A herder is a worker who lives a possibly semi-nomadic life, caring for various domestic animals, in places where these animals wander pasture lands.

Usually if the person is a minor, he is called herdboy, a male herder is also called a herdsman and a female herder by contrast is also called a herdswoman. Because their work is necessarily mostly outdoors, they move around from place to place in the course of their labours. The possibility exists that the lands upon which their beasts graze are not claimed as any single person's property.