Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. In many societies, shepherds were an important part of the economy. In ancient times, shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk few shepherds still do this today. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact, protect it from predators and guide it to market areas in time for shearing. This required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. To maintain a large flock, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to another pasture. Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as chickens and pigs. Henri Fleisch tentatively suggested the Shepherd Neolithic industry of Lebanon may date to the Epipaleolithic and that it may have been used by one of the first cultures of nomadic shepherds in the Beqaa Valley. Over the next thousand years, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool. Shepherding is among the oldest occupations, beginning some 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Middle Age livestock shelter or paridera in a natural cave in Piedra River in the monk's old path from the monastery to the roe deer salt ponds, Aragon, Spain
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