Spanish Shepherds Honor Thirty Years of the GPS-Aided Transhumance Custom

With the rapid advancement of technology, our everyday routines have been greatly simplified for ease of use. The Global Positioning System (GPS), a tracking device that is often used to capture and store position data at predefined intervals or triggered by environmental sensors, is a prominent example of this. Farmers all around the world have made great use of GPS technology, especially when it comes to keeping an eye on their livestock—such as sheep and cattle—especially while they are grazing.

As a vital component of their customary agricultural methods, shepherds in Spain have fully adopted GPS technology to follow their cattle throughout migration. Livestock in Spain migrates across great distances every summer to graze on the verdant hills. These creatures come home when winter arrives and the mountains are blanketed in snow. During their 15-day wandering season, they may go up to 300 kilometers. The traditional livestock management technique known as transhumance maximizes resource usage between highlands and lowlands.

A sophisticated network of cattle routes, overseen by livestock organizations that have benefited from special laws going back to the 13th century, has been created by the historical history of transhumance in Spain. Farmers can now accurately trace the position and movements of their livestock thanks to GPS collars, which earlier made tracking these vast livestock migrations a difficult operation.

A fascinating example of this custom was seen in Madrid, Spain, as hundreds of sheep marched through the streets following the long-standing transhumance customs.

Shepherds led the flock to winter grazing grounds in the south, accompanied by the steady ringing of bells. Since 1994, this occasion has grown into a magnificent festival known as the Fiesta de la Trashumancia, or Transhumance Festival. It has been a beloved custom for over thirty years.

Notably, animals using these old pathways were formerly required to pay a toll of 50 coins every thousand heads of cattle. The combination of modern technology with age-old farming methods demonstrates how developments like as GPS have not only made farming jobs easier for farmers, but have also made it possible to celebrate and preserve deeply ingrained cultural customs.