In one of the most successful scientific films of the year
László Sáfián showed us how he grazes his flock
answering questions put to him by Zsolt Molnár
research group leader at the Centre for Ecological Research
The extraordinary relationship between the shepherd from the Nyírség region of Eastern Hungary and the scientist began with the naming of a few blades of grass
and now they are collaborating on preserving herding knowledge that can be traced back seven generations
and publishing an article in a prestigious scientific journal
The researcher collected the herder’s knowledge in the same way that the famous Hungarian composer Béla Bartók collected folk songs at the start of last century
How did herders become important players in nature conservation
How did the researcher succeed in “taming” the herder
whose father used to set his dog on strangers
and who would only treat sick animals in secret
This is the story of the shepherd and the scientist
The ecologist had already decided at the age of three that he would like to work with ants
it was now a straight path for Zsolt Molnár to become a botanist and ethno-ecologist
His family background also played a part in his realisation that something was not quite right when he noticed that research among herders was conducted mostly by ethnographers and folk musicians
who tend to be unfamiliar with different grasses and sedges
and who therefore rarely ask herders how many types of plants they can identify
where a lot of people can only see one or two kinds of grass
And yet the ancestral knowledge of herders extends to more than folk songs and dances
and indeed the most important science they have is connected to grazing
to their knowledge of plants and livestock
Zsolt Molnár recognised that the ecological knowledge held by herders should be collected in the same systematic way that Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály once collected folk songs
Europe was lagging behind in this respect; while a few researchers took an interest in traditional ecological knowledge
they preferred to put their questions to herders in more exotic places
in Hungary we have reached the eleventh hour
and there are perhaps just a few hundred herders remaining who still preserve this knowledge
They are not simply “security experts” looking after sheep and cattle – they possess a deep understanding of nature
They may have quit formal education after primary school
but they know as much about the plants growing on the pasture as any professor of botany
his childhood ended when he announced he wanted to be a herder
His ancestors had always been so bound up with shepherding that they had rarely so much as looked at a cow
His father always proudly told him that the only metal he ever needed attached to a piece of wood was the hook on the end of his shepherd’s crook
it seemed that their two-hundred-year history of shepherding was coming to an end
Even though every other member of the family
Laci’s older brother wanted to learn a trade
“but only in the stew pot!” This was his way of dealing with the shock of his son’s decision
for whereas Laci’s grandfather and great-grandfather had been senior shepherds
his father had been forced into becoming just another shepherd employed by the collective farm
His sheep were nationalised as part of the communist project
and then he was told to look after his own flock
rather disturbing information into the family – jobs existed where you only worked eight hours a day
with no need to get up at 4 in the morning and work with the animals till 11 at night
his father simultaneously tried to talk him out of it while teaching him to be the best a shepherd could be
his father could perform complex interventions to save them
the scientist – unwittingly – asked the shepherd to break his cardinal rule
He knew that László Sáfián was not just a “sheep watcher”
sipping cheap wine carried in a stripy plastic bag
and knowing not much more about the livestock than an electric fence
was just how much ecological knowledge Laci possessed
the scientist asked the shepherd which of these plants he knew and what he called them
Zsolt Molnár didn’t say too much afterwards
only asked if he could join László Sáfián one day while he was grazing his flock
they can spend the day roaming the pasture somehow
Just like his father had done when he was still a child
What the shepherd understood from all this was that the botanist was listening to him
was really interested in what he had to say; he wanted to know what he knew
and he had no need to pretend to be more than he actually was
it turned out by chance that this tall man who knew the names of all the grasses was in fact a doctor
What on earth was a doctor doing in their neck of the woods
„My father taught me that I should respect doctors
whether they’re doctors of people or doctors of animals
we came to respect him first of all because of his humanity,” the shepherd recalls
At first he simply collected and systematised Laci’s ecological knowledge
rather like Bartók must have done with the songs of the folk singers
Later he began to talk about his own knowledge
respectful man and an aristocrat of his own profession
He became the scientist’s research partner
they publish articles together in the most prestigious English-language ecology journals; the three-hour film they produced this year has become one of the most watched Hungarian scientific videos; Laci draws the crowds as a guest at the summer festival held at the Centre for Ecological Research; and when Zsolt defended his DSc dissertation at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
dressed in his traditional shepherd’s overcoat
and two farmers from the Csángó community in the Gyimes (Ghimeş) region of Transylvania
Of course he could only attend after going out around daybreak to graze his sheep
no matter what important ceremonies are taking place at the Academy
But we are getting ahead of ourselves in unravelling the secret of these two men
We’ll be spending the whole day in the company of the shepherd and the scientist
We can sense that for László Sáfián we are just one of many journalists satisfying their curiosity about shepherds
There are so few of them left that reporters are heading for the Great Plain in droves
our visit represents an opportunity to spread the word about the importance of traditional ecological knowledge
although a herder’s knowledge hasn’t been considered “science” since the Enlightenment
the world is in such big trouble these days that it’s about time we changed our attitudes
The day begins with driving the sheep for several kilometres out into the pasture
because while the numbers of shepherds and sheep are dwindling
the grasslands are running out even faster
the pastures are being replaced with plantations of black locust trees
Long gone are the large expanses of continuous pasture
even though it’s not the walking that fattens the sheep
We watch as several hundred animals follow each other’s footsteps through the semi-darkness of the forest
The big iron bells worn by the two bellwethers resound deeply
while the smaller iron and the copper bells on another eight or nine sheep tinkle at a higher pitch
The shepherd knows which particular sheep prefer to walk on the left or the right side of the flock
he can tell from the sound of the bells which way the sheep are turning
and they’re afraid of the sound of the camera
but we want to take home the spectacle of this living formation
as hundreds of well-fed sheep seem to merge together beneath the orange glow of the rising sun
For hours on end we just watch the shepherd from a distance
and for now even the scientist keeps away from him
wearing rubber boots and his grey working coat
Only his ornate shepherd’s hat gives us hope that we didn’t get up at 4 in the morning for a few pretty photos and a silent agriculturalist
the sandy soil beneath our feet gets warmer
in what used to be the traditional wintering grounds of the Hortobágy livestock
the flocks spent their summers on the salty-marshy plain
and then for winter they were driven across the stubble fields to the oak forests and clearings
and László Sáfián grazes his sheep all year round on this little patch of land near Hajdúsámson
geographically part of the sandy Nyírség region
A large part of the grass has dried out in the blazing sunshine
The shepherd stands motionless for a half hour or so
It’s hard to imagine a more boring way to start a report
László Sáfián takes off his coat and ties it to his bag
He now stands there in his white shirt and black waistcoat
“Are they silver?” I point to the metal buttons
when we go to church or to markets and festivals
He can see that I don’t understand – real silver buttons worn by a shepherd
“My grandfather and great-grandfather were chief shepherds
and their clothes were made by bespoke tailors in Berettyóújfalu
With his curling moustache and white shirt
“My grandfather always wore a white shirt when he was grazing his sheep,” he explains
so it doesn’t seem too practical to work on the plain in a white ironed short
There were all kinds of things you couldn’t ask him.”
and I can tell from his eyes he’s amused that out here in the country I’m trying to butter him up with some fruit bought from the city market
We’ve moved a few millimetres closer to each other
Silver buttons once adorned the clothes worn by noblemen
and from there they migrated to shepherds’ attire
The ones belonging to our shepherd here re breast-shaped and patterned with petals
one could tell that this was a person of some importance
Shepherds have always been somewhat separate from the rest of society
The chief shepherds always stood at the top of this hierarchy
followed by the older shepherds and then the young shepherd boys
but the shepherds still commanded respect even when they were part of the collective farms
The capitalist changes 30 years ago further eroded the remnants of shepherding culture
underpaid “sheep watchers” performing much of the work
known for carrying around cheap flagons of wine in stripy plastic bags
There are many today who think that electric fences can do the job just as well
László Sáfián sees the way out of this by working for nobody else and looking after his own flock
I ask him to mark out an area with his shepherd’s crook and for us to compare our vocabulary – I make my living from words
Zsolt interjects that in Hungarian fairytales
the shepherd is always smart and sophisticated
the hero is the one who rescues Little Red Riding Hood or escapes alive from the deep
the shepherd boy is the resourceful figure who outsmarts all the princes and marries the princess
The trick that shepherds have played for centuries is to act dumb in front of strangers from the city
but the professor is in no doubt that the shepherd is going to win
the shepherd points with his crook at the patch of ground
“But here we’ve got folyófű (‘creeping grass’)
vadkapor (‘wild dill’) – though it’s been chewed down –
That’s it!” He signals that he can’t find any other plants
“Laci knows more than a hundred plants that are important to the sheep
and he sees the field from a unique perspective
I try to interpret what he’s saying: “If the sheep like it
“Not if it passes straight through them,” observes the shepherd
the shepherd even knows which plants are particularly useful before the sheep start breeding
and which ones to lead the sheep to if they have a problem
“The sheep and the shepherd learn from each other,” explains the researcher
“Often even the sheep knows which herbs or which food plants it needs.”
We’ve been following the shepherd for hours
He’s helped by a large white dog and a little black one
who a few weeks ago sensed that the end was nigh and went off to die
The shepherd found his trusty dog at an old resting place
We ask him to get the dog to bark once or twice
“Is that really interesting for you?” But he gives the command and Divat does as he’s told
and the flock can be gently guided simply by the sound of the dog’s voice
“Within the falka” – this is the word he uses to refer to the flock – “I can’t direct every sheep
I ask him if he can show me how he turns the flock around
without the dogs barking and without him raising his stick
Rezső!” he repeatedly addresses the two bellwethers
and dragging out the second vowel in the local dialect
The two bellwethers are sheared somewhat differently from the rest of the sheep
with the wool left longer on their fronts and at the ends of their long tails; they look like lions with rich manes and tufted tails
Slowly but surely the two bellwethers turn around
which the sheep don’t like to do,” explains the shepherd
because this is one of the most difficult tasks
The two bellwethers can tell from the tone of his voice what he wants them to do: to carry on in front
or to stay behind and keep the flock calm and quiet
Later on I get the chance to see that Laci can perform some complex and impressive tasks at shepherding competitions
Zsolt tells me that Laci not only knows the plants and what state the sheep prefer them to be in
but also how much they should be allowed to chew off and when
so that the plants can regrow and regenerate
“I wanted to find out why the sheep were so keen on eating particular plants
Thanks to years of learning from his father
Laci knows which plants they have to be careful with
everything is covered in a plant with yellow flowers
csörgőkóró (‘rattling dry-stem’) or törökátok (‘Turkish curse’)(Rhinanthus)
The latter name bears the weight of history: the Ottoman Empire occupied this region for 150 years in the 16th-17th centuries
“Its seeds are poisonous,” the shepherd tells me
the seeds can knock out a horse or intoxicate a sheep
we have to graze it to keep it down or pull it out
We also don’t like it because it kills off the grass.” 
“It’s semi-parasitic,” interjects the ecologist
“When it’s dry in spring you can really notice it
It’s the worst curse we have,” the shepherd concludes
“In the Gyimes region they have a legend about András Báthory
a 16th-century Prince of Transylvania; when he was on the run
he was betrayed by the people of a village
the only plant that grew in the fields around the village was ‘bell grass’ or ‘Turkish curse’.” 
I can see on Laci’s face that this would be like a plague of locusts
This is where the knowledge of the scientist and the shepherd comes together
The basic task of herders the world over is to keep their livestock healthy and to produce meat even in places where crops don’t grow
Zsolt Molnár not only travelled to Hajdúsámson to collect herders’ knowledge
and after a while he began to ask Laci if he did certain things the same way as Mongolian herders
the Hungarian shepherd tries to improve his pasture: if he comes across some legumes
and then the next day he drives the sheep to take their midday rest in a place where he hopes the seeds will fall on fertile ground
“I make them crap it out there,” explains Laci
ecologists realised that the species diversity of grasslands could be enhanced with targeted grazing
Laci’s ancestors have known and practised this since time immemorial
it is not the job of people to improve the grass
only not to overuse it so as to give it a chance to recover
Laci also takes care when the situation is reversed
When he takes his flock onto a stubble field (a freshly harvested area)
then afterwards he avoids taking the sheep back onto the pasture
Whatever the sheep eat on the stubble field
only we never did this because of nature conservation
we have the same aim: to have as much biodiversity as possible
to have as many different plants as possible on the grass
what he means by grass has nothing to do with the lawn in someone’s garden
Herders receive financial support from the state not to use artificial fertilisers
or not to drive their livestock to certain areas when the rare Hungarian pasque flower is in bloom
because that is beneficial to particular animals
the Hungarian meadow viper in the area near the village of Bugac
A good herder does not need to be warned to graze carefully on the dry
where the rainwater quickly drains away so the vegetation only regenerates once a year
which are more watery and therefore can regenerate up to three times a year
which are spreading rapidly due to climate change
and so they drive their livestock onto them
No two days are ever the same – I can watch how the plants grow all around me
then the next day his father would send him out to listen how many of them had developed a cough
“Something wrong with your dog?” When his sheep ran too fast
by 9 in the morning they would no longer graze in the heat
whereas his father’s flock was still chewing the fescue at half past 10
Laci runs his farm jointly with his brother
Together they teach their children – Laci’s daughter Ibike
nicknamed Tücsi – who may one day grow up to be the eighth generation in the shepherding family
“Little Lalika can run through the shed without a single one of the five hundred sheep getting up
He knows how close to their heads he can run without making them scared,” he tells me proudly
Laci was also taught everything by his father in the same way
he has shared these secrets with the scientist
We can now see that the shepherd is not just a kind of guard
only there to make sure the animals don’t wander off
But what could have been of such importance to make the researcher so excited
“A lot of thoughts complied with what was written down a hundred or two years ago by a scientist of the time from speaking to a herder of the time
Other sentences were what I had heard from Mongolian herders
Of course it’s continuously adapted to the world
As [nineteenth-century Hungarian statesman István] Széchenyi said
the old good is joined with the new good.”
The other source of excitement was the healing activities carried out by herders
For thousands of years there were no vets on the plain
so the herder had to take care of the livestock
a sheep could easily die by accidentally consuming the eggs of a worm (sturdy
“My father showed me how to hold the sheep
then he cut a hole in the animal’s skull and took out the larvae
“Bronze age man could do this; archaeologists have found human bones healed with trepanation
I found it extremely exciting to hear that this knowledge was used on animals just a generation ago
having been passed down from one generation to the next for thousands of years.” 
My grandfather taught my father that where the developed larva move
because there’s liquid dripping from the sheep’s nose
He would fold back the wool and first cut a triangle in the sheep’s skin
A skull operation done with a penknife out on the plain
his father also taught him how to do foot paring
The ecologist explains that in this kind of treatment
the dead parts of the hoof have to be cut away
The shepherd even demonstrates how his father used to do this out in the field
“You have to sit the sheep down so that it’s comfortable and won’t kick so much
We never started until we were holding it correctly.” 
so that the sheep would surrender to the shepherd’s will
“My father insisted on me practising when I was still young and not yet strong enough to substitute the right movement
because you can use your strength to hold the animal down
even if you don’t find the right position.” 
Nowadays we’re happy if we cover the cost of getting the shearing done
Ewes’ milk also used to fetch a good price
you’re not allowed to milk by hand any more
Not so long ago a mutton stew was an essential part of big family celebrations
and it’s falling out of fashion even in the Great Plain
So the adult sheep have virtually no value; it’s mostly the lambs
and 99 percent of them are sold to the Italians
Lots of farmers are now looking for good shepherds
In the meantime the majority of large farms use electric fences – called “electric herders” in Hungarian – to keep their flocks in one place
and there is a reasonable explanation for this: a herder is paid 200,000 forints (a little over 550 euros) per month
whereas a decent electric fencing system can be purchased for 400,000 forints
Experiments with such systems were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s on sandy soils too
because whatever plants were not trampled on by the sheep or scorched by their urine were eaten up by the livestock
The difference between a flesh-and-blood shepherd and an electric one may not become apparent in the first year
There are some places where electric fences work well
and where they keep sheep whose herd instinct has been bred out of them
but spread out nice and evenly across the fenced-in pasture
More sheep survive when a good shepherd is in charge of them
who can spot problems early on and manage the sheep while they graze
less than a hundred lambs are born per hundred ewes
but in the flocks owned by Laci and his family there are plenty of twin births
so the performance of the sheep is way above 100%
The Italians will only buy fat lambs with thick backs
as he can sense that we’re not only interested in him as a person
but also in the disappearing world of which he is a living relic
When he talks openly about the secrets of the herders
but actually protecting and preserving them
When he squats down on a sheep and demonstrates the sequence of movements in foot paring
we look at him as though he were a special type of endangered species
we’re all suffering so much in the sun that we can be sure of one thing: none of us is going to come back here tomorrow and take his place or take away his living
and that must be even harder than trudging for hours across the sweltering plain without the slightest shade
Once there were ten or twenty thousand herders in Hungary with a deep understanding of herding practices
In 1960 there were 2.5 million sheep in Hungary
but now that number is just over 1 million
There are still a few thousand herders living in the Balkans
but throughout the world there are 300 million
because on forty percent of the Earth’s land surface
the biomass produced each year can only be utilised through the flesh of grazing animals
it’s important for the future of the Earth and of humanity that we consume a lot less meat
but it makes a big difference whether that meat comes from intensive farming or from extensive
Kenya and lots of other places would be completely uninhabitable
the Great Plain has had the same kind of wooded steppe appearance since the time of the mammoths and aurochs; it is just that since then
it’s been preserved this way by being used by herders
and these two men are working to change that
One reason is that while wine is advertised
If every family ate lamb on just one special occasion each year
Half a million hectares of grasslands in Hungary can only be utilised as pastures for grazing
and it’s important for the conservation of nature as well that these grasslands are grazed
The Great Plain has always been a cultural landscape
and it would come to no harm if it were entrusted to people who can see the pasture through the mouths of their livestock
The sheep take their midday rest in the nearby forest
and it’s so hot that even this feels like ice-cold air conditioning
and as they eat with us beneath the hawthorn bush
it’s obvious how much respect they have for him
Afterwards Zsolt and Laci write their latest article; they want to summarise the common visions about pasture grasses and livestock grazing shared by the herders of the world
Zsolt translates from English certain apparently universal statements
One example is that herders gain most of their knowledge about plants through the behaviour and grazing of their livestock
Laci doesn’t know if it’s the same everywhere in the world
as this subject isn’t dealt with in nature films
Zsolt reminds us about our little competition at dawn
The shepherd – like the city dweller – can’t name the purple loosestrife (Lythrum)
but nor is it poisonous or dangerous to them
Then comes the next sentence: one of the aims of herders all over the world is to utilise as many of the plant species on the pasture as possible
He adds that some pasture always has to be set aside for winter
then the dried grass must not be allowed to stay there till spring
“I make them get rid of the excess with their feet
He demonstrates with his hands how fragile the dry grass is
He makes the sheep tramp it down because the old grass has to disappear in order for the new grass to grow in spring
so that his sheep have plenty to eat the next year
the two masters of how to regenerate the pasture
Cover photo: Szabolcs Vörös / Válasz Online