More women pursuing shepherding career in Catalonia

Despite the wide range of career options in Catalonia, interest in shepherding continues to grow. 

Since 2009, the Catalonia Shepherds School, located in the town of Enviny in the Catalan Pyrenees, has trained 643 potential shepherds, with numbers increasing every year.  

The number of women enrolling has doubled since the program's first edition. The 2025 class has 15 students and 10 of them are women, compared to five women in 2009.  

Laia Batalla, director of the Shepherds School, believes it's a virtuous cycle. 

"I think the case that we have more women in the program creates more female role models and encourages more women to be part of the profession," she said. 

Ona Marminyà, a 20-year-old student, said she hopes her hobby will become her career. 

"I joined the school because I enjoy farming and taking care of animals, and one day I want to have my own farm with sheep," she said. 

Marminyà enjoyed helping a shepherd with their daily tasks so much that she decided to sign up for the school.  

Students' goals have also changed over the years and now most are interested in becoming mountain shepherds, a training program that will be expanded this year.  

Batalla notes that they have recorded an increase in the number of applications to study to become a mountain shepherd for the last three years, and this year the school is adding climate change to the picture as one of the main subjects.  

The Catalonia Shepherds School is part of the European eco-pastures project, which aims to create more sustainable livestock farming.  

The school prepares aspiring shepherds how to manage pastures, mountain safety, livestock management, orientation, meteorology, herding flocks, and working with sheep dogs. 

The program has a duration of six-and-a-half months in which nine to ten weeks of the program are theoretical learning and the rest are focused on practice.