In traditional rural farmsteads, animals provided draught power, food (meat, eggs and milk, the latter usually sold as an additional source of income) as well as hides and bones used by craftsmen and by farmers to fertilise fields. Animals were companions, too. They lived next to the people, quite often under the same roof. From spring to autumn, horses and cattle were spending most of the time at pastures. Full-time care for the animals that stayed beyond the farmstead was usually a task for children or the elderly. It was different with the sheep raised in mountainous areas. For the grazing period, animals from different farmsteads were combined into large flocks and entrusted to the care of a ‘baca’ who was in charge of a team of ‘juhas’ (shepherds). The sheep, shepherds and dogs helping them with their work spent a few months in pastures high in the mountains, surrounded by wilderness. Today, high-altitude pastoralism is supported by the state and international organisations as an important part of the Carpathian region's heritage.