Winter Dzuud

This winter the nomadic Mongol herders suffered greatly. In some regions of the Gobi and throughout the country, fierce storms called dzuud covered the steppes and desert with much snow.
Mongolia is suffering economically from their climb out of Communism. Not long ago, under Soviet control, herders were forced to work on collective farms and given standard salaries. Now, with the crashing markets of cashmere and wool, two large exports, herders are taking on twice the amount of sheep they can protect from the elements and are having trouble finding adequate land for grazing. Thus, this winter, three million heads of livestock, including horses, sheep, cows, goats and hundreds of Mongolian people died tragically. They froze or starved or both.
We took a trip south of Ulan Baatar this last week, stumbling upon mountains of dead, frozen animals.