The purpose of this work is to determine the type of cattle breeding economy and society of the Stavropol Turkmens, as well as to identify the main factors influenced the transformation of the nomadic society, to assess the stability of the nomad tradition after the cardinal change of the type of economic. The research is based on the author's field materials, archival sources and literature data. It is concluded that the lifestyle of the Stavropol Turkmens in the XIX – early XX century corresponded to the characteristics of a nomadic society, which prof. A. M. Khazanov described in relation to the nomads of Eurasia. When the Turkmens moved from the Transcaspian lands to the Stavropol steppes, there was a reverse transition from a semi-nomadic to a nomadic type of economy among the Turkmens. At that the Turkmen society has returned from a proto-state social structure to a tribal patriarchal one. The events connected with the Sedentarization Campaign in the South of Russia (the second half of the XIX century) showed that the traditions and the "free spirit" of the nomads were very strong and significant for the Turkmens. They did not want to engage in farming and could not do it because of the lack of appropriate skills. After the revolution of 1917, the traditional mode of life of the Turkmens was destroyed, under the Soviet rule they were reoriented to farming as the participants of collective farms. However, some features of their nomadic culture are preserved among the Stavropol Turkmens in contemporary life.

The purpose of this work is to determine the type of cattle breeding economy and society of the Stavropol Turkmens, as well as to identify the main factors influenced the transformation of the nomadic society, to assess the stability of the nomad tradition after the cardinal change of the type of economic. The research is based on the author's field materials, archival sources and literature data. It is concluded that the lifestyle of the Stavropol Turkmens in the XIX – early XX century corresponded to the characteristics of a nomadic society, which prof. A. M. Khazanov described in relation to the nomads of Eurasia. When the Turkmens moved from the Transcaspian lands to the Stavropol steppes, there was a reverse transition from a semi-nomadic to a nomadic type of economy among the Turkmens. At that the Turkmen society has returned from a proto-state social structure to a tribal patriarchal one. The events connected with the Sedentarization Campaign in the South of Russia (the second half of the XIX century) showed that the traditions and the "free spirit" of the nomads were very strong and significant for the Turkmens. They did not want to engage in farming and could not do it because of the lack of appropriate skills. After the revolution of 1917, the traditional mode of life of the Turkmens was destroyed, under the Soviet rule they were reoriented to farming as the participants of collective farms. However, some features of their nomadic culture are preserved among the Stavropol Turkmens in contemporary life.