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Fields of Arraba. Mount Gorbeia, 2016. Gorane Etxebarria. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

The Valley of Carranza is a large municipality in Bizkaia where cattle farming and milk production have acquired such paramount importance as to become its major sign of identity. However, the inhabitants of the valley devoted themselves to shepherding before they turned into cow’s milk producers. Shepherding gradually lost relevance throughout the 20^th century, and it is only in recent years, coinciding with the crisis besetting livestock farming, that we notice a rebound in the number of small flocks of sheep grazing the meadows dairy herds frequented in the old days, primarily to keep the pastures ‘clean’ and provide meat and a few cheeses for domestic consumption. (more…)