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A better understanding of the socio-economic profile of pastoralists, their farming objectives and the motives underlying herd management practices in the Richtersveld were explored. Livestock were not the only source of income for pastoral households. Livestock farming was a post-retirement activity and a way of supplementing pension grants, suggesting that pastoralism could be a dying tradition. Pastoralists concentrated on keeping as many animals as possible (by selling and slaughtering animals only when it was necessary to buy food and supply household meat) to reduce the risk of destitution. Goats and sheep were not kept for sacrificial purposes. Besides making their individual choices, pastoralists employed a range of risk-mitigating farming strategies (manipulating herd composition, spatial distribution and timing of grazing) to maximise the efficient harvesting of available forage and water resources. This emphasised the variable nature of the motives underlying herd management practices. Alliances among pastoralists were mainly a matter of mutual convenience and maintaining social ties with kin or friends from another herd.