assess the impact of a community-based animal health worker (CAHW) project in two remote pastoralist districts of Ethiopia. The CAHW project had been operating for 3 years at the time of the assessment. Participatory methods were standardized and repeated with 10 groups of informants in the project area. The assessment showed significant reductions in disease impact for diseases handled by CAHWs compared with diseases not handled by CAHWs. In camels, there was significant reduction (p < 0.001) in the impact of mange, trypanosomosis, helminthosis, anthrax and non-specific respiratory disease. In cattle there was a signficant reduction (p < 0.001) in the impact of blackleg, anthrax and helminthosis. In sheep and goats there was a sign reduction (p < 0.001) in the impact of mange, helminthosis, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, orf and non-specific diarrhoea. In order of importance, these reductions in disease impact were attributed to (1) increased use of modern veterinary services provided by CAHWs, (2) vaccination campaigns involving CAHWs, (3) good rainfall and availability of grazing and (4) decreased herd mobility. Decreased herd mobility was also associated with negative impact of tick infestation. Community-based animal health workers were considered to be highly accessible, available, affordable and trustworthy relative to other service providers. They were also perceived to be suppliers of a good quality service. Specific types of positive impact attributed to CAHW activities were increases in milk, meat, income and draught power.

Resource Management under Climatic Risk: A Case Study from Niger

In this article, we develop an empirical model of an agro-pastoral system subject to high climatic risk in order to test the impact of rainfall variability on livestock densities, land allocation patterns and herd mobility observed at the community level. Also, because grazing land is a common-pool resource, we determine the impact of cooperation on these decision variables. To capture different abilities of communities to cooperate in managing these externalities, we construct indices comprised of factors considered to affect the costliness of achieving successful cooperation. We then test hypotheses regarding the impact of rainfall variability and cooperation, using data collected in a semi-arid region of Niger. Results indicate that rainfall variability initially leads to higher densities, but the impact becomes negative as variability increases still further. This result indicates that the benefits of accumulating large herds in variable environments are eventually offset by the increasing probability of large losses. Mobility in the current period is strongly related to current rainfall, and is also positively related to long-term rainfall variability. Communities with characteristics hypothesised to favour cooperation have lower stock densities and greater herd mobility. Neither cooperation nor rainfall variability has a significant impact on the proportion of land allocated to crops or common pastures.

PASTORAL COMMONS SENSE: LESSONS FROM RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICY, LAW AND PRACTICE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF GRAZING LANDS

ABSTRACT The paper analyses key issues concerning the collective management of grazing lands, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. In the dry belt South of the Sahara, natural resource management systems need to come to terms with an environment characterised by scarce and erratic rainfall, entailing that resources fluctuate considerably in time and space, and that neither the resource base nor the user community are stable and clearly delimited. Herd mobility is the key strategy used by herders to cope with this difficult environment. As with other common pool resources (CPR), recent legislation has moved towards the recognition of mobility as the key strategy for pastoral resource management, although implementation is lagging and bedevilled by conflict and ambiguity among the plethora of institutions involved. Examples of successful and less successful CPR pastoral systems—ranging from the Scottish crofters to Kenyan Masai—are given. The paper describes the importance of common rangelands for the livelihoods of the poor and the major trends in relevant policy and legislation; it analyses a series of successful and unsuccessful rangeland management systems and draws conclusions on the factors affecting the nature and performance of these systems. It discusses key factors affecting the nature and performance of CPR management regimes and the importance of: • establishing secure legal rights for local communities over the grazing land on which they depend; and • creating conditions that enable local communities and their elected representatives to assume their responsibilities and manage these resources in a sustainable and equitable manner.

Managing Resources in Erratic Environments: An Analysis of Pastoralist Systems in Ethiopia, Niger, and Burkina Faso

This study analyzes the links between risk and the kinds of property rights that have evolved to provide the mobility necessary to raise livestock in drought-prone countries-in this case Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Niger. The study also evaluates the impact of cooperation on resource management in these environments. The express purpose of this research is to contribute to the current debate on resource management in highly variable environments, focusing on the impact of climate variability on and the role of cooperation in resource management. More specifically, a conceptual framework is developed to analyze the impact of climatic variability and cooperative capacity on land allocation patterns, stock densities, and patterns of herd mobility. Overall, the empirical results suggest that effective policies for sustainable land management and crisis-response plans may require the design and implementation of mechanisms to increase cooperative capacity. (Resume d'auteur)