page_title: Nomadic pastoralism
section_title: Nomadic pattern in season
hierarchical_section_title: Nomadic pastoralism / Nomadic pattern in season
context_page_description: Nomadic pastoralism is a form of pastoralism when livestock are herded in order to find fresh pastures on which to graze. True nomads follow an irregular pattern of movement, in contrast with transhumance where seasonal pastures are fixed. However this distinction is often not observed and the term nomad used for both—in historical cases the regularity of movements is often unknown in any case. The herded livestock include cows, buffalos, yaks, llamas, sheep, goats, reindeer, horses, donkeys or camels, or mixtures of species. Nomadic pastoralism is commonly practised in regions with little arable land, typically in the developing world, especially in the steppe lands north of the agricultural zone of Eurasia. Of the estimated 30–40 million nomadic pastoralists worldwide, most are found in central Asia and the Sahel region of North and West Africa, such as Fulani, Tuaregs, and Toubou, with some also in the Middle East, such as traditionally Bedouins, and in other parts of Africa, such as Nigeria and Somalia. Increasing numbers of stock may lead to overgrazing of the area and desertification if lands are not allowed to fully recover between one grazing period and the next.
context_section_description: Often traditional nomadic groups settle into a regular seasonal pattern of transhumance. An example of a normal nomadic cycle in the northern hemisphere is:
  Spring (early April to the end of June) – transition
  Summer (end of June to late September) – a higher plateau
  Autumn (mid-September to end of November) – transition
  Winter (from December to the end of March) – desert plains.
  The movements in this example are about 180 to 200 km. Camps are established in the same place each year; often semi-permanent shelters are built in at least one place on this migration route.
  In sub-regions such as Chad, the nomadic pastoralist cycle is as follows:
  In the rainy season, the groups live in a village intended for a comfortable stay. The villages are often made of sturdy material as clay. Old men and women remain in this village when the other people move the herds in the dry season.
  In the dry season, the people move their herds to southern villages with a more temporary character. They then move inland, where they stay in tent camps.
  In Chad, the sturdy villages are called hillé, the less sturdy villages are called dankhout and the tents ferik.
caption: Reindeer milking in a forest; western Finnmark, late 1800s
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