A chauri herder mother and son with their Chauri and Dhungro, a wooden bucket for collecting milk. Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.

Sailung in the Ramechhap district is approximately 173 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the capital city. The word "Sailung" is made up of two words: "saya" meaning 100 and "lung" meaning hills in the local language of the Tamang community. The region lies approximately 3200 meters above sea level, with small hills and expansive high-mountain grasslands. Moreover, Sailung is famous for the Chauri goth (Yak shed).

Rolling steppes and hillocks of Sailung with yaks grazing on the left. Ramechhap District, Nepal.Chauri grazing at the foothills of Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.

How are Chauri herds managed in Sailung?

Chauri (yak-cattle hybrids) is a free-roaming animal and cannot be stall-fed. However, herders consider them intelligent because they respond to the pet names given to them such as Salim, Guni, Jyaku, Geli etc, and allow only owners to milk them. They wander around in kharka (grazing ground) all day and return to goth for milking before the day ends. 

In Sailung, a chauri is bought from a breeding center in Solukhumbu district, 80 kilometers away, a region renowned for Mount Everest (8848 m.), the world's highest peak.  It takes about 12 to 13 days of walking along the tedious route through the mid-hills to bring chauris from Solukhumbu to Sailung. Meanwhile, there is hope that a newly established breeding center in Kalinchowk, Dolakha, only 12 km north of Sailung will make the chauri purchasing process easier and quicker.

Chauri herding follows a transhumant system, where herders change goth locations 3-4 times yearly.  In the winter season, herders move to lower altitudes as the high-elevation grasslands are covered with snow. And as Spring they shift their goth to higher altitudes. This helps manage forage and adaptability during extreme climates.

The Chauri breeding involves deliberate crosses: the Aaule Gai (local cow) crossed with Yak produces the Urang (female Chauri) and Jokpe (male), while Nak (Female yak) crossed with Kirko (Local bull) yields the Demzo (high milk-producing female) and Jokpe (male). Chauri is domesticated primarily for their milk, while Jokpe is used to haul loads in the rugged Himalayan terrain and for its meat. 

Calves of Chauri are often born weak, with low survival rates, and are infertile. Because of this, herders don't let the calves feed on chauri milk, which often leads to their death. However, after a calf dies, some chauri stop producing milk. To solve this, herders take the skin of the dead calf, shape it to look like the calf, and show it to the chauri during milking. This helps the chauri continue to give milk.

A herder milking chauri, she uses a wooden bucket called dhungro for collecting milk

Chauri milk is used to produce Churpi, (globally renowned as the hardest cheese), and Nauni (butter), Ghee (refined butter), a staple in Nepalese cuisine, remains a sought-after product sold within the village, while Churpi finds its market in neighboring towns like Mude and Dolakha.

Each chauri provides milk for 6-7 months after delivering calves. According to herders, with 15-16 lactating chauri, earnings can range from NPR 0.5-0.6 million in a season. Economically, it is also important, as shown by the increase in price from NPR 25,000 in 2018 to an average of NPR 65,000 per Chauri by 2024.

Chauri herding is deeply intertwined with cultural traditions beyond its economic significance. During the Ubhauli festival on Baisakh Shukla Purnima in the month of Baisakh (April-May), Sailung herders migrate upward. They descend during Udhauli in Mangshir (October-November). These migrations align with Ubhauli and Udhauli festivals, literally 'uphill migration' and 'downhill migration' respectively in Nepali, and hold great importance for the Kirats, an indigenous community from eastern Nepal. 

Cooking fresh milk inside her tent at the foothills of Sailung.

Churning milk to make butter.

With this modern churner, it only takes 15 minutes to make 1 kg of butter.

Status of Chauri in Nepal

The number of chauris has fluctuated over the years in Nepal. In 1961, there were about 200,000 yaks and hybrids, but this population has been declining at an alarming rate due to lower economic benefits derived from yak husbandry. By 1993, the number dropped to approximately 56,000 yaks and yak-cattle hybrids (Banjade & Paudel, 2008). This number slightly decreased further to 49,000 by 2011. However, by 2021, the population rebounded to 65,000. 

This fluctuation can be attributed to various factors such as changes in herding practices, economic incentives, and the impacts of modernization and urbanization on traditional herding lifestyles. Hence, Chauri herding especially in the area like Sailung holds a high significance for cultural and traditional survival in the Himalayas. 

In a 2015 document published by the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Implementation Centre, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal, it was stated that the exclusion of transhumance herders from their winter pastures has compelled them to adapt by either reducing the sizes of their herds or migrating to urban centers. 

Chauri of Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal

The Role of Chauri Herding in Preserving Local Ecology

Chauri herding involves the seasonal movement of herds between winter and summer pastures, a practice known as transhumance. This movement not only optimizes grazing pressure but also allows for natural regeneration of vegetation. 

The Chauri grazed in Sailung, 200-300 in number, primarily feed on native grass species and forage from tree species like Khasru (Quercus semecarpifolia Sm.) and Silinge (Osmanthus suavis King ex C.B. Clarke) during a shortage of grasses in the winter season, contributing to nutrient cycling and maintaining plant species richness. 

Grazing helps maintain the rangeland by feeding on regenerating woody vegetation. Moreover, Chauri herding requires large amounts of firewood for preparing Chauri products, leading herders to cut down dominant trees in the landscape, known locally as Talispatra or Gobresalla (Abies spectabilis), which also contributes to sustaining the rangeland ecosystem.

Pine and Rhododendron Forest in Sailung, Ramechhap District

Several significant changes might occur in the absence of Chauri in the rangeland: an overgrowth of woody vegetation could lead to the loss of the rangeland ecosystem. The absence of grazing would disrupt the balance of plant species, resulting in a loss of biodiversity, particularly affecting species solely dependent on the rangeland, and increasing the risk of invasive species entering the rangeland. 

The cultural heritage tied to Chauri herding—a practice sustained for centuries—would be lost, along with traditional ecological knowledge and the livelihoods of communities dependent on this practice.

In Sailung, herders additionally raise chickens near their goth and have a guard dog. These chickens feed on insects around the goth that help maintain balance. During certain seasons, when there are numerous calf carcasses in the kharka, scavengers like Wild crow play a crucial role in disposing of the remains. Herders also allow their dogs to consume the meat.

Chauri (Yaks) grazing at 3200 m. in the foggy evening. Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.

Challenges

According to Aryal et al., (2014), transhumant herders in Nepal's mountainous regions perceive significant changes in climate and biophysical indicators, including increasing summer temperatures, decreasing winter rainfall, and less snowfall. They also observe rapid snow melting in rangelands, unpredictable rainfall, more frequent droughts, early greening and maturity of grasses, and new livestock diseases, all of which impact the transhumance system. 

Research, including studies by Banjade & Paudel (2008), indicates that high-altitude herding systems encounter numerous challenges, with conflicts between community forestry (CF) and herders being a major concern.

Community forestry, widely regarded as a successful model, has neglected the needs of herders, leading to challenges related to easy access and utilization of resources across various regions of Nepal. These conflicts threaten the survival of traditional herding systems in the region. The Rangeland Policy 2012 emphasizes the protection of facilities for livestock farmers in community forest areas traditionally used for grazing. However, the Forest Act 2019 does not address special rights for traditional herders, creating a conflict between supporting livestock farmers and a legal framework that fails to safeguard their grazing rights.

One of the major challenges in the Sailung area is the absence of renewed operational plans for the Godawari and Kalinchowk community forests in Sailung, which has particularly impacted the locals by limiting opportunities to collect Lokta (Daphne bholua) and harvest wood. The unchecked growth of Lokta due to reduced human extraction and the rise of Chutro (Berberis aristata) due to minimal goat herding, shows the need for diversified grazing patterns and controlled extraction practices to maintain ecosystem balance. 

Moreover, beer and plastic bottles scattered in the kharka have negatively impacted the rangeland ecology. Unauthorized construction, unplanned road development, and tourism-related activities have further threatened the integrity of the rangeland ecosystem. 

A chauri herder's boy at his Churi Goth in Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.A kitchen corner of a chauri herder tent in Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.

Way Forward

Efforts to balance economic development with conservation priorities are essential to sustain the benefits derived from Chauri herding. The renewal of the Community Forest operational plan, which includes the rangeland inventory, action research from the ICIMOD-IOF (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development-Institute of Forestry) project, and the implementation of livestock insurance for all Chauri in Sailung, will help ensure the sustainability of the rangeland.

Despite these efforts, the ultimate sustainability of the rangeland depends on the herders themselves. Through responsible stewardship and collective effort from all agencies, the unique ecological and cultural treasures of Sailung can be preserved for future generations, ensuring a rangeland ecosystem that benefits both local communities and global biodiversity conservation efforts.

Chauri returning to the chauri goth (shed) after all day long grazing at 3200 m. Sailung, Ramechhap District, Nepal.

Reference:

• Aryal, S., Cockfield, G., & TN, M. (2014). Climate Change and Indigenous People: Perceptions of Transhumant Herders and Implications to the Transhumance System in the Himalayas. Journal of Geology & Geosciences, 03(04). https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-6755.1000162
• Banjade, M. R., & Paudel, N. S. (2008). Mountains Mobile Pastoralism in Crisis : Challenges , Conflicts and Status of Pasture Tenure in Nepal Mountains. Journal of Forest and Livelihood, 7(1), 49–57.

All photos by Nikki Thapa