HERDING
The leading sector of the traditional economy of the Kyrgyz was extensive animal husbandry, which belonged to the mountain-steppe Central Asian subtype, a cultural-economic type of herders in Eurasia. This primary sector was combined with equally significant ones—agriculture and hunting. The historically established dominant type of economy absorbed the rich experience accumulated by both ancient and medieval inhabitants of the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan, as well as by ancient Kyrgyz who populated vast areas of Southern Siberia, Northern Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and other peoples of Central Asia. The lifestyle of semi-nomads predetermined the nature of social organization and social relations; products of animal husbandry constituted the main diet, and a large part of the necessary household items, including clothing and felt for yurts, were made from them. Many such items, originating from the nomadic environment, were purchased by neighboring agricultural peoples. The traditions of herding culture determined a special attitude towards domestic animals; it is no coincidence that the Kyrgyz said: “Mал боор эт менен бирге” (“Cattle are like your own liver”), and the greeting was “Мал жан аманбы?” (“Is your cattle and family well?”).
Vertical Type of Seasonal Herding
The main natural resources for herders have always been seasonal pastures. Various orographic, climatic, soil, and other conditions determine the diversity of vegetation cover across vertical belts: deserts, forests, thickets of shrubs, marshes, mountain tundras, etc. Particularly important for the economy are types of herbaceous vegetation such as grasses, legumes, and diverse herbs. The zone of sagebrush and grass-sagebrush steppes (1200-1500 m above sea level), where wintering took place, was not characterized by an abundance of natural forage lands with high nutritional quality. For spring-autumn grazing, the grassy and mixed grass-steppes (1500-2500 m above sea level) were favorable. In the mountain-valley chernozem soils, both steppe and desert—saline, ephedra types of vegetation grow.
Subalpine and alpine meadows are located in the highest zone (above 2500 m and up to about 4000 m above sea level), which were used by herders as summer pastures. The presence of a vast number of pasture resources located in various altitudinal belts provided an excellent fodder base for the development of extensive animal husbandry.
Among the Kyrgyz, the “vertical” form of migration predominated (Abramzon, 1971. p. 72; Andrianov, 1985. p. 234; Polyakov S.I, 1980. pp. 45,46; Litvinsky, 1972. p. 180), which represents the seasonal movement of herds from the plains up into the mountains and back, characterized by a relatively small amplitude of migration from several dozen to 100, occasionally up to 200 km. This type was referred to by I. Weinstein as “plain-mountain,” noting the characteristic “mountain-foothill” (“mountains-foothills-mountains”) type typical of the Kyrgyz, i.e., mountain pastures were used in winter and summer, while foothill pastures were utilized in spring and autumn (Weinstein, 1972. pp. 67-69). Wintering usually took place in mountain valleys protected from cold winds, where cattle could forage under shallow snow, and in some winter pastures, snow was completely absent. In spring, cattle were grazed on sunny slopes, where moisture-loving grasses with a shallow root system appeared with the melting snow. Gradually moving higher, herders brought their herds to lush alpine meadows and kept them there throughout the summer. With the onset of autumn, they returned to winter camps.
Seasonal movement of livestock in a vertical direction along strictly defined routes became firmly established in the practice of the year-round cycle since the 19th century and is associated with the reduction of pasture lands. During the migration movement, part of these lands was taken for peasant allotments, and often migrants rented large plots for arable land. By 1917, after the suppression of the 1916 uprising and the confiscation of land from the Kyrgyz in favor of settlers, the latter owned 13% of the territory of the Semirechye region (Usubaliev, 1972. p. 54).
A certain role was played by the depletion of resources of extensive animal husbandry. Population growth against the limited pasture lands* is one of the main reasons for the decrease in livestock even before the start of the Stolypin reforms. For instance, in the Pishpek district, the number of livestock in one Kyrgyz household decreased from 12.3 to 10.5 conditional heads from 1870 to 1902, and in the Przhevalsky district—from 22.4 to 16 (Usenbaev, 1972).
In the 18th-19th centuries, Kyrgyz herders also migrated in a horizontal direction, moving with their livestock over relatively long distances (about 300 km). For example, in the 18th century, Esenkul Bolot uulu made regular migrations from Ak-Beshim (Chui Valley) to Uch Almaty, located near the modern city of Almaty (Kazakhstan). With the onset of cold weather, the livestock were driven back. During the reign of the Kokand Khanate, the Soltin bi Kanai and his relatives with their herds headed towards the Ili River. The leaders of the Sayak tribe, Atantay and Taylak, also brought their herds for grazing from Ak-Talaa (Japarov A., 2002). Migrations over long distances were primarily influenced by political and meteorological factors.
Comments:
* The pastures of Kyrgyzstan under extensive animal husbandry can support approximately 8 million heads of sheep.
Agriculture