Unique 'command' to call cattle of the highland people

(Baonghean.vn)- For a long time, animal husbandry has been a strength of the people in the highlands of Nghe An. Because most of the buffaloes, cows, pigs... are free-range in the forest, many households have trained their livestock to listen to their own commands skillfully.

We visited Mr. Vi Van Dung's farm in Hoa Son village (Ta Ca commune, Ky Son). Mr. Dung's farm is currently raising more than 25 cows and a herd of more than 10 goats. It can be said that this is one of the households with achievements in raising livestock in this highland commune. The breed of cows he raises is all native, the meat quality is delicious and better than that of lowland cows, so even though the price is more expensive, it is still popular with everyone.

The special thing about this farm is that he trained the cows to obey commands so he didn’t have to go to the trouble of looking for them or calling them. To prove it to us, he told his wife to call the cows back even though it was just past 4 pm. Strangely, with just a few “ho, ho, ho…oh, oh, oh…” sounds from her, the herd of cows raced back from the forest.

“At first, when we released them into the forest, we had to go looking for them one by one, which was very difficult. From then on, every time we fed them salt, we called them that so that they would get used to it. After a while, they would hear the call and come back without having to look for them anymore. It was very convenient in every way,” Mr. Dung said with a smile.

Mr. Vi Van Dung's family's herd of cows heard the call to come home to eat salt.

Mr. Bui Hoang Ngan, residing in Hamlet 2 (Huong Son Commune, Tan Ky), has been raising wild boars since 2008. Currently, his herd of wild boars has reached 120, including more than 100 pigs for meat. To ensure the quality of wild boar meat is delicious, he releases the pigs into the forest every day for them to forage. In the afternoon, he beats the gong to call the pigs back.

Mr. Bui Hoang Ngan rings the gong to call the wild boars.

He said that at first, he would ring the gong every time he fed them. After two months of diligent training, the wild boars heard the gong and came back from the mountains and became friendly with the breeders. "We must train them like this to limit the wild boar's wild instincts without losing their value," he added.

Mr. Dung's wild pigs heard the gong and ran home.

Thus, it can be seen that, in livestock farming, farmers in Western Nghe An have "created" unique ways of calling livestock to suit the mountainous area while not losing the value of livestock.

Dao Tho