Greetings from Isaan (8)

It is a picturesque building, actually no more than a few tree trunks that function as supporting posts. There are horizontally thick long branches on top of it and diagonally here, sloping from front to back, are another arm-thick branches, on which second-hand iron corrugated plates are nailed, which overhang both at the front and at the back. A kind of low fence has been installed on the side walls, also with thick branches, with a small opening as a gate. That opening is closed with loose bamboo sticks, arm-thick but light in weight. The result is a rickety whole that can still hold up when some heavier gusts of wind arise.

It's the cattle shed of liefje-lief's brother Piak. Two adult cows and already a descendant. There is straw on the floor, the remains of the rice stalks that still have their uses. A slightly higher part is dry, where the animals lie down, the lower part is covered with the manure produced by the cows. There is a feeder, also in bamboo branches, which is accessible from the inside and outside. In addition to this stable, a second structure has just been built, in the same style but only half the size. To keep straw dry.

Anyone who thinks it's an easy task to keep cows or kwaai's is out of luck. The animals do demand some attention. It starts in the morning, despite being fed with straw, the animals demand fresh feed, which is scarce in the dry period. Does Piak have to go out with it to find a suitable grazing spot, but he is not alone. About half of the households in the village have animals, so one has to be tolerant. Whoever is first has a good spot close by, so it's a matter of going as early as possible. The cows are fixed with a symbolic string because they are powerful mammals, you regularly see them walking without guidance, torn themselves free.

Piak has to clean the stable every day. The manure is shoveled to the side, which is used for vegetable cultivation, and the Inquisitor's house also regularly 'robbers' for the garden. Lay fresh straw and refill the feeder. During the day he regularly takes a look at the pool. Are the animals still where he left them, are they all right, do they have shade, drink?
In the late afternoon, Piak has to pick up the four-legged friends again. Just like everyone else, he just follows them, they know the way, only they want to eat some fresh green quickly, a tap with a stick on the bottom encourages them to continue. It's a nice sight every day when everyone collects their animals, a procession of cows and croaks that occasionally includes a stubborn ord who doesn't want to go directly to the stable. Every motorist takes this into account, the cows have priority.

But that's not the only job. Offspring are produced through artificial insemination. A lot of hassle, and for months the whole family is concerned for the mother animal who slowly but surely gets an enormous belly size. Once the time comes, one must keep an eye on the beast. A cow wants to give birth in the place she has chosen, it almost never takes place in the barn here in the region. So is Piak's calf. That came into the world about a mile away somewhere in a field. Liefje-lief and De Inquisitor were called in because the mother is protecting her calf and is nervous, while Piak wants to get the calf to the safe stable as quickly as possible. It ended with De Inquisitor, less patient than the average Isaaner, taking the calf in his arms and going out with it. An underestimated job because the beast already weighed more than fifty kilograms at birth, moreover with a slippery and wet body that constantly slid out of his arms. Everyone laughs because no one here thinks of doing it that way.

The calf immediately goes out to graze the next day, well, the two adult animals, the calf drinks milk from the mother. Staggering steps, occasionally going crazy and hopping, a happy animal. But Piak now has to stay close by for the first few days, the calf usually stays with the mother, but now and then it wants to explore the world without being aware of the dangers. Loose dogs are teasers, but the fields are also full of snakes and other poisonous vermin, of course, a pool that is too deep can also be fatal. The Inquisitor is not allowed to let go of his own dogs for a week or two, they are too heavy, too big and too enthusiastic, they want to play with that young animal, but mother cow can lash out firmly with her hind legs.

In the meantime, the animals also need extra care. They are sometimes full of insects and some are not good for their health. Rubbing the cows with an age-old recipe of herbs and leaves is a dignified day's work: collecting plants and herbs, tearing, mixing, boiling, mixing a paste. One of the two adult beasts gets a fungus, The Inquisitor can't distinguish it, but Piak sees it from the drool. The vet is the only expensive solution and it is a whole day of waiting for the man who only comes by in the evening. Then the first cold wave arrives. Piak must safely light a fire in the evening and maintain it regularly when the humidity is too great. Mosquitoes and other insects are also combated in this way if they are present in large numbers: a heavy smoking fire drives those vermin away. The Inquisitor is surprised that the buffaloes do not suffocate.

And all this for a meager yield: the calf, if it grows up healthy, can be sold from a certain weight. Piak wants to sell the beast once he gets about ten thousand baht for it. The Inquisitor no longer does it: pre-calculate how much net proceeds it actually is. The costs of insemination, vet and especially his labor, it makes a Westerner despondent.

But keeping buffaloes is a kind of piggy bank for most. They don't plan and calculate. It even gives a kind of prestige, prestige. Kwaai's in particular are held for this. Because if the farmer is lucky, it is a tribal animal. For breeding, for wealthy collectors, yes. They pay a lot of money for it. Cows are for emergencies, when money is suddenly needed. Detail: that is also the reason why they never name the animals, people do not want to get attached to them because it may be necessary to suddenly have to get rid of them.

Often a cow is quickly slaughtered itself, because that yields more than taking them to a slaughterhouse. Because there are additional costs involved: transport, medical examination - the latter is considered pure nonsense, usually the result is that the price goes down.

It is always a happening when a villager slaughters a cow. Bloody stuff in the middle of the bush. But many happy faces. What is edible, and that is just about everything that is in and around a cow here, is cut into equal heaps. Meat, fat, lungs, stomach, intestines, skin,…. On average, such a package costs two hundred and fifty baht, a bargain compared to buying everything at the market.

It is also distributed fairly, for example no one can say that he wants ten packages. Or like De Inquisitor: I only buy the fillets, I don't need the stomach, lungs and others. No, everyone is equal before the law, everyone has the option, you buy a package or nothing. Even for the items of which there is little, such as tail, eyes, ... there is a division system. They take turns getting that in their package and everyone knows exactly whose turn it is.

The Inquisitor was not allowed to be there during the first years, they did not know what kind of figure he was, this is a 'private matter'. Once they trusted him, they drummed him up again and again. Always searching for De Inquisitor because each time in a different, well-hidden place. But after the first time, De Inquisitor is now going an hour later. It's a community event with plenty of fun and booze but rather bloody. One beer less than that, but from that gory, one still lingers on the slaughter site. And every so often the head, stripped of tongue, eyes, ears and brain, is for him. They think it's a bit wasteful because they even cook a broth from that, but The Inquisitor's dogs amuse themselves with it for a full day.

We Westerners are wimps, we can only see meat lying around packaged.