Every morning in Matrigam village of Bandipora, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumtaza Begum’s day begins with her sheep.

There are animals to be fed, workers to coordinate, health checks to keep track of, and buyers to speak to when demand rises during weddings and festivals. What began as a small experiment with 20 sheep in 2018 has now grown into a flock of around 500.

For Mumtaza, a 33-year-old mother, the farm is more than a source of income. It is the life she built after years of waiting for a government job.

Like many young people in Kashmir, Mumtaza once hoped for a stable government position. She completed her studies, prepared for recruitment exams, and waited for opportunities. But marriage, motherhood and household responsibilities slowly pushed her own ambitions to the background.

“Soon after completing my studies, I got married, and with responsibilities, my dreams seemed buried alive,” she recalls. “Household chores and raising children left little space for my own future.”

For years, she remained caught between family responsibilities and the desire to do something of her own. Then, instead of waiting endlessly for recruitment lists, she began looking at the work and resources around her.

In Bandipora, livestock rearing was familiar, practical and linked to steady local demand. Sheep were needed for weddings, festivals and household consumption. The work could also be managed close to home.

That is when Mumtaza decided to start small.

‘I wanted to experiment’

In 2018, Mumtaza began sheep farming with 20 sheep. The decision was not easy. She was entering a space largely seen as men’s work, and many people around her questioned the idea.

Her husband, Fayaz Ahmad, remembers being unsure in the beginning.

“It was not common for women here to take up something like sheep farming,” he says.........

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