Like other shepherds in south European or Mediterranean climes, the Basques are forced to take their flocks to the high mountain pastures in summer in search of better grazing. They live out on the bare slopes in stone-hut sheepfolds called cayolars, with a couple of dogs, milking the ewes twice a day and making cheese, the fromage de brebis, whose soft and hard versions are a speciality throughout the pastoral Pyrenees. Most of the pastures today are accessible by car, at least at the gentler Basque end of the Pyrenees, so the shepherd's life is not as harsh and isolated as it used to be – though there are still areas in the higher mountains accessible only by mule or pony. A measure of the pre-eminence of sheep in the Basque economy is the Basque word for "rich", aberats, the literal meaning of which is "he who owns large flocks".Much of the grazing is owned in common by various communes, who have over the centuries made elaborate agreements to ensure a fair share of the best pasture and avoid disputes. One of the oldest of these faceries, as they are called, concluded by the inhabitants of Spanish Roncal and French Barétous in 1326, is still in force and renewed each July 13 at the frontier Col de la Pierre-St-Martin on symbolic payment of three white heifers.
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