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Dear all

I can highly recommend the following French book, recently translated into
English. 

 

Wick, Pascal 2009 Journal d'un Berger Nomade. Paris: Editions du Seuil.

ISBN 978-2-02-099534-4

 

Wick, Pascal 2014 Beartooth - Diary of a Nomadic Herder, translated by
Tinker Mather. UK: Aaranya Pubishers Ltd.

ISBN 978-0-9531827-3-2

 

(Obtainable on Amazon; the French one from Amazon.fr)

 

The author (PhD in agricultural economics) has worked as a herder of
transhumant flocks of sheep in the French Alps and Pyrenees, the Spanish
Sierra Nevada and in Montana, US. The major part of the book is a diary of
the 1997 season spent herding 1800 sheep in the Absaroka-Beartooth
Wilderness in Montana, as the sole herder with five dogs, three of them
guard dogs, and two horses. The guard dogs, 'chiens de protection'
(http://www.loup.org/chiens.htm), live continuously with the flock and are
essential in preventing/ seeing off attacks by bear, coyotes and mountain
lion. The herding had been taking place in Absaroka for a century, but in
fact 1997 was its penultimate year.

There is much of interest about the modern herder, sheepdogs and guard dogs,
natural history and wildlife management. The diary format is informal (it's
ok for a journal to be rather discursive) and expresses the author's
personal journey, with thoughts on respect between human and animal, and
animal to animal, the philosophy of life, and the celebration of wild
places. 

 

Regards,

Gill Jones