Why do people herd sheep and cattle?
They would herd them to gather them and have a supply of sheep and cattle. It’s much more convenient than hunting for them. That’s why there are farms: to raise them and keep them. If you would haul them into a truck, you would need to hunt for them every time you needed to transport them, which is very inconvenient. When you gather them in one place, it’s easier to transport and use them for wool, etc.
Generally animals are moved to get them to other grazing or to administer to them (shearing, vaccination, hoof trimming, worming, etc) While many larger ranches have gone to just using people on ATV’s many still use dogs. Dogs are very low cost and replace anywhere from 5 to 10 men. As to why they’re not put on trucks, often it’s not cost efficient to use trucks to move them a certain distance. Further, in many locations getting them TO a place where a truck could get in and not get stuck and getting them into the truck (where they definitely don’t want to go) is a significant chore in itself and may entail as much herding as just forgoing the truck in the first place. Also, administering to the animals usually means getting them someplace where chutes, squeeze chutes and possibly flip tables are set up and running the animals through. This requires that the animals be gathered up and moved through this area. Thus, herding is required. Generally ranchers want solutions that are easy, l
When you think about it, the wild cousins of sheep, cattle and goats live together in herds. It’s a way that the earliest farmers found that they could keep the animals together, as they were more comfortable and easier to manage. As regards WHY they neeed to be moved: changing pasture, being put in for winter, shearing, innoculations, health checks, birthing season, going to the market. As for modern farmers herding – sometimes they need to be brought from areas where trucks and trailers can’t go, sometimes there’s money and free labour to be had (like in dude ranches), some people don’t want to distress the animals unnecessarially and some farmers are just traditionlists.
