Myagdi, March 8: Lila Bahadur Pun of Muna, Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality-3, Myagdi, who is in his eighties, spends his daily life in the forest and in the barn with his goats. Eighty-year-old Lila Bahadur spent his childhood and youth traveling around the country with his sheep and goats in a moving barn.
“As my parents told me, I was born in a barn, and my life was spent in a barn,” he said. “I have continued the profession of raising sheep and goats that my grandfather and father have been doing since my grandfather’s time.” Lila Bahadur, who moved his barn from Buki in Dhorpatan to Jharbang in Muna last October, spent the winter there.
In Muna village, which is home to more than 200 households, only Lila Bahadur is currently raising goats in a moving barn. Until eight or ten years ago, there was no household that did not have 40-50 goats. It was customary for four to five households to take their barn to the grazing area with one shepherd.
Lila Bahadur, who raised 1,000 sheep and goats five years ago, has now sold all his sheep. Lila Bahadur, who sold 100 goats of the local Khari breed for Rs. 600,000 two years ago, has not found a buyer for the goats he currently has.
“All the goat sheds in the village were destroyed, I have also reduced them to 150,” Lila Bahadur said. “My children and grandchildren did not take up this profession. They went abroad. I have been looking for buyers to sell the goats. I have not found still any.” Lila Bahadur and his wife said that they have raised 10 children and run the household by raising sheep and goats.
He has sent his youngest son, Ras Bahadur Pun, to Australia. Three are still at home. The middle son at home is paralyzed. Six of his daughters are married. Although it was customary to come to the villages when he was young and recruit them into the Indian and UK Gurkha soldiers, Lila Bahadur, who enjoyed working in the sheep shed, never dreamed of becoming an army.
He sells 15-20 male goats and 10-15 female goats annually. He sells four to five year old male goats and female goats for up to Rs 30,000. Goat meat and goats are sold for sacrifice. Female goats are bought by those who raise them at home.
He said that even though he meets his family and relatives during the winter when the snow falls, staying in the Buki nomadic hut at the foot of the mountains from Jestha to Asoj is difficult. He has experienced that it is difficult when it rains for weeks, when sheep and goats disappear, when wild animals bother him, and when he does not meet his family. When going to the lake, he also has to carry enough food for the rainy season.
He used to enjoy listening to songs and news on the radio, but recently, with the facility of mobile phones, it has become easier for him to ask and chat with his family and relatives in the evenings and mornings. He said that he enjoys observing the beautiful scenery at the foot of the mountains while living as a shepherd, and that leopards and hyenas have been attacking and killing sheep and goats, causing damage. Lila Bahadur has also raised a Bhote dog to protect his goats from wild animals and for his own safety. (Photo available.)
