Brañas are seasonal settlements for shepherds. Between the final spring and September, the brañas permitted the use of high-altitude pastures and, occasionally, summer crops. Most of them were used by the lower valley dwellers who moved up to the higher mountains in a form of vertical transhumance, or transterminance. Transterminance is the short seasonal movement of cattle, under 100 km.
Documentation found at the monastery of San Andrés in Vega de Espinareda proves that this practice was already in use in the Middle Ages, though by the latter 20th century it had nearly disappeared. The two criteria established by García Martínez when studying the township of Somiedo are based on the type of herding and the function of the constructions. In our study area there are hence four types of brañas with varying types of herding activities and ownership. The remains of these are in very poor condition and in areas with increasingly worse accessibility. Nonetheless, it is a rich heritage, which bears witness to various forms of resource exploitation, and appropriation of the mountain, and thus to diverse lifeways and forms of spatial control. Below we describe the four types found in the region.
Brañas that include pastures and are communal property of the villages are the highest, sometimes above 1600 m. They are located at the valley heads, and there cattle of various types was brought together: cows, sheep, goats, so they could graze freely. These brañas were strictly related to the grazing system based on turns or on the communal nature of the herd (veceira or vicerira). Constructions were between 3 and 10 m2, with drystone walls and a roof of straw, slate or quartzite roof. They were normally communal, but were occupied by the shepherds who took turns to watch over the herd. Trails and bridleways led up to these places. The best examples found today are in Candín.
Those brañas that are mowed pastures enclosed in private properties constitute the second type. They are located before the type above but they are still always above 1000 m in altitude. They can be found from the valley bottom to the mountain top in the Ibias township. Pastures, which are under private ownership, are mowed and, if at valley bottom, irrigated. The mowed grass is then used in the braña itself, or taken down to the village. After it has been mowed, the cattle can graze there, while the sheep and goats use the open land beyond. The shepherd huts are also private, and significantly bigger (14 to 28 m2). The ground floor is for the animals and the attic for the shepherd himself. Shepherds climbed from the villages in the afternoon in order to round up the animals and milk them. Then they would spend the night, milk them again in the morning, and leave them outside grazing while the milk was taken back to the village. The paths use were bridleways or trails which connected these brañas with the villages.
The third type of brañas are the alzadas, which can be found in Ibias and Navia de Suarna. They are found in hillsides or high plateaus, between 700 and 1100 m high. These exist in areas where much property has been distributed and enclosed. Communal land coexists with mowed pastures and plots where rye, potatoes, turnips and some vegetables are grown. Occasionally, some permanent occupation can also be seen of part of the alzadas, while other parts were still only used seasonally. Rye fields (cortiñas, cortias or barbeitos) were drawn by lots, depending on the proportion of communal land that each neighbour had. Crop land could be expanded by controlled fires. A part of the family would ascend to the alzada with the cattle while the rest stayed in the village with the swine. Houses were between 20 and 70 m2, and often they were provided with barn and stables. Each house belonged to one neighbour, and they could be very different. Some even had hórreos and a chapel, and had access driveways.
The final type of braña are those called brañas de merinas. They were used for more long-distance transhumance, which is documented in Ancares at least from the 17th and 18th centuries. Large herds came from Castilla and Extremadura to these places. In Candín there is information regarding the pastures belonging to the monastery of Vega de Espinadera, which were used for this purpose. The huts here were of smaller size than in other brañas.