With the onset of winter, the sheep and goats that were taken from Lek to Lamjung via Khorla, Singla, Laprak, Barpak, Dudhpokhari and then taken to Dhading via Arkhet, Arughat, and Manbu are now being returned and taken to Lek.
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With the start of the Umbhauli festival, shepherds who had descended from Benshi six months ago have started driving their sheep and goats towards the lake.
Laxman Karki of Jagat said that shepherds of Chumanubri Rural Municipality-3, Pangsing, have been driving thousands of sheep and goats towards the lake. Chumanubri-3, Pangsing is the village with the largest number of sheep in Gorkha. He said that the sheep and goats that were taken from the lake to Lamjung via Khorla, Singla, Laprak, Barpak, Dudhpokhari and taken to Dhading via Arkhet, Arughat, Manbu are now being returned and taken towards the lake. He said, 'Every day, about three to four hundred sheep and goats are heading towards the lake, and on Saturday alone, about four hundred sheep and goats have gone uphill.'
Ram Kumar Gurung, chairman of Chumanubri-3, says that about 70 household farmers in Pangsing, Sirdibas, Nyakphedi, Ghattekhola, Nagchet and other areas raise sheep and goats. 'It has been a few days since the sheep and goats started being brought to the village from Benshi. They are gradually being brought up from Pangsing,' he said, 'Nowadays, after taking the sheep to the lake, they are brought down all at once in Kartik and Mangsir.'
There is a unique tradition of shepherds who bring the sheep and goats from Benshi to Lek. 'They bring the sheep and goats from Lek to Lek from the cowshed of Lek, looking at the weather. They do not bring the sheep and goats from Lek to Lek in one day. They take a month to get used to the weather and bring them to the village,' said Bikash Gurung of Pangsing, 'They also take a long time to bring the sheep and goats from Benshi to Lek. And after bringing them to the village, there is a tradition of performing rituals and performing rituals to take them from here to somewhere else.' The sheep and goats are transported to the sheep and goat shed in the lake by the second week of Jestha.
Since there are many farmers who raise sheep and goats, an incentive program has been implemented in Chumanubri Rural Municipality-3. 'To encourage the shepherds, we have been repairing roads, arranging drinking water, distributing tarpaulins, solar lights, rubber boots, and sleeping bags,' said Ward Chairman Gurung. 'We conduct such programs every year with 80 percent of the cost shared by the rural municipality and 20 percent by the shepherds themselves.'
Although the municipality is conducting programs to encourage farmers who raise sheep and goats, the number of farmers raising sheep and goats is decreasing every year, he said. To encourage the shepherds, Chumanubri Rural Municipality has conducted a mobile sheep and goat shed material distribution program this year, said the municipality's Chief Administrative Officer Manoj Lamichhane. He informed that about 150 people from nine animal farms are associated with the program.
