Vietnam's largest buffalo and cow market bustles during Tet

In recent years, the local authorities have planned to rebuild the U market, dividing it into two separate trading areas: the buffalo and cow market and the regular market. Every month, there are 6 meetings on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th, so in the middle of the 12th lunar month, the buffalo and cow market in the U market is bustling with the atmosphere of Tet.

As a large buffalo and cow trading market in the country, even Southeast Asia, each market session has thousands of buffalo and cows bought, sold, and exchanged from places inside and outside the province, from Laos, Thailand, Myanmar... Many people from far away bring buffalo and cows to sell at U market, sometimes in the afternoon or at night, then leave them at local people's houses, and bring them to the market early the next morning to make it in time for the market session.

In the market, there are all kinds of buffaloes and cows (big, small, fat, thin, young, old) being bought, sold and exchanged. These buffaloes and cows are usually led by their owners, tied to vehicles or electric poles in the market yard.

For a long time, the women around the U market area have been sophisticated buffalo and cattle traders. They can be the ones who specialize in buying and selling right at the market or buying to fatten and sell at the following markets.

The buffaloes and cows that are bought by long-distance traders, who then buy and sell them, are often loaded onto trucks to be transported to the provinces. Loading the buffaloes and cows onto the trucks is sometimes quite difficult, requiring many people to pull, push, and carry them.

At U market, many teenagers often follow their parents to buy and sell buffaloes and cows from a very young age, so many of them, while still in high school, already know how to trade livestock at the market.

At the U market, many tiny calves and cows, less than a month old, have been separated from their mother buffaloes and cows to be sold, some of them costing only 2.5 - 3 million VND. After the sale, the owners mark or write letters and numbers on the cows' skin to confirm ownership.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan (24 years old), a young trader from Dai Son commune, Do Luong district, said that the Tet atmosphere at U market is a little different from previous years because the supply of goods is less, mainly cows. Cows account for about 3/4 of the number of buffaloes and cows bought and sold at the market. Due to the impact of African swine fever, the price of buffaloes and cows has increased compared to last year's Tet. In the photo: A tug of war because of not buying and selling outright.

What is special is that every U market session has hundreds of cars from all over the provinces coming to hunt for buffalo and cows. This Tet holiday, the number of cars coming to hunt for goods seems to be more crowded than usual market sessions. Since the previous afternoon, many cars carrying buffalo and cows have gathered and parked all over the village roads around U market.

In recent years, many people around the U market area have become well-off thanks to their ability to grasp the market, buy and sell buffalo and cows, buy skinny buffalo and cows to fatten... In December, the days before the Canh Ty New Year, it is really interesting to go to the U - Dai Son market to see the buying and selling of buffalo and cows to better understand the bustling business atmosphere at a large national livestock market in Nghe An.