Editing Mesta (section)

===The annual migrations===
There is little information on the annual migrations in the first century of the Mesta's charter, although as northern flocks were supplying the meat markets of Toledo then, this suggests that producing wool was not yet their predominant purpose.<ref>Butzer, p.38</ref> There is also nothing about how the migrations were carried out in practice in the Mesta ordinances of 1492 or its code of 1511, and only occasional documentary evidence about this from legal proceedings dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, which discuss the customary practices governing this migration.<ref>Klein, p. 21</ref> However, from the 16th century, if not earlier, the pastoral transhumant cycle, involving the dates of the two migrations, the length of daily marches and frequency of rests, and the times for lambing and shearing, was designed to ensure the best conditions for the feeding, growth and reproduction of Merino sheep. The availability of fresh grass throughout the year resulted in the increased fineness of their fleeces, and  it was realised that transhumance was essential to create wool of a quality that sedentary sheep flocks could not match. This circumstance was used to justify the Mesta's privileges.<ref>Marín Barriguete(2015), pp.201-2</ref>

The Mesta records indicate that, from 1436 to 1549, in excess of 2.5 million sheep took part in the annual migration. This number declined during the remainder of the 16th century, and more steeply in the early 17th century to a low point of some 1.6 million sheep in 1603 to 1633, climbing slowly for the rest of the century then more rapidly from the start of the 18th century to a maximum of around 5 million transhumant sheep a year for 1790 to 1795, before a catastrophic decline following the French invasion of 1808 and the [[Peninsular War]].<ref>Melón Jiménez, pp.735-6</ref> In 1832, in one of the final years of the Mesta's existence, it was responsible for 1.1 million transhumant merino sheep, 2.0 million other fine wool sheep that were not transhumant and 4.9 million other sheep that were not transhumant and which produced only low-grade wool.<ref>Melón Jiménez, p.733</ref>

The most complete account of the organisation of the migrations, given by a shepherd, was recorded in 1828, in the organisation's last decade.<ref name="Klein, p.24">Klein, p.24</ref> By the 18th century, the shortage of pasture made it essential for the sheep owners to have grazing leases in advance, to avoid arbitrary price rises by landowners. They therefore relied on having a salaried ''Mayoral'' or chief shepherd with sufficient power and experience to negotiate pasture leases for all the sheep in his flock, termed his ''cabaña'': their role in earlier years may have been less prominent than in the 1828 account.<ref name="Marín Barriguete2015, p.217">Marín Barriguete(2015), p.217</ref> Some mayorales were guilty of fraud, agreeing to unreasonably high pasture rents with landowners and receiving a share of the excess. However, it was only by the institution of {{lang|es|mayoralia}}, associations of owners which rented grazing and employed shepherds collectively, that owners could secure access to grazing lands. Despite Mesta regulations, the {{lang|es|mayoralia}} competed with one another for the best grazing, and the most affluent groups monopolised this to the exclusion of poorer ones.<ref name="Marín Barriguete2015, p.218">Marín Barriguete(2015), p.218</ref>

Most of the Merino flocks from the late 15th century on had their home pastures in León, Old Castile and north-eastern La Mancha, an area divided between the four quadrillas of León, Segovia, Soria and Cuenca, each of which dealt with a section of the annual transhumance.<ref name="Butzer, p. 41"/> Flocks from León and Old Castile traveled between 550 and 750 kilometres to their winter pastures, while those from New Castile and La Mancha rarely travelled more than 250 kilometres. All these usually completed their migration south in a month or less, reaching their winter pastures in October, and they usually began their returned north in April and May.<ref name="Klein, pp.28-9">Klein, pp.28-9</ref>

The preparations for the journey south began in mid-September, when each owner's cabaña, which was branded with his marks, was placed in the hands of an experienced mayoral, who had to be experienced both in managing sheep and choosing good grazing. Larger cabañas were kept together on the march, but divided into smaller units termed ''rebaños'' of about 1,000 sheep managed a shepherd with several assistants and sheepdogs.<ref name="Klein, p.24"/><ref name="Marín Barriguete2015, p.217"/> The shepherds were normally engaged for a year ending in June when the flocks were returned to their home pastures, and usually paid mainly in kind, with grain, a proportion of lambs born and cheese produced, but not in wool, and with a cash fee for each 100 sheep herded.<ref>Klein, pp.58-9</ref> In earlier centuries, smaller flocks called ''hatos'' were grouped to form a rebaño, but this practice ceased in the 18th century as smaller owners gradually ceased to engage in transhumance or were forced out by the difficulties of securing grazing.<ref name="Marín Barriguete2015, p.218"/> In the early centuries of the Mesta's existence, owners of flocks were obliged to defend their stock against possible attacks by Muslim raiders or armed robbers, either in person or by making a payment, but this requirement ceased in the 16th century.<ref>Pastor de Togneri, pp.382-3</ref>

On arrival in the winter pastures, the shepherds inspected whether the pasture lands they had previously leased were adequate. Despite being granted, in theory at least, free access to southern pastures by royal charter, from the middle of the 16th century few stockholders came south without first arranging suitable pasturage, otherwise they had to pay excessive rents for any remaining low-quality grazing, often in the hills.<ref>Marín Barriguete (1992), pp.138-9</ref> The rebaños were divided between a number of pens built for shelter and for lambing, which took place in the winter pastures. Any old and infertile rams and diseased and weak ewes were culled soon after arrival to protect the quality of the wool, and of weak lambs were culled shortly after birth.<ref>Marín Barriguete (1992), pp.139-40</ref>

The lambs were ready to travel north in the following spring, and the flocks left the southern plains from mid-April. Their wool was shorn on their way north, and was then washed, and taken to one of the Mesta warehouses, the largest being in Segovia. The wool was later sent the fairs, especially Medina del Campo, or to the northern ports for shipment to Flanders and England. After the shearing, the journey north then resumed at a slower pace, and the last flocks reached their home pastures in May or early June.<ref name="Klein, pp.28-9"/> They would then be moved to their summer pastures in the hills, often hungry and weak after the long journey north.<ref>Marín Barriguete (1992), p.131</ref>