China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Circle of life
Caring for flock can be a bleak pursuit
Birth and death walk side by side among Dilai’s flock — that’s just the way things are on the Bayan Bulag grassland in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
It’s already April, but the grassland has yet to show any sign of spring’s arrival. With the sun absent, Dilai and his family have seen nothing but dark clouds and snow for three days. Pregnant ewes paw at the snowfrosted ground looking for grass, while newborn lambs shiver in the wind.
Bad weather during lambing season is the last thing any herdsmen on the grassland, who still preserve the traditions of grazing and migrating, wish for.
Dilai, 50, has been a shepherd on the fertile grassland for decades. The flock of 200 sheep he inherited from his father has expanded to 1,000, but this year, the weather has shown no mercy. The snow and cold have killed more than 5,000 livestock on the grassland this month alone.
In bleak conditions, Dilai and his family are doing their best, while preparing for the worst.
Every day, Dilai and his eldest son, Dovton, inspect the flock while on horseback. Dilai’s nephew, Qimti Cering, who comes along with his wife to help, watches any newborns that have been abandoned by their mothers.
Things can be cruel here. A lamb struggles to its feet and scrambles to its mother, only for her to give an angry bleat and dodge her newborn. The lamb approaches again, before being violently kicked by its irritated mother.
The ewe snorts and runs away, leaving her newborn in fear and trembling. It is the fourth time the lamb has been rejected by its mother.
Coldness and hunger paralyze the ewes’ mothering instincts. Many firsttime mothers are not able to take care of their newborns, so shepherds are needed to help the abandoned lambs.
The shepherds hold or bind the front legs of the mothers so that the lambs can suckle. Mothers that continually reject their newborns have them tied to their legs.
The shepherds anxiously watch their flock by night, with dozens of lambs expected to be delivered overnight. Without timely care, the new arrivals will die soon after birth.
Dilai and Qimti are on night watch and have to spend it in an open enclosure without heating and nothing but a small torch for light. For a month, they have to spend their nights in the enclosure, keeping an eye on the pregnant sheep, preventing them from running away or givi n g birth elsewhere. Dilai’s eyes are bloodshot after little sleep. “The family’s income depends on the new lambs, so taking good care of them is crucial, even if it means we don’t eat or sleep,” he said. Wrapped in a quilt, he huddles up beside the enclosure, waiting, listening. Dilai’s wife, Tuya, prepares supper at 11 pm. It is the family’s only chance to get together after a hard day’s work. It is not the first storm that Dilai has lived through, but he has never thought about leaving. Life on the grassland is all he knows. Tuya recalled that they only had a yurt, a bed and an offering table when they got married. But their work over the years has paid off. Now their children have houses and cars in the town. In addition to annual government subsidies of 10,000 yuan ($1,400), Dilai earns 300,000 yuan from herding.
“I am a shepherd. Herding on the grassland is my life,” he said. “I won’t leave my flock until I’m too old to walk or ride my horse.”
Dovton, 26, decided to stay with his parents after he graduated from high school. He is the eldest son and it is his obligation to take on his father’s career so that his two younger brothers have a chance to see the outside world.
“My parents can’t leave their flock. They have to take care of the animals, and I want to help take care of them. That’s why I stay,” Dovton said.
Overlooking his flock and home on a nearby slope, Dovton said he achieved good grades at school and would have gone to college if it were not for his parents.
As the night ticks away, another dozen lambs are born. Most are healthy, although a few are in critical condition.
One lamb is too weak to open its mouth. It lies motionless as a shepherd tries to poor milk into its mouth.
For more than half an hour, Qimti tries to help the lamb, but it’s breath becomes weaker and weaker. Nearby, vultures and crows circle overhead.
Eventually, the lamb stops fighting for its life. Death wins.
A new day arrives, but the sun is still not present and snowflakes fill the air.
Whatever the weather on the Xinjiang grasslands, the shepherds continue to watch their flock and experience the continuous cycle of birth and death.