transhumance

Seasonal movement by pastoral farmers of their livestock between areas of different climate. There are three main forms: in Alpine regions, such as Switzerland, cattle are moved to high-level pastures in summer and returned to milder valley pastures in winter; in Mediterranean lands, summer heat and drought make it necessary to move cattle to cooler mountain slopes; in West Africa, the nomadic herders of the Fulani peoples move cattle south in search of grass and water in the dry season and north in the wet season to avoid the tsetse fly.