Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice 2014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

RESEARCH Open Access

După coada oilor long-distance transhumanceand its survival in RomaniaCaroline Juler

Abstract

Long-distance transhumance still exists in Romania but is becoming increasingly rare This article gives some of thereasons why the phenomenon arose why it has survived for so long and what are the main threats to its continuationIt attempts to show how deeply ingrained pastoralism is in Romanian culture After giving a historical and geographicalperspective on the practice the article focusses on four transhumant families from an area which is famous for itsshepherding skills The areas name is Mărginimea Sibiului and it lies in the southern Carpathian Mountains Onefamily from the village of Jina is singled out for particular attention The article looks at how this family manages itssheep its hired shepherds and its journeys between seasonal pastures It assesses the economic viability of sheepfarming in Romania and the pros and cons of walking sheep over long distances outlining some of the socialcultural and environmental benefits which would be lost if transhumance were no longer practised

Keywords European agricultural policy CAP European wild carnivores Shepherding Carpathian mountains

BackgroundDupă coada oilor or lsquogoing on the roadrsquo is a term thatRomanian sheep farmers and hired shepherds use todescribe long-distance walks with their flocks betweensummer and winter pastures lsquoLong distancersquo here maymean anything from 50 to 300 km and periods of betweentwo days to eight weeks It may also have meant drivingsheep to market but this was not the prime reason formaking such journeysPossibly originating in the Mesolithic period (Nandriş

1985 Arnold and Greenfield 2006) and once practisedacross Europe these seasonal livestock movements aretechnically known as transhumance Evidence for the exist-ence of shepherding during the Dacian period (c 500 BC to106 AD) comes with the find of a pair of sheep shears inthe Cindrel range of the southern Carpathians and the an-cient Romans rented land to shepherds in the same area(Grecu 1990 p 141) Totoianu (2010) considers thatlong-distance transhumance in what is now Romaniacould not have begun before the fourteenth centuryDocuments relating to the transhumance of lsquoVlachrsquo (inother words Transylvanian) flocks from the southernCarpathians to the Beskid Mountains of Moravia andPoland show that that particular route was well known in the

Correspondence cazmamaligacoukDroifa Brynberian Crymych Pembrokeshire SA41 3TG Wales UK

copy Juler licensee Springer This is an OpenLicense (httpcreativecommonsorglicensesbmedium provided the original work is properly

2014

fourteenth century This suggests that it could have been inuse a lot longer (Carpathian Sheep Transhumance 2013personal communications)Long-distance transhumance is still practised in the

Romanian region of Transylvania Treks between summerand winter pastures can cover distances of up to 300 kmand take up to six weeks in one direction But as life be-comes harder for Romanias transhumant herdsmen short-distance transhumance between the farmers homesand their mountain pastures (avoiding main roads andbuilt-up areas) is becoming much more common (Hubandet al 2010) In Romania this is called pendulare (pendula-tion) Short-distance transhumance is similar to the Swisslsquoalp systemrsquo described by Luick (2008) and according toHuband et al (2010) it has a more promising future thanthe longer sheep walks since so many families still rely onexploiting the summer pastures for their own food

Viability of sheep farmingRaising sheep is an important source of income With anestimated 11 million breeding ewes Romania has the thirdlargest flock of all the 27 European Union (EU) memberstates (Spain has the largest with 15 million breeding ewes)Its national flock bucked the EU trend in 2007 to 2008 bygrowing by 545 (Hybu Cig Cymru Meat ProductionWales 2008) In 2011 Romania had just over 10 of the

Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attributiony20) which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in anycredited

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sheep in the EU (Eurostats 2012) Although wool is virtu-ally valueless sheeps cheese is highly significantaccounting for half or more of the earnings made bythe farmers studied in this article And according to deRancourt and Carregravere (2011 p 108) lsquoRomaniahellip could rap-idly become the European leader in sheep milk productionrsquoAlthough roughly half of all Romanias sheep are kept

for milk (turned into cheese) rather than meat in 2008sheep contributed 6 of the EUs total lamb and muttonproduction (a decline of 13 on the previous year) ascompared with the UKs 34 (Hybu Cig Cymru MeatProduction Wales 2008) According to Ilişiu et al (2013)lsquoin the past 16 years Romania was ranked first place inEurope regarding live animals exported for slaughter In2004 the maximum number of exported animals exceededtwo millionhellip Over 97 of the volume of exports is madeup ofhellip Turcana [lambs] and the difference of 3 is com-prised of hellip Tsigai [lambs]hellip The main destination of theseexports is the West European countries (Italy Spain) andMuslim countries (Saudi Arabia Libya)rsquoLeaving aside the welfare issues of live export most of

Romanias sheep farms are not - yet - massive agribusi-nesses And they play a vital role in maintaining biodiver-sity lsquoIn Romania small-scalehellip farmers own 70 of thenational sheep flock and play a vital role in maintaininglarge tracts of valuable semi-natural habitatsrsquo (PASTORAL2 2001)

Industrialisation versus pastoralismCompared to Britain Romania was a latecomer to indus-trialisation The greatest drive towards heavy industrycame during the Ceauşescu Communist regime (1965 to1989) but it is still an agricultural country EuropeanUnion statistics show the percentage contribution ofagriculture to Romanias overall gross domestic product(GDP) to be more than 35 and therefore one of thehighest On the other hand the average density oflivestock grazing in Romania is one of the lowest inthe EU Figures given by the Eurostat Statistical Atlasshow lt060 livestock unit (LSU) per hectare of fodder areain Transylvania the Banat and north-west Romania andbetween 060 to 090 LSU per hectare of fodder area inthe eastern Romanian regions of Moldavia and WallachiaOne LSU is equivalent to one cow or six medium-sizedsheep (Europe Regional Yearbook 2013)Pearson (2012 p 139) puts the case more strongly

Quoting the Romanian Center for European Policies hesays lsquohellipagriculture is one of the most important economicsectors in Romania This sector generates 12 of thecountrys GDP and around 30 of Romanias activepopulation works in agriculture Most of agriculturallabour force is active in semi-subsistence farms with littleconnection with the market The development of agricul-ture is hampered by one of the worst rural infrastructures

in Europe and by an extremely fragmented ownership sys-tem Semi-subsistence farmers own small pieces of landwith an average size of 15 hectares Any decision on CAP[Common Agriculture Policy] reform made in Brusselswill have a dramatic impact on Romanias economic andsocial landscapersquoBetween 1949 and 1962 land in accessible areas was

collectivised but this left a sizeable proportion out ofcollective or state arm ownership The historian Deletant(2010) points out that lsquoCollectivization was completed in1962 and its results put 60 percent of the total area offifteen million hectares of agricultural land in collectivefarms 30 percent in state farms and left 9 percent inprivate hands The latter consisted of upland where in-accessibility made it impractical to collectivizersquoRomanias current land surface area - unchanged since

1962 - is 239000 km2 One third of this is mountainousAccording to Huband et al (2010 p 57) lsquonationally thereare an estimated 24 million hectares of semi-naturalgrasslandshellip and one source estimates 12 million hectaresof semi-natural pastures and hay meadow habitats in themountainsrsquo As defined by Huband et al (2010 p 56)semi-natural grasslands are those lsquodominated by unsownnative plant species that rely on human activities to main-tain the condition of the swards and prevent the establish-ment of shrubs or woodlandrsquoCollectivisation and the state farm system lasted until

1991 As Deletant (2010) notes collectivisation took13 years to complete and met with widespread resistancein what was an overwhelmingly peasant society lsquoCommun-ist Romanias plans to industrialize from an agriculturalbase required not only massive financial investmentincluding foreign loans but also a major readjustmentof labour resources involving movement from the landto the factory The measures included the combinationof agriculture with manufacturing industries and thegradual abolition of the distinction between town andcountry through a more equable distribution of thepopulation over the country [T]his planhellip was termedby Ceauşescu ldquosystematizationrdquo The proportion of thecountrys urban population rose from 22 percent in 1948to 30 percent in 1965 and to 49 percent in 1983 and wasprojected in 1988 to rise to 75 percent in the year 2000The number of towns with populations ranging fromunder 3000 to 320000 rose from 152 in 1948 to 236 in1978rsquoDeletant ends his review with a quote that is highly

relevant to the attitudes which policy-makers take towardssheep farmers and shepherds lsquoldquoseven million peasantswho barely reach subsistence levels have no idea of thedifference between the political right and left and buy onaverage a single toothbrush in a lifetime pose a develop-ment problem not just for Romania but for the EuropeanUnion [EU] in general It is hard to believe that by the

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twenty-first century the peasant problem in Romania hasnot only remained unsolved it had actually been recreatedclose to its historical original in spite of the efforts toeliminate rural underdevelopmentrdquohellip Had the majority ofEU leaders not dismissed views of Mungiu-Pippidi andother leading analysts of Romania it is hard to believe thatthey would have so blithely accepted that Romania wasready in January 2007 for entry into the EUrsquo (Deletant2010)Despite this withering comment Romania is in the EU It

also possesses one of Europes rarest natural environmentsone that is to a large extent dependent on traditionallow-impact agriculture - including transhumance and onethat is a lsquoblueprintrsquo for many more industrialised nations(Akeroyd 2007) Akeroyd also notes that

This is a landscape that Europe has mostly lost where awealth of plants and animals thrives alongside traditionalagriculture And there is no reason why its peopleshould not have a happy and secure future forging newprosperity in this ancient and productive landscape(2006 p 9)

In February 1991 Romania passed a land restitution law(Verdery 1994) Many people who owned land privatelybefore 1949 gained the right to get some of it back againThis has increased the numbers of small landholdingswhich form Romanias social and economic backboneEU Agriculture Commissioner and former RomanianAgricultural Minister Dacian Cioloş has written thatlsquoFarmers should not be considered only as running foodproduction enterprises They act within a living environ-ment that offers not only food and raw materials but anenriched public life In other words European agriculturehas to be multifunctional competitive not only for themarket but also for citizens as an economic activity thatuses and manages renewable resources of public interestrsquo(Pearson 2012 p 278)In the past 20 years many of the open expanses formerly

owned by state and cooperative farms have been enclosedtogether with open areas of mountain pasture The newowners may be settled farmers factories or property specu-lators but urban sprawl and fences make it more difficultto move animals across country on foot As older peopledie subsistence farms many of which lie in the mountainsare disappearing But as Luke Dale-Harris (2014) points outin The Guardian newspaper lsquoMeanwhile the rural popula-tion is growing Each year more than 100000 people moveback to the countryside from Romanias cities where pricesare rising but jobs are scarce and poorly paidrsquoBarriers to long-distance sheep walks include road

building and hostility from landowners hunters and policeWell-meaning animal welfare registration and hygieneregulations also make it harder for poor small farmers

to continue with their traditional way of life Despitechanges to the Common Agricultural Policy it is con-tended that EU policy-makers do not understand the vitalrole that small farmers can play (Pearson 2012)

Shepherding in Romanian folkloreRomanias folk culture is full of tales about shepherds Thecountrys most famous myth of origin Miorița tells thestory of a good shepherd who lets himself be murdered byjealous rivals after being warned of their plan by a talkinglamb Miorița is sometimes seen as a symbol of Christianmagnanimity Christs martyrdom and turning the othercheek Sandwiched between the Romanian Catholic westthe Muslim east with Slavophone Bulgaria and Serbiato the south and Ukraine to the north Romania is apredominantly Orthodox Christian country with a Latin-based language that traces its religious roots back to theByzantine Empire The cultural links between pastoralismand Christianity are too well known to need emphasisingbut it is perhaps worth saying that in areas where shep-herding has been important churches and wayside shrinesoften contain murals or sculptures incorporating imagesof sheepPopular Romanian sayings and folk songs show sheep as

sacred as well as useful animals Mihai Coman (1996 p 21)quotes the following

The sheep is a holy animal anyone who keeps sheep andbees will be lucky in everything they do When there areno more sheep or bees it will be the end of the world

The sheep is a blessing for as long as she lives shesweetens and feeds you and if she dies her fleecewarms you

Because of their knowledge of mountains shepherdswere also used as messengers and spies in times of warIf the foothills are included the Carpathian Mountains

cover two thirds of Romanias surface area The moun-tains form a natural fortress enclosing the Transylvanianplateau which until 1918 was physically and politicallyindependent from the rest of the country To give a briefhistory from c 1100 Transylvania formed part of theHungarian and later the Habsburg empire while Moldaviaand Wallachia the two other main medieval areas of whatis now Romania were semi-independent principalitiesclosely allied to the Byzantine Empire But after the fall ofConstantinople in 1453 they were forced to pay tribute tothe Ottoman Empire and later accept princes appointedby Istanbul - or as in Dobrogea became part of it Polandand Russia were other powerful neighbours that threat-ened Romanians sovereignty and raids by Crimean Tatarswere common until 1717 (Boia 2001 pp 11ndash27 Juler2009 pp 41ndash49 306)

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MethodsThis article is the result of several informal researchtrips from 2007 to 2013 to collect and record materialabout the phenomenon of transhumance Intervieweesincluded practising Romanian sheep farmers and hiredshepherds the farmers families as well as historiansethnographers and government officials The originalaim was to interview people descended from Romanianshepherds who had migrated to southern Russia andthe Caucasus in the period 1880 to 1914 Over the pastseven years material was gathered from a dozen individualswhose families had shepherding connections to Russia Thehistorical investigations developed in parallel with a studyof present-day transhumance in Romania Most of thematerial used here comes not only from personal commu-nications and audio recordings but also from Romanianand English written sources

Study areaOne area in particular stands out in connection withpastoralism and transhumance It is called MărginimeaSibiului and it lies in the southern Carpathians to thesouth of Sibiu city (Figure 1) Mărginimea Sibiului istraditionally associated with groups of ethnic Romaniansmallholders who were forced out of their villages on theplateau and retreated into the mountains when the Saxonscolonised Transylvania from the twelfth century It washistorically distinct from surrounding communities ofethnic Hungarians and lsquoSaxonsrsquo (an umbrella term forimmigrants who came from several different regions ofnorthern Europe many of whom spoke German) andhas retained a strong sense of cultural and racial separate-ness Mărginimea Sibiului consists of 17 villages andone town scattered over the northern slopes of theCindrel rangeOf these communities the higher-lying villages in-

cluding Rod Tilişca Jina and Poiana Sibiului are knownfor their inhabitants expertise in sheep rearing and theiradventurousness as transhumants As Transylvaniastextile trade developed some of the sheep farmers losttheir land to the very weavers who were exploiting theirwool but flocks grew This too forced the sheep farmersto look for pastures further afield Between the earlyeighteenth and the mid-nineteenth century flock sizesgrew out of all recognition In the village of Sălişte forexample the number of sheep quadrupled between1714ndash20 and in the early nineteenth century around100000 to 150000 head were recorded there (Grecu1990 p 144) Huband et al (2010) have stated that theincrease of cereal crops in the nineteenth and twentiethcenturies took more of the land away from grazingmaking it even harder for pastoralists to survive In thehighest mountains it was too cold in the winter andthere was not enough grazing or dry fodder to sustain

them Seasonal movement with the animals to other placesmade common sense

History of transhumance in and from present-day RomaniaIn Romania there were no officially designated sheep roadslike British drovers roads or Spanish cantildeadas Insteadshepherds memorised the routes and although the pathsare being eroded by enclosures roads and new buildingthis is still the case today Landowners of the past wereoften glad of sheep to graze their stubble because thesheeps dung fertilised the soil and when it came to cross-ing national boundaries shepherds knew the mountainpaths by which they could evade densely populated areasand customs duties if they applied Luick (2008) describesa very similar situation in Germany

The Southwest German transhumance relied upon rulesand privileges for the wandering shepherds Unlike inProvence or in Spain there never existed a special orcoherent system of legally-established drove roads Thepaths the transhumances took on their journey from thesummer pastures to the various winter grazing areas canmore be described as a system of spatial corridorsWhereas the actual passage of the flocks is generallyallowed the daily grazings have to be individuallysanctioned by the particular community and in mostcases shepherds are charged a rent depending on the sizeof the flock andor the length of time on the communalterritory Over time a tradition evolved as shepherdsused the same transhumance corridors and hadcontracts with the same municipalities every year Inthe past shepherds could even gain a small revenue ifthey kept their sheep overnight in folds on arable fields

Documents from the fourteenth century show thatshepherds from Mărginimea Sibiului over-wintered theirsheep in lower-lying areas across national borders asfar away as Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic(Figure 2) Other popular destinations were not onlyDobrogea (on Romanias Black Sea coast and under Turkishrule until 1878) and Istanbul itself since the Turksprized Romanian sheep for their meat but also BulgariaMacedonia Serbia and the Banat From the sixteenthcentury Carpathian shepherds could be found wanderingor transhuming to southern Russia and the Crimean pen-insula They eventually made their ways to the Caucasusmountains where some presumably settledThe depth and pervasiveness of pastoralism in Romanian

culture have given rise to some fanciful theories that thefire god Prometheus landed in the Carpathian not theCaucasian mountains (Densuşianu 1913) and that an-cient Colchis from which the mythological figure ofJason snatched the Golden Fleece lay in eastern Romaniaand not Georgia

Figure 1 Study area of Mărginimea Sibiului in Romania

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This study has found few historical records chartingexactly how and why the earliest Romanian shepherdsmoved to the north of the Black Sea and the Caucasus

(see Figure 2) And there are no signs that Transylvaniansheep walked home from southern Russia to MărginimeaSibiului for the summer - it was too far It is more likely

Figure 2 Spread of Romanian transhumance to Russia and the Caucasus (Source Lupaş et al 2009)

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that the Mărgineni who established winter homes inDobrogea migrated further east when the climate demandedor it was politically possible Romanian shepherds wouldhave been attracted to the vast expanses of grassland es-pecially as Russian peasants did not exploit them (Grecu1990) Instead of returning home every year a lot ofRomanians moved eastwards enjoying the milder climatewhich made transhumance unnecessary in winter Thepolitical status of Moldavia the eastern Romanian regionpart of which is now the Republic of Moldova shows thatit was and still is a halfway house between Romania andRussia 70 of Moldovans speak Romanian But followingthe Tsarist purges of Caucasian peoples in the 1860s - andpossibly because of them - another wave of migrationsstarting from about 1880 brought Mărgineni shepherdsto the recently vacated steppes of the Volga basin and tothe east of the Black Sea Using what may by now havebeen familiar paths they established folds and later farmsin Crimea and the CaucasusDuring this period some of the Romanian settlers in

the Crimea took their sheep to the Caucasus mountains

for summer establishing a new transhumant route tothe east There is no sign that they brought their animalshome to the Carpathians on a seasonal basis In manycases they abandoned the Ţurcana sheep for more com-mercially rewarding breeds such as Karakul and Merinoor cross-bred the Ţurcana with Merino to create theŢigaie sheep which as mentioned above has finer woolIt is certain that the Romanians themselves lsquotranshumedrsquothey left their sheep in the hands of other family membersor fellow Romanian shepherds while making occasionaltrips home to Mărginimea Sibiului to see their parentswives or childrenThere was a tradition that sons and nephews of the

migrating shepherds would travel to Russia on their ownwhen they reached 14 years of age and had finishedschool Along with their adventurous spirit and educationalachievements (Grecu 1990 p 12) this facet of Romanianpastoralism has become a matter of pride in the annals ofMărginimea Sibiului (Lupaş et al 2009) As Russia turnedinto the Soviet Union and Stalin replaced Lenin theplight of these Romanian sheep farmers became extremely

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precarious some were killed or deported to Siberia othersstarved some disappeared and several scores escapedhome to the Carpathians minus their sheepDuring Communism the upland villages Jina and Poiana

Sibiului in the study area of Mărginimea Sibiului area werefamous - if not notorious - for their wealthy sheep farmersSome of these villages farmers managed to earn steady in-comes at times when most of the county was experiencingfood and electricity shortages Their luck was due totheir remoteness 1000 m up in the mountains theywere not collectivised they evaded certain taxes andthe government guaranteed prices for their animalsmilk meat and wool People who commuted to thesevillages from the poorer plateau below used to talk oflsquogoing to Americarsquo

Transhumant shepherds case studiesDan D is in his early thirties He runs a flock of 1000Ţurcana ewes and rams which breed on average 500lambs once a year Ţurcana sheep are a shaggy coarse-fleeced curly-horned hardy all-purpose breed (Figure 3)thought to be descended from the wild Mouflon (Ryder1983 p 23) During the Communist period the Ţurcanavirtually vanished in favour of the Ţigaie (a cross betweenthe Ţurcana and the Merino bred for its finer fleece) andthe Merino itself but thanks to their ability to survive theharsh Carpathian winters they have made a rapid come-back since 1989 Every spring and autumn Dan walks theflock between his summer pastures in and above his homevillage of Jina the highest in Mărginimea Sibiului (900 m)and his winter grazing grounds in Sălaj county some300 km to the north-west of his homeIt is still more economical for him to walk his animals

between seasonal pastures than to send them by truck Dansays that he prefers leading his animals on foot because hissheep are healthier and more disease resistant due to theexercise they get and because they eat a wider variety ofplants than they would if kept in one place all year roundHe states that their meat and milk are of superior qualityand taste better as a direct result of long-distance transhu-mance Dans faith in the health benefits of meat - and milk -that come from extensive grazing is borne out by scientificevidence The Pasture Fed Livestock Association (based inBritain) states on its website that lsquoGrass-fed meat tends tobe lower in total fat and also has higher levels of ldquogood fatsrdquosuch as Omega 3 Milk and meat from grass-fed animalshas higher vitamin levels - particularly vitamin E Somestudies also show higher mineral levels in grass-fed meatand milkrsquo (PFLA Pasture Fed Livestock Association 2011)Unfortunately apart from the Slow Food Movement whichhas Romanian centres in Bucharest Braşov Cluj and Turda(Slow Food Turda nd) this study has found no equivalentRomanian or EU organisation that promotes meat and milkfrom animals that have been grazed extensively or while on

transhumance The guaranteed prices for meat milk andwool have vanished and there is no Wool MarketingBoard in Romania as there is in the UKIn the weeks leading up to Romanias accession to the

European Union (January 2007) it was widely believedthat all forms of transhumance would be forbidden InFebruary 2007 the Romanian Ministry of Agriculturepublished a news flash that was designed to clarify thesituation (MAPDR 2007) After specifying the rules forvehicular transport the article turned its attention totranshumance on foot It stated that walking herds ofanimals lsquoshould be avoided whenever possible becauseit leads to great loss of body weight and contagionrsquo Itcontinued

The displacement of the animals must be plannedahead so that it is carried out at a time when theweather is favourable to avoid heavy rains cold andalso excessive heat The route and resting points mustbe chosen by consulting local authorities so that theanimals do not come into contact with local beastsRoads with heavy traffic must be avoided in favour ofside roads but these side roads must be neitherpotholed nor covered in deep mud Flocks and herdsmust be supervised properly grouped by categories ofsex and age to a maximum number ofhellip 500ndash600sheep per flock The movement must take placeduring the day with a limit ofhellip 25 kms walking perday for sheep and goats Sick or injured animals mustnot be movedhellip Similarly females in the last monthof gestation or the first month after giving birth andyoung and aged animals must not be moved BetweenMay and October fodder can be provided by pastureIf no pasture is available two portions ofcorresponding feed and water must be provided atleast twice a day The groups must be looked after bya sufficient number of well-trained herders If animalsdie or need to be killed on the road a veterinary officermust decide what action is to be takenrsquo (translated fromRomanian)

As stated above there are no officially designated sheeppaths in Romania In the autumn Dans animals have tomake their way north walking down through the woodsand pastures of the Cindrel mountains towards the townof Sălişte and across 200 km of the Transylvanian plateaubefore reaching their goal This means crossing fast roadsfording rivers or finding bridges over them walking overrailway lines and either skirting or passing through townsand villages Their route goes past Cluj the largest city inTransylvania and several other conurbations includingTurda and Ocna Mureş (Figure 4)Questioned in 2010 about the dangers of transhumance

Dan said that the greatest threat came from people not

Figure 3 Mrs B with her prize-winning two-year-old Ţurcana ram

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from wild animals He remembers when he was a littleboy that the way for sheep was much clearer than it isnow He blames land enclosures hunters and hostilepolice There is no law against walking ones sheep ontranshumance per se but only on the time of day and thedistance one may cover This study has heard uncon-firmed reports that some authorities demand a tax of upto 2000 euros if one walks ones animals across countyboundariesa

The farmers interviewed for this study say that some-times they have to move their sheep at night so as to getsafely through towns and across major roads because thatis when the traffic is lightest Even so sheep often get killedin road accidents and while crossing railway lines Dan hashad several run-ins with policemen while attempting to gethis flock across the E68 an international route that runsnear Sibiu Evasion is often better than confrontation It isunsure whether he or other transhumant shepherds complywith the 600-head limit If hired shepherds give notice - ordisappear - at the last minute flock masters can be left withan impossible situation Dan has complained about another

regulation unverified here that on the road farmers mustnot use more than two dogs per thousand sheep Dan saidthat this also makes life very difficultDan owns a farmstead in the Sălaj village of Firminiş

He supplements his winter grazing by providing driedmaize and hay which he buys locally or in Jina villagehe can bring it to Sălaj in his van or jeep or by friendstransportDan D bought the farm with 50 ha of adjacent grazing

in 2010 before that he rented various parcels of pasturefrom the local village or at another pastures 18 km awayToday he still rents grazing there as well as using hisown Dans parents are also farmers and during the 1970sand 1980s both of them walked their sheep from Jinato the same over-wintering grounds and back again inspring leaving their other farm animals at home in thecare of relations Dan has four sisters two of whom areolder than him His eldest sister also went on the roadas he did from the age of nineHuband et al (2010) say that Jinari shepherds (ie sheep

farmers from Jina) have traditionally chosen Sălaj for their

Figure 4 Transhumance centres and directions in present-day Romania (Huband et al (2010))

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winter pastures This study noted that four or five Jinariflocks were stationed near to Dans during the winter of201112 Sălaj lies in a corridor between the Apusenimountains and the eastern Carpathians It is severalhundred metres lower than Jina and the winters areusually mild enough there for the Ţurcana sheep tosurvive outdoors even in snow storms The heaviest snowgenerally falls in December and January Predominantlyhilly its landscape is a patchwork of open fields or stripsdesigned for cereals occasional fenced orchards scruband young woods that are mainly of beech and oak andwhich are managed by the county forestry service Danhas made arrangements with the village councils (comune)and the forestry authorities which let his sheep crossvillage boundaries and graze in the woods

Lambing takes place once a year and usually beginsin February In January 2013 with manual help fromhis hired shepherds and friends from Jina Dan built alambing shelter previously the ewes gave birth outsidealthough there was indoor shelter for vulnerable or sickanimalsIn common with all sheep on rented winter pastures

Dans flock has to get moving on or before 1 April Thishelps to protect young crops from being trampled andeaten If grazing is particularly short or there are veryyoung lambs as in April 2012 which was preceded bytwo years of drought he may walk his animals in a shortcircuit to strengthen them gradually before beginning themain journey (Figure 5) But owing to the time constraintssome sheep inevitably give birth on the road Dan does not

Figure 5 Transhumance shepherd and flock

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sell his lambs at Easter (when most lamb meat is sold tothe internal Romanian market) but keeps his young stockuntil July or later depending on whether he can get a goodprice for them In any case the lambs are weaned in May assoon as they return home and the mature sheep are shornbefore heading to the higher pastures Shearing (donemanually) and bathing (October) require extra handsand farming neighbours often fill the breachDans parents own a farmhouse in the centre of Jina

It has substantial outbuildings which house their hay acouple of horses (used for traction) two or three pigsand chickens and a small garden where vegetables aregrown for the household The family also owns a 2-hagrădină which is a fenced field about a kilometre fromtheir house The grădina yields two or three cuts of hayper year and the sheep and the donkeys - which Danuses to carry his teams camping gear while on transhu-mance - may be kept there for a week or two betweensummer and winter grazing Even in the field that isclose to the village the sheep must be constantly overseento protect them from wolves and bears

Dans mother occasionally sells surplus piglets at theannual animal fair at Poiana Sibiului but otherwisesheep are their only commercial livestock A cellar underthe house contains the barrels of telemea (salted sheepscheese) which provides the D family with half of its annualincome (the rest comes from the sale of lambs and gov-ernment grants) Dan receives an EU subvention perhead of sheep for grazing his flock in a Less FavouredArea (LFA) Like the other farmers interviewed for thisstudy Dan says he could not manage without the EUfundingThere are no separate bedrooms in the family home

typically the parents children and grandchildren sharesofa beds in the sitting room and the adjacent lsquocleanroomrsquo However there is hot running water a separatebathroom and a washing machine the last item by nomeans usual in present-day Romanian villages All thedaughters and other family members help on the farmif they are needed and are physically able and free todo so This often means spending time at one or otherof the familys rented colibi (summer farms consisting

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of grazing land log cabins and barns) when the sheep aregrazing Jinas mountain pastures in the summer (betweenMay and October) Dan needs two pastures because as inwinter he separates his flock into two parts keeping thesterpe (lambs and milkless ewes) with the rams in onegroup and milking ewes in the otherA 2007 report by a BBC correspondent was called lsquoEU

clash with Romanian traditionrsquo It included an interviewwith another Jina sheep farmer She said that her familymade lsquoroughly 2500 kilos of cheese a year Ten kilos persheep in the milking months from May to October whichthey sell to the merchants for up to 10 New Lei (pound2) a kilorsquo(Thorpe 2007) At the same rate Dans family would makeabout 7000 kg a yearDans parents are in their early sixties In summer they

live almost permanently at one of the lower colibi whileDan divides his time between the flocks fetching sup-plies milking and taking turns with the hired shepherdsto do guard duty He is also building a house for his newfamily it stands next to his parents home Dans wifealso helps with the sheep and with cheesemaking butshe has a baby to look after and having expressed somedislike for life in the summer folds it is uncertain howshe will manage her time in future The pigs and hensfor the family are transported at the start and end of theseason to and from the sheep folds by cart jeep or onfoot Dans father also helps with milking and cheese-making Although he no longer goes on the spring and au-tumn journeys Dans father takes part in summer andwinter watches and still sleeps in the open in summerJina has about 60 working colibi their number has re-

duced from roughly twice that amount during the past40 years Most are used for sheep but herds of cattle arekept too A few Jinari own their summer farms but mostrent them from private individuals or companies In1991 Romanias government authorised the restitutionof land that had been collectivised by the Communistregime in the 1940s This meant that individual familiescould receive up to 50 ha of their former holdings andbuy up to 200 ha During the Communist period Jinavillage owned more common grazing than any othervillage in Mărginimea Sibiului The reasons for this datefrom the Habsburg regime (late seventeenth century until1867) when the men of Jina agreed to defend the borderbetween Transylvania and Wallachia which ran alongthe mountain ridges nearby The village received severalmountains as a rewardDan employs between two and five hired shepherds He

prefers to find shepherds by word of mouth otherwiselike many Mărgineni farmers he will look for new handsearly on Monday mornings at Sibiu railway station Eachone gets a salary of between 200 and 300 euros a monthdepending on their age and experience As well as theirsalaries the hired men are given their daily food as well

as clothing alcohol and cigarettes In return they areexpected to work and sleep outdoors for most of the yearno matter how bad the weather is (Figure 6)The hired men must help with the daily milking herding

feeding treating and protecting the sheep They have tostay with the flocks all day and sleep near them at nightThey make their beds on the ground or in ţoţe (boxes madeof wood or corrugated iron which are just large enough tocontain a man lying at full length) (Figure 7) Traditionallyat night or in bad weather shepherds wear a long sheepskincloak known as a cojoc or sărică which has the fleece onthe outside Against the rain they may have an oily woollenplaid called a ţol but many use plastic sheeting as araincoat Traditional headgear for Mărgineni shepherdsconsists of black rimless pot hats made of hard feltedmaterial The shepherds footwear is usually a pair of half-length plastic Wellington boots with felted or wovenwraps instead of socksOne of the longest-serving hired shepherds Adam

has been with the D family for five years He is 23 yearsold and an orphan He comes from Sălaj where Dan andhis family have created a network of useful contactsAdam is distantly related to Dans wife who is also fromSălaj However disputes often arise between farmers andhired shepherds about standards of care Grievances areusually dealt with immediately but not always happilyand hired shepherds do walk away without giving noticeDuring the research for this study Nelu another of Danshired shepherds was sent to prison for the attemptedmanslaughter of a landowner who had attacked Dansfather The incident happened during the autumn trans-humance at dusk when some of the sheep may havestrayed onto an unfenced field of lucerne Nelu was18 years old and had worked as a shepherd for six yearsLuckily the landowner survived and the D family paidfor Nelus defence he came out of jail after 18 monthsand returned to the flock A third hired shepherd a 14-year-old worked for Dan for three seasons but just beforethe start of the spring transhumance he stole a sheep dogand ran awayDan owns 10 or 12 Carpathian sheep dogs (bred for

guarding sheep) and several smaller herding dogs all ofwhich help raise the alarm if predators are about Other-wise the shepherds have only their hard wooden staffs andphysical strength for protection Huband et al (2010) notedthat the quality of hired shepherds in their study area hasfallen since 1989 This is because few youngsters want sucha hard and lonely life waged shepherding has become a lastresort for those who are down on their luck But a degreeof trust is essential on both sides and the D family makesnoticeable efforts to accommodate their workers needs andtolerate their personalities They work alongside them eatwith them and provide company and heat in the shielingas well as food at the end of day and night shifts

Figure 6 Hired shepherds camp on transhumance

Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice Page 12 of 172014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

It is a tough life and employees often want to leave be-fore the long-distance walks Then Dan has to rely onfamily members including his wife and fellow flock mas-ters to go with him Other long-distance transhumantflocks may be left completely in charge of hired men inthe four cases studied here all the farmers walked withtheir animals and spent the majority of the year withthem But since the study began two of the four havegiven up long-distance transhumance altogetherThe S family from Rășinari used to walk 600 ewes over

the southern Carpathians from their rented mountainranges to Lugoj a journey of about 200 km The familyconsists of the father the mother who is in charge ofmaking the cheese their daughter who is a teacherand two sons Both sons are in their twenties and both ofthem want to continue the family business The family hassplit their land into two giving one son his own farm nearLugoj in the milder Banat region The other son raisessheep and cattle and they are kept on the same farm allyear round He accommodates his fathers sheep duringthe winter

In September 2010 the sheep-owner and two hiredmen walked the ewes to Lugoj for the last time Close tothe end of the three-week journey they were attackedand beaten by six men allegedly for allowing their sheepstray onto crops This was enough to persuade the Sfamily that it would be better to transport their animalsby truck in future previously they had sent the sheep andlambs home by lorry in spring but their fear outweighedtheir worry about the extra expenseTwo brothers from Jina who shared the management

of a sheep farm with their widowed mother used to walktheir sheep to lower pastures near Deva and remain withthem outside all winter In 2011 during the droughtthey decided that it was not worth the trouble any moreThey decided to keep their 600-strong flock at homefeeding it on their own hay as well as hay bought fromneighbours and maize which they buy from a wholesalerwho visits the villageAt the time of writing the Răşinari farmer Dumitru C

and his son Radu are still making long-distance trekswith their sheep from Rasinari to Sălaj Traditionally

Figure 7 Shepherds sleeping box in the grasslands

Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice Page 13 of 172014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

transhumant farmers from this village led their flocksto Dobrogea on Romanias Black Sea coast or south toWallachia (Figure 2) The Cs winter grazing is rentedand they too buy hard feed for their animals in winterparticularly before lambingDumitru C is in his early sixties He breeds donkeys as

a commercial sideline and usually takes 20 donkeys 12dogs and six or seven hired shepherds to support his flockof 1200 Ţurcana sheep In summer he rents mountaingrazing from the town hall in Răşinari Like the otherthree farmers interviewed for this article Dumitru C earnsabout half of his income from selling cheese and the restfrom lamb meat As with Dans parents Dumitru his wifetheir son and the hired men (several of whom are fellowvillagers with small flocks of their own) all help They milkthe sheep and make the cheese at their summer folds theyfetch the cheese down to the family house by jeep once ortwice a week The C family sells their cheese at the doorbut mostly via agents who take it to Bucharest wheresheeps cheese from Mărginimea Sibiului is regarded andsold as a regional delicacy

Asked for his impressions Dumitru C said that theproduce from his transhumant sheep is mai ecologic -healthier for people and better for the environment Henotices a difference between his winter grazing in lsquothevalleyrsquo and the mountains the summer pastures are muchcleaner the water cleaner and the air fresher But hecannot prove that the market prefers it and he couldnot continue to farm without EU hand-outs

Social and cultural benefits of transhumanceThrough kinship and community ties there is a strongsocial element to transhumance It harks back to thetovaraşire (comradeship) that evolved when flocks werekept communally by groups of friends or villagers andeach owner took his or her turn to look after them andordo the cheesemaking (A communal herding systemstill exists in other parts of Romania) Asked why theycontinue to walk with their sheep over long distancesDan D and Dumitru S said that they do it because theylove it and it is in their blood

Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice Page 14 of 172014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

With some 6000 souls some 2000 of whom areGypsies Jina village is a vibrant place Although young-sters are leaving the land because they can earn more inthe cities or abroad farming especially sheep rearing isstill the most important economic activity and pastoraltraditions play an important role in keeping the communitytogether In August some farming families hold partiesat their folds to celebrate nedeia a traditional holiday(formerly also a marriage fair) that marked the time whensheep came down from the highest pastures It coincideswith the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary oneof the most important religious holidays in Romania andin the nearby village of Tilisca St Marys Day is celebratedas part of a shepherds festival Festivalul Oierilor com-prises a sheep breeders meeting a church service a feastand an open air folk music concert There are similar an-nual song and dance festivals in Jina and other Mărginenicommunities and in lsquosisterrsquo villages over the mountains inWallachia (founded by Jinari who were fleeing from theHabsburgs for religious motives) all of which are inspiredby the areas shepherding culture Between Christmas andNew Year young shepherds dressed in special embroi-dered long-sleeved sheepskin coats perform regionaldances and songs around the village Religion is takenseriously here too on Saints days and at the manyweddings christenings and funerals the villages twomain Orthodox churches are fullPride in their pastoral culture shows in other ways in

2011 the Asociatia Reuniunea Mărginenilor Sibiului (TheFriends of Mărginimea Sibiului) instituted an annual prizefor the areas most promising young shepherd Candidateshave to be attending a local school nominations are madeby teachers priests or mayors and the award consists often lambs

Transhumance and the environmentRomania is an outstandingly beautiful country It isextraordinarily rich in intact natural habitats and thewild animals that live in them (Maanen et al 2006)Thanks to the inaccessibility of its mountains to heavymachinery large areas of the country were never col-lectivised This allowed a remarkably old-fashionedagricultural system to survive According to RomaniasInstitut Naţional de Statistic in 2010 just over two millionholdings of 1 ha of less were registered for EU subventionsThis represented roughly half of the countrys total agricul-tural structures (Ghib 2013) These are the small extensivelow-impact mixed family farms that the European Uniondubs subsistence or semi-subsistence Although large sheepflocks such as those seen in Mărginimea Sibiului of up to1500 head may cause over-grazing (Buza et al 2009)transhumant animals do not constitute a monocultureTheir seasonal migrations are an integral part of the mosaicthat has kept Romania looking so green But these old-

fashioned systems are vanishing A host of pressures aredestroying its pristine wildernesses These include the frag-mentation of the countryside as more land is enclosedurban sprawl mining road construction unregulated log-ging ill-conceived hydroelectric schemes and the adventof large modern intensive and factory farmsOne argument for encouraging transhumance whether

short- or long-distance is that grazing herding animalsover extensive areas is good for the land Huband et al(2010) have outlined some of the benefits of extensivegrazing on semi-natural grasslands particularly areas wheretraditional farms lie up against mountain wildernessesThey say that sheep cattle and horses help to reducetumbledown Cattle and horses being heavy and large-footed can trample and eat tough young trees thatencroach on finer plants Sheep which feed low to theground but have no upper teeth do not tear plants upby the roots and can help preserve areas of wild flowerswhich feed caterpillars and other insects the invertebratesthen provide nutrition for birds and small mammals Theanimals dung helps to fertilise the soil and moving thembetween summer and winter pastures allows grazed areasto recover when the sheep have gone Travelling sheephelp to disperse seeds (the seeds get caught in their fleecesand spread in their dung) Luick (2008 p 11) says thatlsquoRecent research about conservation strategies for grazedchalk grassland pointed out that the distribution of theseeds and fruits of many plant species is very much relatedto transport vectors such as the sheep Since the number oftranshumant sheep is permanently declining it is to assumethat in the long run this may cause negative effects on therecolonization of sites and the necessary refreshment ofseedbanksrsquo The above only describes a small part of theCarpathians complex ecosystem which also relies on largecarnivores to control large wild ungulates such as deerAgri-environment schemes such as Natura 2000 and EU

Habitats Directives are helping to preserve some areas ofthe Romanian Carpathian MountainsAndrew Jones (2010) is a grassland ecologist who worked

in the Romanian Carpathians for seven years He wasattached to the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture on anagri-environment scheme He understands how small mixedfarms and the practice of transhumance have created amosaic which allows biodiversity to flourish Jones saysthat Transylvanias traditional grasslands are a model forother countries such as the UK that have already lost theirbiodiversity lsquoTransylvanian systems can help us learn howto preserve our grasslandsrsquo (personal communication)However Joness outlook for Romanias future is gloomy

because of the lack of restrictions on foreign investment(personal communication) Dale-Harris (2014) explains

Over the past decade almost 1 million hectares ofRomanias land have been bought up by foreign

Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice Page 15 of 172014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

companies using legal loopholes left open by the stateAs part of Romanias transition from communism to amodern neoliberal economy the movement ofpeasants off the land has been billed by the governmentas an inevitability a hitch on the road to becoming aprosperous western economy Eventually thegovernment insists everything will level out the oldwill die off and the young will move away This asAchim Irimescu the former secretary of state foragriculture puts it is ldquothe natural solutionrdquo toRomanias peasant problemhellip

Dale-Harris lays blame for this open season at the EUsdoor

Poland and Hungary faced the same situation yetboth countries implemented laws that to an extentincrease the security of their countrys landownersTheir reasons may have been populist and nationalistbut the results of the laws are a stand against thehegemonic policy of the EU and a relative safeguardto their peasants The Romanian government has nosuch plan here the land policy lies directly in linewith that of the EU a policy which can makeRomanias powerful very rich very quickly

Transhumance and wild animalsRomanias Carpathians have the largest populations ofEuropes rare and endangered species such as bearwolf and lynx (Beckmann 2001) Wild boar also inhabitTransylvania and they can kill lambs Although bearswolves and lynxes rarely penetrate the more populousparts of the Transylvanian plateau they are present inthe lower rural areas of the plateau and foothills whereshepherds in this study take their flocks for winterMost sheep in Transylvania are grazed on unfenced landand live out in all seasons As noted above they needshepherds and guard dogs to protect themAccording to Colin Shaw a founder member of Romanias

Association of Ecotourism lsquoRomania still has some 5000European brown bear over 2500 wolves and about 1500lynx - some 40 of the European population of all 3 spe-cies These animals survive in these numbers through lackof contact with humans though continued hunting andpoaching is resulting in a gradual declinersquo (Shaw nd) Ofthese three large carnivores the wolf relies heavily ondomestic sheep for its food It is hard to find a balancebetween the interests of herdsmen and predatory animalsthat feed on sheep but are deemed precious to the worldat large (see also Lescureux and Linnell 2013 Eriksson2011) In Romania the same conflicts occur some huntingof bears and wolves is allowed but otherwise these wildcarnivores are legally protected and farmers are notallowed to shoot them if they attack their flocks Is this an

argument for paying sheep farmers to breed flocks forwolves That may be too radical a solution but could con-servationists and pastoralists cooperate more widely Thisjournal has aired such issues see particularly Heikkinenet al (2011) for how Finlands herders are organised Singhet al (2013) outlines an insurance scheme that encouragesnorthern Indian pastoralists to set aside grazing areasfor wild herbivores and so reduce predation on theirown animals by snow leopards and wolves

ConclusionsThe World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISPunder the International Union for Conservation of Nature)the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoral-ism (with its identification of High Nature Value farmingin poor mountainous areas and its associated projectPASTORAL 2000ndash2003) the Spanish Asociacioacuten Trans-humancia y Naturaleza and a Polish initiative are a fewof the organisations dedicated to promoting transhumancebecause of its role in nature conservation environmentalhealth food quality and cultural traditionsIn 2013 a group of six shepherds from Romania Poland

and Ukraine walked 600 sheep about 1400 km fromRotbav near Braşov to Valašsko in the Czech RepublicBy retracing a medieval droving route which is known tohave existed between these two points since the four-teenth century Carpathian Sheep Transhumance (2013)highlighted the value of traditional pastoralism in develop-ing the Slow Food Movement A number of related foodcrafts and cultural events were held along the route How-ever Gheorghe Cacircţean one of the Romanian shepherdsconcerned could not identify any great advantages intranshumance other than saying that it is a form of naturalselection (because only healthy sheep survive) that itreduces the fat content of the lamb meat and that it is agreat adventure for men (personal communication) Morepositively the President of Sibiursquos Sheep Farmersrsquo Associ-ation assures us that lambs raised on mountain pasturesare sought-after for their taste (Lachenal et al 2014)To quote Nori and Gemin (2011) the Common Agri-

cultural Policy is supposed to be supporting pastoralismlsquoPastoralism is being increasingly appreciated worldwideas an environmentally friendly practice which in theEuropean Union (EU) is valued as particularly importantfor the protection and the safeguarding of mountainousareas defined as ldquoEuropes ecological backbonerdquorsquo In 2013the EU announced important changes to its CommonAgricultural Policy (CAP) Among them were the aims ofsupporting the producers rather than the product distrib-uting funds more fairly and helping environmental initia-tives The Overviews introduction states

rural development will continue to play a pivotal role inachieving the CAPs environmental objectives and in

Juler Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice Page 16 of 172014 44httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent414

combating climate change The focus of the secondpillar on sustainability is clearly visible by the fact thatat least 30 of the budget of each Rural Developmentprogramme must be reserved for voluntary measuresthat are beneficial for the environment and climatechange These include agrindashenvironmental-climatemeasures organic farming Areas of NaturalConstraints (ANC) Natura 2000 areas forestrymeasures and investments which are beneficial for theenvironment or climate All these measures contributesignificantly to environmental enhancement andclimate change because they are adapted to local needs(European Union 2013 p 7)

This study has found that Romanian sheep farmers arestill practising long-distance transhumance because theybelieve that it is beneficial to their animals the environ-ment and their produce They also do it because they loveit But some are pessimistic about its future As Hubandet al (2010) pointed out pendulation may be the only wayforward but even that is under threat The PASTORALproject suggests links between pastoralism and tourism aswell as environmental conservation and the preservationof lsquopublic goodsrsquo (PASTORAL 2000ndash2003) More proof isneeded that naturally produced meat and milk - and woolfor that matter - are not only superior in quality to indus-trially produced foods but also economically viable andattractive to consumers Although the PASTORAL projectmade an excellent start conservationists and policy-makersstill need to talk to and understand small practisingfarmers and vice versaMore needs to be done to persuade the Romanian

authorities - and people - to stop deploring the ţărani thesmallholders and country people known pejoratively inEnglish as lsquopeasantsrsquo and to start seeing them as a hugeintelligent dynamic resource Valuing transhumance andits contribution to environmental and nature conserva-tion as well as to the economy and society lies within thislarger context

EndnoteaThe only reference this study has found to such a law

comes in the following email from the rural developmentagency (DADR) in Alba county (neighbouring Dans homecounty of Sibiu) dated June 2010 lsquoWith reference to thetransportation of sheep across county boundaries youmust contact the local authorities to clarify if you mustpay a tax and how much it isrsquo

Competing interestsThe author declares that she has no competing interests

Authors informationCJ is a writer and artist with a long-standing interest in Romania She is theauthor of Blue Guide Romania Searching for Sarmizegetusa and NationalGeographic Traveller Romania She has been studying Romanian

transhumance and sheep farming since 2007 Details about this and herother activities can be found on her website wwwmamaligacouk and herblog Carpathian Sheep Walk

AcknowledgementsProfessor Gheorghe Pavelescu Dr Amalia Pavelescu Ileana Morariu DragoşLumpan Dr Jean Blăjan Toma Lupaş Nicolae Stan Petruţiu and the Martin family

Received 28 October 2013 Accepted 27 February 2014Published

ReferencesAkeroyd John 2006 The historic countryside of the Saxon villages of southern

Transylvania Saschiz Fundaţia AdeptAkeroyd John 2007 John Akeroyd on Transylvanian natural heritage Part 1 Film

by Raul Cazan Slow Food Bucharest httpwwwyoutubecomwatchv=_Gq0Mk3GX2A Accessed 14 February 2014

Arnold Elizabeth R and Haskel J Greenfield 2006 The Origins of TranshumantPastoralism in Temperate Southeastern Europe a zooarchaeological perspectivefrom the Central Balkans British Archaeological Reports International Series1538

Beckmann Andreas 2001 Crying wolf Central Europe Review vol 3 no 14 23April httpwwwce-revieworg0114beckmann14_1html Accessed 18 Feb2014

Boia Lucian 2001 Romania borderland of Europe London Reaktion BooksBuza Mircea Marioara Cojocariu-Costea and David Turnock 2009 Mărginenii

Sibiului The historical geography of a Transylvanian Carpathian communityGeographica Pannonica 13(4) 137ndash158

Carpathian Sheep Transhumance 2013 wwwredykkarpackipl Accessed 18 Feb2014

Coman Mihai 1996 Bestiarul Mitologic Romacircnesc Bucharest Editura FundaţieiCulturale Romacircne

Dale-Harris Luke 2014 Romanias peasants standing in the way of foreigninvestors making a lot of money 19 February httpwwwtheguardiancomcommentisfree2014feb19romania-peasants-land-market-local-farming-economy

Deletant Dennis 2010 Review of Iordachi Constantin Dobrincu Dorin (eds)Transforming peasants property and power The collectivization of agriculturein Romania 1949ndash1962 and Mungiu-Pippidi Alina A tale of two villagesCoerced modernization in the East European countryside HABSBURG H-NetReviews October httpwwwh-netorgreviewsshowrevphpid=31092Accessed 18 Feb 2014

Densuşianu Nicolae 1913 Dacia Preistorică 2 vols Bucharest Institutul de ArteGrafice Carol Ooumlbl

Eriksson Camilla 2011 What is traditional pastoral farming The politics ofheritage and real values in Swedish summer farms (faumlbodbruk) Pastoralism -research policy and practice httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent1125

Europe Regional Yearbook 2013 Statistical atlas httpeceuropaeueurostatstatistical-atlasgisviewer) Accessed 18 Feb 2014

European Union Overview of CAP Reform 2014-2020 2013 Agricultural PolicyPerspectives Brief No 5 December httpeceuropaeuagriculturepolicy-perspectivespolicy-briefs05_enpdf

Eurostats 2012 Sheep and goat numbers httpeceuropaeuagriculturestatisticsagricultural2012pdfd17-0-417_enpdf Accessed 18 Feb 2014

Ghib Marie-Luce 2013 Agriculture agriculteurs et emplois agricoles en Romanieles enjeux dune deacutefinition Demeter 13 77ndash96

Grecu Victor V (ed) 1990 Săliştea Sibiului străveche vatră Romacircnească SibiuAssociaţiunea Transilvana pentru Literatura Romacircna si Cultura PoporuluiRomacircn (Astra)

Heikkinen Hannu I Simo Sarkki and Mark Nuttall 2011 Users or producers ofecosystem services A scenario exercise for integrating conservation andreindeer herding in northeast Finland Pastoralism Research Policy andPractice 2012 2 11 httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent2111doi1011862041-7136-2-11 httpliteraturtibunddedigbib_externdn052242pdf

Huband Sally David I McCracken and Annette Mertens 2010 Long and short-distance transhumant pastoralism in Romania past and present drivers ofchange Pastoralism 1(1) 55ndash71

Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Production Wales 2008 The current trends in breeding ewenumbers and meat production within the EU httpwwwhccmpworguk

25 Mar 2014

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medialibrarypublicationsSheep20industry20in20the20EU5B15Dpdf Accessed 18 Feb 2014

Ilişiu E S Dărăban R Radu I Pădeanu V-C Ilişiu C Pascal and G Rahmann2013 The Romanian Tsigai sheep breed their potential and the challengesfor research

Jones Andrew 2010 Ghosts in our grasslands Lessons from abroad - a look atmanagement of grasslands in Transylvania British Wildlife 21 nr 5 JuneLandbauforsch Appl Agric Forestry Res 2(63) 161ndash170 DOI103220LBF_2013_161-170

Juler Caroline 2009 Blue guide Romania Special reprint edition LondonSomerset Books

Lachenal Pierre Freacutedeacuterique Lorenzi and Amalia Pavelescu 2014 Protection desterres agricoles en montagne et valorisation des parcours et prairiesdrsquoaltitude - Bilan et perspectives Forthcoming paper for Le foncier agricole ndashUsages tensions et reacutegulations Lyons 11-12 June

Lescureux Nicolas and D John C Linnell 2013 The effect of rapid socialchanges during post-communist transition on perceptions of the human -wolf relationships in Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan Pastoralism Research Policyand Practice httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent314

Luick Rainer 2008 Transhumance in Germany European Forum on NatureConservation and Pastoralism httpwwwefncporgdownloadSwabian_Alb_F_F_Downloadpdf Accessed 18 Feb 2014

Lupaş Toma Nicolae Stan Petruţiu Nicolae Jianu Alexandra Achim SoraCalugăriţoiu Ioan Muntean Pantelimon Muntean Simona Apolzan ZoeDragomir DA Dădacircrlat Ioan Dacircrdea Nicolae Şchiopu Ana Alexa Ioan IugaIoan Nan Ioan Mihu and Mihai Nistor 2009 Oierii mărgineni icircn Crimeea şiSudul Rusiei Sibiu Editura Salgo

Maanen Erwin van Roger Klaver Wibe Altenburg George Predoiu Marius PopaOvidiu Ionescu Ramon Jurj Serban Negus Georgeta Ionescu and MichaelSouleacute 2006 Safeguarding the Romanian Carpathian Network a vision forlarge carnivores and biodiversity in Eastern Europe httpwwwaltwymnluploadsfile77Safeguarding20the20Romanian20Carpathian20ecological20networkPDF Accessed 18 Februrary 2014

MAPDR 2007 UE nu interzice transhumanta Fermierul 5 February Translatedfrom the Romanian original httpwwwfermierulromodulesphpname=Newsampfile=articleampsid=1239

Nandriş John G 1985 The Sticircna and the Katun Foundations of a research designin European Highland Zone Ethnoarchaeology World Archaeology17(2) 256ndash268

Nori Silvia and Michele Gemini 2011 The Common Agricultural Policy vis-agrave-visEuropean pastoralists Principles and practice Pastoralism Research Policy andPractice 1 27 doi1011862041-7136-1-27 httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent1127

PASTORAL 2000ndash2003 European forum on nature conservation and pastoralismhttpmpmountaintripeuindexphpid=4amptx_mdtlmountaintrip_pi1[uid]=121

PASTORAL 2 2001 The impact of scale and accession on biodiversity valuePASTORAL the agricultural ecological and socio-economic importance ofextensive livestock systems Report of the 2nd workshop of the PASTORAL projectRomania Moieciu de Sus October httpmpmountaintripeuuploadsmediaconferenceworkshopdocspastoral_cwd2pdf

Pearson Michael 2012 The discordant accord Romania and the European UnionUniversity of Kent Unpublished doctoral thesis

PFLA Pasture Fed Livestock Association 2011 httpwwwpflaorguk Accessed18 Feb 2014

Rancourt M de and L Carregravere 2011 Milk sheep production systems in EuropeDiversity and main trends In Economic social and environmental sustainabilityin sheep and goat production systems ed A Bernueacutes JP Boutonnet ICasasuacutes M Chentouf D Gabintildea M Joy A Loacutepez-Francos P Morand-Fehrand F Pacheco 107ndash111 Zaragoza CIHEAMFAOCITA-DGA OptionsMeacutediterraneacuteennes Seacuterie A Seacuteminaires Meacutediterraneacuteens n 100) 7Proceedings of the International Seminar of the Sub-Network on ProductionSystems of the FAO-CIHEAM Inter-Regional Cooperative Research andDevelopment Network on Sheep and Goats 20101110-12 Zaragoza(Spain) httpomciheamorgompdfa10000801490pdf Accessed 18February 2014

Ryder Michael L 1983 Sheep and man London Duckworth PublishersShaw Colin httpwwwroving-romaniacoukPagesWildlifehtml Accessed 20

Feb 2014Singh Navinder J Yash Veer Bhatnagar Nicolas Lecomte Joseph L Fox and

Nigel G Yoccoz 2013 No longer tracking greenery in high altitudes Pastoral

practices of Rupshu nomads and their implications for biodiversityconservation Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice 3 16 doi1011862041-7136-3-16 httpwwwpastoralismjournalcomcontent3116

Slow Food Turda httpslowfoodturdarositeThorpe Nick 2007 EU clash with Romanian tradition 27 January httpnews

bbccouk1hiprogrammesfrom_our_own_correspondent6303371stmAccessed 18 Feb 2014

Totoianu Radu 2010 Păstoritul satelor de pe Valea şi din Munţii Sebeşului SibiuUniversitatea Lucian Blaga Unpublished doctoral thesis

Verdery Katherine 1994 The elasticity of land Problems of property restitution inTransylvania Slavic Review 53 no 4 (Winter 1994) 1071ndash1109

Cite this article as Juler După coada oilor long-distance transhumanceand its survival in Romania Pastoralism Research Policy and Practice

1011862041-7136-4-4

2014 44

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