Part II: A closer look at the cattle market
(Baonghean)The Ú Market in Đại Sơn commune, Đô Lương district, Nghệ An province, is considered one of the largest buffalo and cattle markets in the country, supplying a significant amount of buffalo and beef to the local market as well as to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The main source of buffalo and cattle is known to be from Laos.
According to the elders of Dai Son commune, U Market was established about 150 years ago. Initially, it was just a barren mound of land where people from the surrounding area came to buy and sell buffaloes and cows, and gradually it prospered.
The Ú market is held six times a month, on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th. Even at dawn, despite the pouring rain, the Ú market was already bustling. Along both ends of the road leading to the market, trucks carrying buffalo and cattle were parked, completely blocking the way. People brought the buffalo and cattle to the market in various ways: on foot, on ox carts, and by truck. Mr. Tran Van Nam from Tan Ky district confided: "Before the market day, I walked three cows down to the market, slept at a friend's house so I could be there in time for the market the next morning. Hiring a truck to transport them would be easier, but there wouldn't be any profit left..."
We arrived at the Ú market, the rain still hadn't stopped, hundreds of buffaloes and cows crowded together in the muddy, soggy ground, their bellowing echoing loudly throughout a corner of the market. Around 8 a.m., a huge crowd of people bringing their buffaloes and cows from all over poured in, the market spilling out onto the road, causing traffic congestion. Mr. Nguyen Van Ly, who had just brought two cows from Hien Son commune, Do Luong district, said: "There are so many buffaloes and cows, but look, they'll all be sold in about two hours." I noticed people using paint to write letters on the buffaloes and cows like "N 300," "N 350," or "Khải 098.736...". Mr. Nhuan, the buffalo driver, explained: "'N 300' means that the buffalo belongs to a family, but they've used an abbreviation of the name, and it weighs 300 kg." "Khải 098.736..." is the name and phone number of the seller; anyone who wants to buy just dials the number and the seller will come to them.
According to Mr. Nhuan, anyone who has been in the "buffalo and cow" business for many years is skilled at judging the "character" of buffalo and cows. If you need buffalo or cows for plowing or pulling, you must choose a large, tall animal with a balanced physique, ideally one with a swirl of hair on its shoulder. Those with a swirl across the hip should be avoided. Buffaloes with a swirl of hair on their head should be steered clear, as bringing them home could easily bring misfortune. When buying, you also have to consider their temperament, because some are fierce, some gentle, some obedient, and some "treacherous." Buyers are most afraid of "foreign" buffalo and cows, sometimes imported from Laos or China and injected with drugs; they look fat and healthy at first, but become thin and emaciated after a few weeks. The best buffalo and cows are those of the "Vietnamese" type, with a "tough, resilient mouth, large ears, and a round rear end." But some people are cunning, and many "super-skilled" individuals can even create fake swirls on buffalo and cows, which disappear after a few days. As for beef cattle, many buyers are very skilled; sometimes they can just look at a cow or buffalo and guess exactly how many quintals of meat it will weigh, with a margin of error of only 2-3 kg.
It is known that the busiest market has over 150 trucks transporting cattle for sale. Mainly people from all over the country, such as Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, and even southern provinces, come to buy beef. They spend around 2-3 billion VND, buying quickly and efficiently, sometimes in just over an hour. The reason for this speed is that previously there was a large army of "middlemen" who caused considerable inconvenience to customers. Now, slaughterhouse owners hire these "middlemen" to buy the cattle and pay them for their services. Mr. Le Quang B, leading a cow, smiled brightly: "I get paid 100,000 VND for each good cow I buy for the slaughterhouse owner. I've already earned 300,000 VND this morning!" Not to mention the hundreds of other laborers who come to the market and are hired by slaughterhouse owners to herd the cattle onto trucks. This is probably the most strenuous job; many cattle have broken legs, requiring more than 10 people to lift them onto the trucks. Each animal brought up was paid 30,000 VND.
Besides that, we saw quite a few motorbikes carrying cattle in long lines along the village roads, transporting them from the Ú market. Mr. Cao Minh Tiến from Nghi Kiều-Nghi Lộc, struggling to carry a cow with a bulging belly, said: "I buy cows for plowing and pulling. If someone buys them and I can make a profit, I sell them immediately. Sometimes I make a profit of 700,000 to 1 million dong per cow." In surrounding communes such as Hiến Sơn, Thượng Sơn, Thái Sơn, Trù Sơn, and some communes in Nghi Lộc district, a network has formed to search for and buy buffalo and cattle from everywhere, and they bring them out to sell on market day. Mr. Cong Minh from Thuong Son (Do Luong) was unloading his herd of cows from a truck, wiping sweat from his brow, and pointing: "We went all the way to Ha Tinh and Quang Binh to select the cows, then hired trucks to transport them. Generally, with a few people pooling their capital, we can each make a profit of over 10 million dong a month. But once we bought a sick cow, we lost millions of dong treating and caring for it until it was healthy enough to sell at the market."
Observing the situation at the Ú market, we noticed that many people only cared about the "appearance" and "swirls" of the buffaloes and cows they bought for plowing, without paying attention to quarantine issues. Mr. Tran T. from Do Luong confidently stated: "We mainly buy buffaloes and cows based on experience, and they rarely get sick." Mr. T. also "revealed": "The veterinary officers here only inspect slaughterhouse owners who buy buffaloes and cows in large quantities and transport them by truck; they don't check those who buy in small quantities like us."
According to a cattle seller, the checkpoint for inspecting cattle was located at the entrance of the market. We searched but couldn't find it; it turned out the "quarantine station" was renting a house. Drivers and slaughterhouse owners were scrambling to get their paperwork done there. Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung, an officer from the Quarantine Department of the Provincial Veterinary Sub-Department, explained: "The quarantine team at U Market consists of 10 officers, 7 from the Provincial Veterinary Sub-Department and 3 from the District Veterinary Station. Here, we mainly inspect cattle sold out of the market. We conduct a 'clinical' inspection by visual inspection, using our hands to examine the eyes, mouth, legs, etc., of the cattle. If everything is satisfactory, we stamp them with a 'certified' mark and a slaughter mark, tag their ears, and allow them to be transported. However, the difficulty is that due to limited personnel, the team can only inspect slaughterhouse owners who buy cattle and transport them by truck; we haven't been able to inspect all small-scale traders yet."
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