When I call him, Paco Valle asks me to try again in a few minutes. I caught him feeding his sheep. When we talk, after a while, he asks, laughing, if I hear the sound of his keyboard or, in other words, his sheep bleating. Paco is 59 years old and has been grazing since he left school at 15. He inherited the business from his parents and they from his grandfather, and he has worked all his life with his brother. Four years ago his brother retired and his son, 28, decided to take his position and dedicate his working life to the family flock, made up of 1,200 sheep. This case of generational change, so common a few decades ago, is increasingly exceptional, even here, in the town of Santiago Pontones, in the heart of the Cazorla mountain range. This area is, so to speak, one of the “Gallic strongholds” in terms of pastoralism (along with the Cañada Real Conquense, the Leonesa or the centers of the Pyrenees), with “more than a hundred companions who go out through these mountains,” says Valle.
In November they will leave, like every year, for Linares; They will travel the almost 200 km to there in a week and settle in for the winter. He says that transhumance has always had its difficulties: “there are many invasions of livestock trails with infrastructure, crops that are installed or fences on private farms. It is also true that in recent years they have been preparing areas where we can sleep with the flock and watering holes are being installed. In general, there is a lack of shelters,” laments Paco. And it seems to him that the job of pastor is increasingly complicated by “bureaucratic obstacles, the growing hassle of paperwork and digitalization. Only on papers do you need one lawyer per pastor,” he says.
Party in Madrid
Pastors like him gather this Sunday in Madrid to celebrate the annual transhumance festival (they are already on 32). A symbolic step, that of the sheep along the livestock trails that cross the center of the city, but which serves to vindicate the importance of this ancient work that is disappearing. According to data from the organizing organization, the Trashumance and Nature Foundation, there remain two hundred transhumant livestock farms that use the livestock routes and travel these paths on foot each year. Furthermore, they remember that transhumance produces valuable ecosystem services, such as “maintaining grasslands (17% of the Spanish territory corresponds to meadows and pastures of high ecological value), disperse seeds, fix carbon to the soil, fertilize the soil, control erosion or act as natural barriers against the spread of fires. In addition, social services must be added, because the roads then serve public activities such as environmental education, hiking, etc. They are biodiversity corridors that connect the different ecosystems of the Peninsula,” comments José Fajardo, spokesperson for the Platform for the Defense of Livestock Routes of Castilla-La Mancha.
A summer of fire
Besides, 2026 has been declared by UNESCO as the International Year of Grasslands and Shepherds. «Grasslands (which, together with pastures, are ecosystems originally linked to transhumance) cover more than half of the earth’s surface, contributing to food security, preventing the spread of large fires, helping to conserve biodiversity and regulate the climate. “Shepherds, with their ancestral knowledge, play a fundamental role in the sustainable management of these landscapes, preserving traditional practices that promote resilience and ecological balance,” explains the manifesto of the transhumance festival. «We shepherds continue to make the same movement that the large herds of herbivores did 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 years ago. That is, we do what is now so fashionable to call rewilding. However, and in general, all extensive livestock farming is disappearing, especially small livestock, sheep and goats. Right now we must be around nine million sheep, when in Spain we have 25 million, and this decline has occurred all over the world. It is a tough profession, which involves working every day of the week; There are no vacations and, until relatively recently, about three years ago, it was economically unprofitable. Now, ironically, prices have risen because there is no meat,” says Manuel Bahíllo Martín, general secretary of the Trashumance and Nature Foundation.
The causes of the disappearance of pastoralism are summarized, for the experts consulted, in more bureaucracy, little generational change, lack of financial aid “despite being an activity considered a UNESCO heritage site” and little maintenance of livestock trails. The technician recalls that 1% of the peninsular territory, some 400,000 hectares, is considered livestock trails, whether used for transhumance or not, although they face problems of various kinds, such as land intrusion. «The royal ravines have to have a width of 75 meters and, in some cases, they have been invaded by crops that occupy the entire space or have reduced it to 3-4 meters. There are many areas invaded by private fences and some sections converted into illegal landfills. On the other hand, Not all livestock trails are classified today or recognized as public domain. The competent state administration should intervene exceptionally, since there are reasons of recognized urgency and extraordinary public interest, as provided for in the draft Royal Decree for the development of the National Network of Livestock Routes, currently being processed. An Action Plan must be promoted for the recovery of VVPP and its transhumant activity. The current draft Royal Decree for the development of the National Network of Livestock Routes contemplates that a diagnosis of the situation must be established and the measures assessed, but it is useless and unnecessary because the necessary information is already available in the 2013 White Paper and because, in addition, its processing will be long and complex, so it will predictably arrive too late for its application and to rescue transhumance,” demand the conveners.
Furthermore, in recent years, to the causes already identified in the White Paper, such as the intensification of agriculture and livestock, urban expansion and industrialization and the depopulation of the rural world, “the lower economic profitability of transhumant farms compared to stable livestock farms, industrial or imported,” says the manifesto of the transhumance festival.
Shepherd schools
Shepherds are becoming so scarce that, in recent years, reports that talk about the life of a shepherd and their difficulties are common: from the state of the livestock trails, the paperwork or the presence of the wolf, to the overgrazing suffered by the pastures and pastures by the herds. Owning land has also become a difficulty in accessing this profession. «There is a tremendous batch of retirements and there is no replacement because even the incorporations are very complicated. The price of land and leases is so expensive that, even if there is a policy to help new entrants, it is very difficult to start from scratch, buy a property, have a warehouse… The effort required and the risk you run is very high. “A young kid who comes from the city, who does not have a country family, who does not inherit land, has it frankly very complicated.”
Despite the difficulties, and to help create a new quarry, various shepherd schools which confirm a growing interest in this profession. An example is that of the Ávila Foundation, which set up its own school a year ago. They have already trained 34 shepherds and this year they hope to exceed 60. Through a theoretical and practical course, and always accompanied by veteran sheep and goat herders, those who train with them discover the secrets of livestock care; secrets that range from how to schedule farrowing pens to how to apply new technologies to daily work to make the shepherd’s job a little lighter. Natalia Torrecilla, responsible for Culture and Heritage at the Foundation, warns of the need to take care of this ancient profession: “extensive livestock farming in Spain is disappearing and those that are usually maintained are large livestock farms that have an infrastructure that can sustain all the work. Now we need to hire veterinarians, administrators, and agencies to handle all the paperwork. Between the new laws and animal welfare policies and the administrative procedures that are put in place for the small rancher, the truth is that staying alive is an odyssey,” he comments.
Numbers that go down
►According to the White Paper on Transhumance (2013), the number of sheep, goat and cattle farmers who carried out transhumance movements in 2010-2011 was 8,393. Of them, the transhumants on foot were about 3,000. This figure had been reduced by 80% compared to the 90s of the last century. Since then, the decline in the number of owners of transhumant livestock farms on foot has continued, even more rapidly. The current estimate of these livestock farms, based on surveys in the sector and studies with information from the Regional Agrarian Offices, indicates that there may be just over 180 livestock farms that transhumance on foot along livestock routes, specifically in the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Catalonia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencian Community, Extremadura, La Rioja, Murcia, Navarra and Basque Country.