Backyard Herding in Mongolia

[Roving Jacobs]

I mentioned this in another thread but decided it deserved its own post. Hopefully you all find this interesting!

In addition to running my sheep farm I'm getting a masters in biology. The program I'm in has optional summer trips that take the place of classes and after a lot of dreaming and talking with my family and scraping together the money I got to spend two weeks in Mongolia this June!



We spent time looking for endangered pallas cats, visiting nomadic herders, teaching kids, and seeing where the last truly wild horse species had been returned to the country after facing extinction.



I've never felt so at home in a country so far away. Turns out farmers are the same kind, generous people all around the world.


Let me know if you have any specific questions but otherwise I'll share some basics about my trip and Mongolia in general, as well as some of the (many) pictures I took!

 

[Roving Jacobs]

Mongolians eat a lot of meat. So much meat! There really isn't arable land because it's so dry and windy and cold so they live off of their livestock who can graze on what little vegetation there is on the steppe.


We were there at the end of dry season so it was just about as dry as it gets there and it felt like being sand blasted any time we were hiking or working outdoors.


Mongolians in the region we stayed raise sheep, goats, cows, and horses. Further North they also raise yak and reindeer. Some also keep eagles for hunting but release them back into the wild after a year or so to breed and keep the wild population healthy.


The sheep are fat tailed, carpet wool types similar to karakuls. The fatty tail is a delicacy that is said to promote healing and good health. The goats are all cashmere. Every livestock species they raise is used for meat, milk, and hair/fiber/pelts. They tend to eat different meats each season. Sheep in the spring, goats in the summer, beef and horse in the fall and winter. I was there in goat season and ate so much goat.


Closer to water sources herders had huge herds of horses and cattle. Men and boys follow the herds all day, women and girls stay at the gers (yurts) to milk the lactating animals, process the milk products and meat, and mind the baby animals.






The sheep and goats got moved from well to well where the herder would draw up buckets for hours until every animal got water. A lot of wells are in disrepair so they are having to travel further and further to reach enough water to support their herds.

 

[RollingAcres]

Wow! Such a great experience!!!

 

[Latestarter]

What a fantastic adventure you got to enjoy! Congrats and best wishes on getting your Masters. Looking forward to your future posts.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

Oh! I forgot that some people raise camels too. It's hard to see but I swear there are camels here. This is more common in the South near the Gobi Desert.


The main predator herders have to deal with is wolves. It was really shocking to me to see wolf pelts for sale everywhere. Even the main department store had a whole section of pelts and furs. This is from a huge outdoor market where they also had eagle, vulture, and owl parts for sale. No way any of that was getting through customs!




There's been a push to reintroduce the traditional lgd landrace, called bankhar dogs, to reduce the need to shoot wolves and protect livestock. We were warned never to get to close to the dogs but they were happy to ignore us when we visited the homes of nomadic families. They prefer black and tan bankhars so that's all I saw but they also come in red and brown.


This one didn't even get up from his nap when we arrived to this ger. He must have been hard at work all night. He found the one spot of shade in the area and wasn't going to budge from it.

 

[promiseacres]

Awesome! thanks for sharing!

 

[Hens and Roos]

very interesting! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[Baymule]

Wow! Trip of a lifetime! Thanks for taking so many pictures!

 

[Roving Jacobs]

One of the coolest things I saw in Mongolia were the wild horses. Przewalski horses, or takhi as the Mongolians call them, are a separate species from domestic horses. They were extensively hunted and captured for zoos and circuses and by the 1950s there were only 12, all in captivity. At that point zoos realized they needed to save them and started a breeding program. By the 90s there were over 1500 in captivity and countries started to release them back into the wild.



For a week my group stayed in Hustai National Park and got to see the takhi almost every day. Overall I saw about 40 different horses, which is a huge number considering there are only about 500 in the park. They live in small bands with a stallion and a few mares and foals.






One morning I got up extra early for an option takhi watching hike and was seriously questioning why I volunteered until I saw the sunrise.


And then there was a sick or injured stallion who was forced away from his band hanging out that we were able to get pretty close to. Rangers monitor every single takhi in the park so I'm sure he was watched closely. I'm not as close to him as it seems, by the end of the trip I was the only person whose camera still had batteries so I had my choice of expensive long lenses that other people brought and couldn't use anymore.





Takhi have to worry about disease transfer from domestic horses and while the park said no domestic horses were allowed and that there were never horses in the park I saw herds every day. I even got to go on a park sponsored horse ride. I'm not sure if there were translation issues or what.


The horse ride was short but so much fun! I hadn't ridden in about 20 years, and even then it was only from girl scout camps, but it came right back to me. Now I want to do more horse expeditions but that means taking lessons and building strength first. And that means having money and time to do that. I graduate in December so maybe that will be my next big thing.

 

[RollingAcres]

Beautiful horses!