Counting sheep a way of life on the roof of the world
Print Edition
IN China’s remote western Pamirs, wealth is measured not in money or houses, but in sheep and cattle.
Every year, the herdsmen move their livestock between summer and winter pastures to “maintain and increase the value of assets.”
Kirgiz herdsman Sulayman, 26, lives in Atjiayili, the closest Chinese village to the border with Afghanistan, in the Wakhan Corridor, an area more than 4,000 meters above sea level on average.
He recently moved 200 sheep to a summer pasture in a valley 25 kilometers away with his family.
The transfer was divided into two groups.
Sulayman drove a jeep carrying his mother Aterhan and aunt Gulqal. They arrived ahead of the livestock so they could set up yurts, prepare food and build a sheepfold.
Sulayman said they also had to put up a smaller pen for the lambs. “The lambs have to be separated with their mothers in the evening or they won’t have enough milk in the daytime.”
The long distance and the high altitude make the transfer of livestock arduous, but the young, weak and old animals are well cared for. Three lambs less than 2 months old were also taken in the jeep.
In the past, horses were the main form of transport for the herdsmen and their belongings, but jeeps make the journey easier and quicker.
On arrival, Sulayman and the two women set up beds and stoves, and then Aterhan made lunch — yak meat with potatoes and naan, and a nutritious brick tea.
The other group — uncle Qurbaneli and sister Huryet — were in charge of the sheep.
At 5:30pm, nine hours after they set off, the sheep came into view of the encampment. Sulayman greeted his uncle and sister, and counted the sheep — all were present.
From now till October, Sulayman and his family will graze sheep on the pasture and also help protect the border. Although not professional border guards, they observe movements there.
May and June are the busiest time in the Wakhan Corridor as herdsmen in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region take their livestock to summer pasture at higher altitudes.
Nomadic herdsmen spend their lives following water and pasture. The transfers provide cattle and sheep with abundant food and enables the grassland to renew itself.
It was near dusk when Sulayman finished work.
He estimated his earnings for the year. “I get a subsidy for help protecting the border. Taking the subsidies and sales of sheep into account, I could earn more than 20,000 yuan (US$3,040) for the year,” he says.
“As long as the border area is stable, our life is settled.”
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