State of Vegetation as a Determining Factor of Seasonal Migration

All forms of pastural agriculture develop predominantly where, on account of mountain ranges, highlands and valleys, the annual cycle of forage plants exhibits large differentiations over small regions: for thus is the yearly balance of food attainable by means of relatively short migration treks.

This means that migration occurs not only for climatic reasons but also for reasons connected with the seasonal food balance of the animals.

Therefore, one of the most important factors of seasonal migration is the state of the vegetation: the seasonal division of forage plant resources and the distribution of forage plants.

The four seasonal migration routes in traditional Mongolian nomadic livestock keeping have always been influenced by these two aspects of the vegetation.

We shall briefly consider their effects upon migration:

State of Vegetation:

In the pastural areas about fifty million tonnes of forage plant material for livestock grow annually. This corresponds to the food requirements of about sixty million sheep each year (calculated in terms of sheep units, a horse, a cow and a yak are each the equivalent of seven sheep, a camel ten and a half sheep, and a goat seven-tenths of a sheep).

The forage plant resources are certainly differently distributed throughout the seasons. Thus, for example, in the case of the food requirements in summer and autumn for the twenty-five million existing animals, there are 2.3 million tonnes of feed in excess.

On the other hand there is a deficit in winter and in spring of about 5.5 million tonnes. This means that the food supply in summer and autumn is about 28.9 million tonnes and in winter and spring about 21.1 million tonnes (Cadraabal, 1982: 24).

The capacity of pasture land is, in the investigations which form the basis of economic policy and projects, in the rule evaluated by the annual average yield of forage plant material. Since the periods of vegetation in winter/spring and summer/autumn differ due to seasonal length (200 days in the former and 165 days in the latter) and to reserves of forage plants, it would be more accurate to evaluate the actual capacity of the pasture land taking into account the periods of vegetation when the reserves of forage plants are lowest.

Thus, Mongolia has a reserve of pasture in winter/spring for about forty-eight to fifty million sheep. Moreover, it is a fact that in spring compared to high summer the protein content of forage plants is 3.5 times less, the juiciness is 2.5 times less and the time available to pasturing on account of the lesser daylight hours and of the cold is twice as short (Mojbuu and Bakej, 1996).

The state of vegetation in Mongolia is especially characterized by the fact that climatic conditions allow only a single short period of growth. In the middle of September the grasses and plants begin to die off. This is a sign of the coming dangerous phase of the year for the herds.

The new vegetation does not appear before the end of March or the start of April of the following year and even then it is so sparse that it plays no great role in the up keeping of the animals for yet another month. Thus, the animals must live for six or seven months on the dead plants which have remained after the period of growth.

The decisive factor is the quantity of vegetation at the end of summer, which must be sufficient to supply the stock until the beginning of the next growth period. As a result of this, the need arises to exploit the yearly resources of forage plants by means of seasonal migrations with an optimal dividing of the pastural regions.

From the middle of winter to the first half of spring is the period of the smallest supply of forage plants, during which the capacity of the pasture land reduces by 60-75 per cent. In order to maintain a warm pasturage in this especially difficult period, the regions above the mountain slopes are made use of, in principle in all nature zones. By means of this the remains of forage plants, which have been preserved through the entire winter, are available in late spring.

In the second half of spring the period of vegetation begins. At this time too begins the active feeding period of the animals on the natural pasture. This season is characterized by the fact that the animals become especially debili­tated. Therefore, they must be driven into a region where forage plants that are richer in calories grow. Such sorts of forage plants are plentiful amongst the vegetation lying beneath the middle altitude of a mountain.

In order to make use of pasture areas distant from the winter site, livestock keepers normally leave this site with the entire stock excluding the mothers and the calves. Such treks are frequently quite a distance. The point of the migration is to reach a pasture in which fresh grass can grow. Such pastures are as a rule located at sunlit mountain feet which are watered by the snow.

Regarded biologically, the livestock must put on weight in summer in order that a fat layer might form in autumn to act as protection against frost. Therefore, those types of plants are taken into consideration by livestock keepers so that weight increase and fattening can occur in the appropriate order. As far as vegetation is concerned, this is the actual reason for the summer pasturage.

A negative consequence of summer pasturage on a wrong pasture or amongst the wrong vegetation could be that fattening occurs too early, before the livestock has put on sufficient weight. In this case the livestock cannot survive the hard winter and the feed deficient spring.

In autumn the ripeness of the various plants gradually deteriorates. Although all forage plants in Mongolia complete their ripening in general during the summer, the period of ripening of individual forage plants is quite different. The period of ripening of vegetation is connected with altitude: from the mountain crest to the mountain foot.

Later ripening occurs in the lowlands and in the valleys. Moreover, as a result of the ripening process and of low precipitation the plant concentrate is comparatively high and the water content always low. There is nonetheless a climatically determined difference in the preservation of water in the plants in connection with the altitude. The point of the autumn pasturage is therefore to seek still juicy green grass and vegetation appropriate for the fattening of the livestock. Such sites are located in the lowlands.

Distribution of Forge Plants:

Also the distribution of forage plants plays a large role in the direction of seasonal migration. Regarded generally, the vegetation density in Mongoha continually decreases in the direction from highlands and forest highlands to southerly or south-westerly steppes and lowlands. Moreover, they are in the highlands in both the Altai Mountains and the Hangai-Hentii Mountains separate vegetation zones exist which are dependent on the moistness, the amount of sunlight etc., of the respective micro ecology.

However, in all nature zones it is possible to establish altitudinal belts of distribution of definite sorts of forage plants, corresponding to the respective attitudes, climatic conditions and soil types. In the steppes and the Gobi region there are few altitudinal vegetation and nature belts since the difference between highlands and hollows as far as pasture is concerned is too small.

On the 131.1 million hectares (84% of the country’s total area and 98 per cent of the agriculturally used area) of pasture area of Mongolia about 2,300 types of plants grow, which belong to about 580 plant families. Of these about 600 types of plants are usable for the food requirements of the five most important sorts of animals (cp. Cerendulam, 1994: 3).

Of the above mentioned 2,300 plant types about 550 widespread types of forage plants have been quite well researched. According to the results of this research 47 per cent of these are frequently or willingly eaten and nutritious plants, 4 per cent are of very good food quality, 44 per cent are rarely or unwill­ingly eaten plants and 5 per cent are poisonous plants for animals (Mallagaany, 1966: 4).

Of course the forage plants have different significance for the various animal types. From available research material concerning forage plants it can be determined which plant types are preferred by which animal types. This then makes it possible to ascertain, according to the distribution of the forage plants, in which direction the animals should migrate in the course of the seasons.

In general the seasonal food balance for all types of animals can be divided into two main periods: first, the active feeding in the period of vegetation, and second, the period of maintenance of weight gain and fattening in the inactive months of the vegetation. The time of vegetation is so short that it must be exploited to the full for an effective pasturage.

Therefore, the attaining of a well-nourished condition of the livestock in the active vegetation period is divided into the following feeding periods:

1. The return of strength (Mong.: usan badailga) from April until May, the second half of spring,

2. The putting on of weight (Mong.: machan targa) from June until the middle of August,

3. The fattening (Mong.: oochon targa) from the second half of August until the start of November.

Thus, the distribution of the forage plants is one of the most important factors for pastural migration, upon which the direction and distance of the migration depends.

Salty Soils as a Determining Factor of Seasonal, Altitudinally Directed Migration:

The significance of salty soils for livestock and for seasonal migration has been neglected in investigations concerning nomadic livestock keeping in Mongolia. The reason for this is that the original seasonal migration to salty soils has become impossible or is overlooked, in particular in the last decades, as a result of newly established territorial-administrative borders. I consider it important that salty soils be considered as a basic motive for seasonal migration.

The salty soils of the pasture land of Mongolia are very rich in sodium (Na) and potassium (K) which are the most important elements for the growth and the strengthening of the bone tissue of the animals as well as the most important chemical constituents of bone marrow, magnesium (Mg) which is one of the most important elements of the muscle tissue, and copper (Cu) which is necessary for blood formation and for the functioning of the respi­ratory organs.

Thus, salts play a very important role in the putting on of weight and in particular in the fattening as well as the maintenance of a well-nourished condition of the livestock in autumn. Since the livestock do not obtain an adequate amount of the above mentioned elements from plants, salty soils are the only supplementary source of minerals.

Salty soils are in no way used occasionally or seasonally but quite regularly. For example sheep must pasture on salty soils in average once every five to seven days in winter, every three to four days in spring, every four to seven days in summer and autumn (Gonchigzhav et al., 1980: 141). The regularity of course depends upon the mineral content of the soil. If the summer and autumn pasturage takes place on soils low in salt, horses, for example, must once every seven to ten days pasture on salty soils (Mallagaany, 1996: 167).

Thus, there arises the need to allow livestock to graze in regions rich in salts. Livestock keepers take into consideration when choosing a pasture not only favourable climatic conditions and the state of the vegetation but also the salt content of the soils. In the rule every seasonal pasturage must have salty soils available.

A physical-geographic investigation of the pattern of the distribution of salty soils in connection with the pasture land in Mongolia has only to a limited extent been carried out. In the forest highlands the proportion of salty soils is the smallest, while in the steppes and the Gobi and desert regions very high. This tendency is valid not only generally on a large scale but also locally: in the mountains almost nothing, at the mountain foot and in the valleys more frequent.

That the density of vegetation, as mentioned above, decreases gradually from the highlands and forest highlands to the steppes and the Gobi and the nutritional value of a food unit thereby increases, stands in close connection with the distribution of salty soils.

Salty soils are divided in livestock economic practice according to the concentration of minerals into sparse and rich soils. In the lowlands the mineral content of salty soils is as a rule higher than in the highlands.

According to experience as well as to the results of research the following regions in the steppe zones have been identified as having salty soils of good quality: Bor ovoo (in the Ubrohangai Aimag, Bajanondor Sum), Olon nuuryn gol (in the Bajanhongor Aimag, Bajanburd Sum), Erdene uul, Gutlyn ulaan uul, Rashaant (in the east steppe region) etc., (Mallagaany, 1996: 52).

Mongolian historical sources report that livestock keepers migrated in autumn with their stock often far into the south or the south-east, to the Gobi, to regions with soil rich in salts. This is still more or less the case today. But in this there are considerable difficulties in connection with the current of the administrative Aimag and Sum borders.

In the Negdel period, 1959-1991, it became habitual to satisfy the needs of the animals by transporting salt. However, there is still today amongst the herdsmen in those Sums, within the borders of which there exists a region of salty soils, an attempt particularly in autumn to move with their stock into low lying areas. Here the direction of migration to salty soils corresponds with the other goals of autumn migration, namely the attainment of favourable climatic conditions and of a suitable vegetation.

Access to Drinking Water as a Determining Factor of Migration:

Water plays differing roles in mobile livestock keeping. Above all, water is one of the most important constituents of nourishment. For example, a sheep requires three to four litres of water in order to digest 1 kg of dry food. The required amount of water of course depends upon the respective climatic conditions as well as the juice content of the plants.

Sheep drink each time about two to two and a half litres of water. In summer sheep must receive water two to three times daily under the most favourable climatic and vegetative conditions, in spring and autumn once or twice daily and in a winter with heavy snowfalls once every second day. This is valid also for the other types of animals (Gonchigzhav et al., 1980: 144).

On hot summer days the need for water is even higher since the livestock are cooled down by means of water i.e., by perspiring. Therefore, livestock keepers in summer as well as in autumn migrate to the river valleys and lakes.

Since on summer days there are at the water sites in the lowlands many mosquitoes, midges and horseflies, the summer pasturage is carried out on windy hills lying near to water. When the insect pests disappear in autumn on account of the decrease in temperature, it is possible to move downwards direct to the water source.

In winter the livestock require relatively little water on account of the sparse vegetation and of their physiological adaptation. The need for water in winter is mostly satisfied by the disintegration of acquired fat and by snow. A superfluous amount of water through drinking would decrease the resistance of the livestock to cold.

Therefore, a pasture distant from a water source is most favourable in winter. The fact that regions lying nearby to water are cold in winter is another reason to seek out a pasture away from water sources and rivers. Moreover, the source of water is of great significance in the division and the divided use of the pastural regions. Watersheds delimit climatic- geographic belts and the grading’s of vegetation both altitudinally and planarly, and thereby form comparatively isolated pasture strips or areas.

In historical sources and on ancient maps of Mongolia the locations of the ancient tribes were always represented in the vicinity of sources of drinking water—larger rivers or permanent fresh water lakes or abundant springs. Also in the later establishment of territorial-administrative borders the entirety of a pastural area and the availability of water were especially considered.

For example larger rivers, lower river valleys or fresh water lakes in the lowlands were used as border lines of pastural areas. However, in the Negdel period this was of lesser significance. Owing to the organization of livestock keeping, the territorial-administrative divisions were made smaller and the number of such regions was massively increased. In 1990 there were in all 310 Sums in Mongolia.

The supply of drinking water is often ensured by the building of wells. In 1991 there were about 37,600 tread wheel wells (in the Gobi and steppe regions the wells must be dug deeper) and 3,600 built-up springs (Mongolian Economy, 1995: 40).

This brought both advantages and disadvantages. If in the case of a scant network of natural water sites the pasture lands about these sites do not overlap, then the pastures remain unused for the greater part of the year or even over the years.

They offer in the alternative planning of the nomads a natural food reserve, which is opened up only in those years when natural water sites are formed owing to a greater degree of moisture, since then suffi­cient water is available. These mostly unusable pasture zones are now opened up to the nomadic economy by means of the construction of the tread wheel wells.

The nomads now make use of these wells even during periods of low rainfall, and as a consequence the natural food reserve is used up. The damage is even greater since the water potential of the wells is in most cases higher than the grazing potential in their vicinity. The mobility of the nomads, which was once forced by the exhaustion of the water sites, is being limited. A certain devastation of the vegetation of the pasture about the wells is also a conse­quence. The wells therefore are more or less depriving the nomads of their natural pasture reserves.

Geographic Borders as an Influencing Factor of the Direction of Migration:

Not only climatic conditions, the state of the vegetation and the distribution of salty soils and water sources are of significance for the distance and frequency of migration, but also geographic borders. In general they are divided into ecologically and economically determined borders.

The ecologically deter­mined borders include mountain crests, larger rivers, cliff regions, deserts, valleys, etc. Besides these, which are determined by altitude and natural markings, there are also economic margins of the pasture land. Obvious borders are formed by settlements and industrial areas, by paths, roads and railways.

From the above the wrong impression might be gained that the borders of the pasture land are once and for all fixed. This is however in no way the case. The ecologically determined borders are relatively stable, but the economic margins are certainly not. They are formed in flexible adaptation as a conse­quence of technological and social-economic development.

Thus there is, for example, in the lower river valleys of Orhon, Selenge and other rivers, which have their sources in the Hangai and Hentii Mountains and which today are located in the Selenge Aimag, hardly any pastural area. The reason for this is that the pasture land has been superseded as a result of the development of farming and industry in this region. The rate of industrialization in the Selenge Aimag is in average three times higher than in the other Aimags.

On the basis of what has been said about the ecological factors of seasonal migration, the ordering of the seasonal pasture areas in Mongolia i.e., how and in what relation to the ecological factors the four seasonal pasture regions lie can be described.

There are however two variations: first, the locations of the actual or the original pasture areas, in which case the economic or socially determined borders have no part, and second, the locations of the present pasture areas, in which case all economic and ecologically determined borders are considered.

Concluding Remarks:

On the basis of the above discussed ecological determinants we can distinguish basic forms of seasonal migration.

In winter the best pasture regions lie on account of the favourable combi­nation of temperature, wind and precipitation, in principle in all three nature zones in the belt between the higher and middle mountain ranges. The winter site is therefore located on a higher south slope of a mountain or in a mountain cleft away from the wind direction.

The spring pasturage on the other hand takes place somewhat below the winter pasturage, on the south face of a mountain between a middle altitude and the mountain foot. Although in general the lower the location the warmer it is, snow often remains at the mountain foot and in the lowlands until May, and nights can be cold and damp.

The suitable regions for the summer pasturage are for climatic reasons located on the higher parts of a mountain, higher than the winter pastures, for example on mountain crests, where the winds blow more strongly. There are of course differences in connection with the differing nature zones. Since the inversion line of the Hangai and Hentii forest highlands lies lower, for example, the mountain crest on this inversion line should be avoided for the choice of summer pasture and accordingly the summer pasturage is chosen in the foothills.

In order to ensure that the livestock remains well nourished from summer into autumn, migrations are carried out to a warmer location where the animals can feed more peacefully and can be fattened in autumn in a regular way. Such sites, which in comparison to other areas remain even until late autumn warm and free of snow, are located characteristically in low lying regions, as a rule in all nature zones.

If we compare the forage plant types according to seasonal divisions and the altitudinal distribution of forage plants it becomes clear that the seasonal pasture regions, as far as the distribution of forage plants is concerned, stand in a belt-like relation with the differences in altitude.

Moreover, salty soils play a very important role in the putting on of weight in summer and in the fattening as well as the maintenance of a well nourished condition of the livestock in autumn. Since in the distribution of salty soils there exists the phenomenon that the mineral content is lowest in the highlands and highest in the lowlands, the seasonal migration should in the main be determined altitudinally.

Since on summer days there are at the water sites in the lowlands many mosquitoes, midges and horseflies, the summer pasturage is carried out on windy hills lying near to water. When the insect pests disappear in autumn on account of the decrease in temperature, it is possible to move downwards direct to the water source.

The fact that regions lying nearby to water are cold in winter is a reason why it is necessary to seek out a pasture away from water sources and rivers during this season. Moreover, the source of water is of great significance in the division and the divided use of the pastural regions.

Geographic borders influence migration routes i.e., they determine in which direction and where the migrations should be carried out.

The effects of all these factors on the seasonal migrations are connected with differences in altitude. From this it follows that the seasonal migrations in principle in all nature zones are determined altitudinally. However, this view should not serve as an argument that in Mongolia there are absolutely no planar migrations. On the contrary livestock keepers undertake quite frequently planar migrations in the course of a season in order to extend the pasturage and to satisfy food requirements.

There are in respect to pasture and ecologically speaking two main regions of Mongolia: mountainous land and the steppes/Gobi, whereby mountainous land is divided according to the respective ecosystems into two sub-regions, the highlands in the Altai Mountains and in the Hangai-Hentii Mountains (Bazargiir et al., 1989: 104-144).

As far as pastural migration is concerned, there are thus three different types of migration corresponding to the defined nature zones: migrations in the Altai Mountains, in the Hangai-Hentii Mountains and in the steppes/Gobi region. In addition, livestock keepers conduct their seasonal migrations in the steppes in Central and East Mongolia and in the south-east Gobi region in quite different manners.

This has probably been caused by the too closely drawn adminis­trative borders, in which the actual pastural region has not been considered. In the first two forms the seasonal migrations quite evidently correspond to differences in relief and are altitudinally directed. There is however, a clear difference in connection with the order of the change of pasture, depending upon orographic conditions.

Seasonal Migration in the Altai Mountains:

This mountain chain, which stretches from the north-west of Mongolia to the southern Gobi, is almost devoid of forests. The mountain system is surrounded by valleys and hollows. It borders onto the Altai valley of the northern Gobi which is covered with numerous saltpans and sand plains and which extends from the basin and over the broad valley of the Gobi lakes, as well as onto the Altai valley of the southern Gobi where there are substantially less lakes and sand plains but more gravel plains.

This valley is comprised of three parts: in the west the Atschit valley, in the south the Alaschan Gobi and between the two the Transaltai Gobi. These orographic conditions enable livestock keepers to exploit to the full by means of migration the natural pasture from the mountain crests to the valleys and foothills. This permits a seasonal migration from the peaks to the lowlands in the order summer, winter, spring, autumn. There are however, in some regions other variations of the order e.g., winter, spring, summer, autumn.

Seasonal Migration in the Hangai-Hentii Mountains:

The massive Hangai-Hentii Mountain system also borders on the great lake basin in the west and on the southern Gobi in the south, and is bordered in the east and south-east by the undulating eroded plains of the steppes and Steppe-Gobi which are covered with numerous saltpans.

Between these two mountainous lands, the broad river valleys of the Orhon, the Selenge and the Tuul are situated. It is here characteristic that the south faces of the slopes and partly of the mountain crests (e.g., in Hangai) are cliffy and steep rising.

The northern slopes and in part also the northern crests are on the other hand forested and levelled out. Mongolian forests, which cover in all only 9.6 per cent of the country, are comprised almost entirely of the forest regions of the Hangai-Hentii Mountain system and the Hobosgol Mountains.

As a consequence the herdsmen are not able to make use of the mountain crests for pasturage, and in particular for the pasturing of sheep and goats, and therefore allow their stock as a rule to graze only as far as the inversion line.

Thus, it happens that the altitudinally directed seasonal migration from the peaks to the lowlands are ordered winter, spring, summer, autumn. However in a region where either there are crests devoid of forest or gravel and accessible to the livestock or the inversion line is higher than about 2,300 m, the first variation of migration as in the Altai Mountains is also possible.

Seasonal Migration in the Steppes:

The high steppes of eastern Mongolia, which in the west are bordered by the Hangai-Hentii Mountains, are above all in the north covered with undulating eroded plains rich in salts. They are divided approximately through their centre by the voluminous Herlen River which flows into the Dalai Nuur. The east lying Lake Buir is situated on a huge plate-like high steppe.

Here there is a relatively small difference in altitude between the highlands and the lowlands. For this reason seasonal migrations from the heights into the lowlands are ordered winter/spring, summer/autumn, whereby the pasturages for winter and spring are conducted at about the same altitude, as are those for summer and autumn.

One sees here that this form is not only a planar migration deter­mined by thermal and humidity conditions but also clearly altitudinally directed.

The extremely extensive and flat eastern and south-eastern Gobi valley is a steppe sparse in vegetation. Stretching valleys and flat hollows, partly covered with salt lakes and sand marshes, characterize the landscape. Desert steppe and desert alternate, ponds and small flat lakes are formed temporarily after heavy rain falls.

Although some scholar’s conjecture that migrations specially suitable for the region are carried out here results from research show no particular form of migration comparable to that in the steppes. I am of the view that seasonal migration within the steppes is incomplete on account of a delimi­tation of the original pastural strips by territorial-administrative borders. Through this the traditional, ecologically adapted migration routes and direc­tions have in essence been simplified.

The climatic and vegetative conditions and the numerous saltpans and water reserves in these regions are exactly the requirements for an autumn pasturage, and in part too for summer pasturage. From Mongolian historical sources it can be learnt that nomadic herdsmen for just this reason moved in particular in autumn into the steppes and desert steppe, whereby they covered distances of up to 750 km.

Regarded geomorphologically, the lowland corridor from the eastern end of Mongolia, the Menen Steppes, to the southern end, the Galbin Gobi, is a geographic borderline of the flatlands of the north-western and south-western highlands and of the pastural regions of both sides.

As already mentioned, these are only the basic forms of migration. There are in addition numerous variations of and experiments in seasonal migrations connected with the respective conditions and geographic borders of the pasture land.