Trailing of the Sheep I (Herding)

October 19, 2011 | Comments Off

The region around the Sawtooth Mountains in central Idaho has a strong sheep ranching tradition since the 1860s. Over the past 150 years, settlers from sheep-herding communities from around the world – Scotland, the Basque region of Spain, Peru, Chile, Mongolia – have together established what is a uniquely American sheep herding heritage.

Each year, in spring, bands of close to 1,500 sheep wind their way up from the lower elevations of the Snake River plain of Southern Idaho, through Highway 75 and populated residential areas to the high mountain pastures. In the fall, they retrace their path south to the high desert plains. Like the Almatrieb in Austria, the sheep herders of the Sawtooth region celebrate this annual return migration as the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. It takes place in early October. These pictures are from last year (2010).

One of the events at the festival is the sheep-herding competition that takes place at the crack of dawn in the town of Hailey, ID.

Each sheepherder gives verbal commands to his/her sheepdog, who must navigate a herd of sheep through a set course and into a pen within a set amount of time.