Gambuesa de Jarugo

Just to the south and east of Playa de Jarugo are the mountainous areas, plains and barrancos where goats roam freely.

Directly south lies of the beach is the Gambuesa de Jarugo, an aboriginal stone coral, where majoreros manage their semi-wild cattle in a pre-Hispanic traditional manner, that remains practically unchanged today.

The Gambuesas are large dry stone corrals, made up of one large circular corral and other smaller ones adjacent to it, where the cattle are separated, each corral having 2 metre high walls. They’re located on the Ganuderas coasts and traditionally used to breed coastal cattle or loose cattle.

Once a year at sunrise, many shepherds, together with their Bardinos (farm dogs), set off to round up the goats and herd them down to the gambuesa.

Each farmer has their own brand mark. Once the goats are in the coral, ownership is determined of those goats that are branded, and their new offspring duly marked with the brands of their owners. Should there be any disputes, they are always settled by the ‘Commissioner’, a duly appointed position to oversea the whole procedure.

There are various reasons for rounding up the goats; perhaps just merely to check their status and to mark new goats for domestic herds, and sometimes to provide meat.