Yung-Yi SUNG
Emeritus Professor of
Animal Science Department, National Taiwan University, Chinese Taipei
Different breeds of
cattle are suitable for different environments and thus results diversified
cultures. Agricultural
development manifests the social and cultural changes within a country and can
result in multiple cattle breeds.
I.
Taiwan Buffalo
There are two cattle breeds in Taiwan – buffalo
and cattle. Both categories are
not in the same genus, the genus Bubalus
and genus Bos. These two genuses, therefore, cannot mate with each other.
Buffalo genus is comprised of the Indian and African buffalo. The
Indian buffalo consist of swamp and river buffalo with distinctive heads and
appearances. The swamp type
buffalo are distributed over Southeast Asia and are used to till farmland.
The river type buffalo are popular in India, Italy and the Middle East
for dairy purposes.
The Dutch brought the swamp
buffalo from Java to Taiwan in 1624, whereas Chinese ancestors also introduced
buffalo from Mainland China to Taiwan too.
The buffalo in Taiwan are all swamp type buffalo.
In the 1630s, between the end of the Ming Dynasty and early Ching
Dynasty, the Chinese Emperor encouraged the Fukienses refugees from Fukien
Province to immigrate to Taiwan with three taels of sliver for each refugee
and one buffalo for every three refugees as incentive.
This was known as the "one buffalo, three taels of sliver
system". These swamp buffalo
then became the Taiwan buffalo (Fig. I).
These Chinese ancestors worked with their buffalo and contributed to
Taiwan’s agricultural development, and thus brought changes to the
aboriginal culture.
Buffalo domestication started
in 2000 B.C. in China. Buffalo
are adapted to water and are tolerant to heat.
With large hoofs, mighty joints and steady steps, buffalo can move
around easily in muddy soil and paddy fields.
Buffalo are excellent helpers in the rice paddies and, therefore, are
perfect for Taiwan. The
aboriginal Taiwanese used to grow calla taro as their staple food.
Buffalo were used successfully to help farmers transformed the calla
taro paddies into rice paddies. Without
the buffalo the Han people would have to live the same way as the aboriginal
Taiwanese. The buffalo were used
to help farmers carry rice, sugar cane and sweet potatoes, in addition to
tilling the rice paddies and breaking the soil.
The farmers also used buffalo to crush sugar cane, peanuts and sesame
seeds. Buffalo were also used to
the mix soil for producing brick at brick furnaces.
By the time the Japanese
occupied Taiwan in 1895, the number of buffalo had grown to more than double
that of the Taiwan Yellow cattle (Fig. 2).
From this agricultural development the number of buffalo continued to
grow. The number of buffalo grew
to more than several times that of the Taiwan Yellow cattle. According to Fig. 2, the number of buffalo was 6 – 7 times
greater than the Taiwan Yellow cattle in Taiwan before the end of the Second
World War. According to Fig. 3,
the Taiwan Yellow cattle were sacrificed for food purposes due to the food
shortages during the war but not buffalo.
After the war was over, the number of buffalo and Taiwan Yellow cattle
increased as agricultural development resumed.
In October 1959, 3 male and 4 female Murrah – the river type buffalo
used for dairy purposes, were brought from the Philippine to Taiwan by the
government to attempt to cross them with local buffalo to upgrade the dairy
productivity of local buffalo. However,
the Murrah were quite different from the local buffalo in appearance, and thus
farmers were reluctant to see their buffalo change (Fig. 4). The government plan eventually failed. Tractors replaced buffalo in the rice fields, as mechanical
mobility became popular in the rural areas in the 1960s.
The buffalo were gradually retired after they made remarkable
contributions to Taiwan culture and economic development (Fig. 1).
The 1st January 1985, All Taiwan Buffalo Show was
resuscitated and held in Meilun, Hualien.
However, which was the last buffalo show even summon up a lot of people
in crowd to met buffalo and fling round with gratitude sign (Fig. 5) but means
Taiwan buffalo no more were a work stock with Taiwanese like a family again.
The number of buffalo dropped significantly and
only a few can be seen in Taiwan now. The
Hualien Animal Propagation Station, Livestock Research Institute, Council of
Agriculture, Chinese Taipei maintains buffalo (Fig. 6) for the research and
work with zoos around Taiwan to prevent the ancestors' friends from
disappearing.
II. Taiwan
Yellow Cattle
In addition to the Taiwan buffalo, there are Indian
cattle (hump cattle; zebu; Bos indicus)
and European cattle (Bos taurus)
that originate from the northern and southern hemisphere. The Indian and European cattle are different with respect to
their function and appearance. With
large humps and dewlap, the Indian cattle are suitable for tilling and
tolerant to heat with less succulent and rough taste in meat quality but less
cooking loss. Imported European
cattle were raised for dairy or beef purposes and commonly referred to as
"cattle" with the features of tender and juicy meat.
In the western world “cattle” is the collective term for livestock.
The word cattle has the same origin as chattel and capital. In English, the first alphabet "A" is a
hieroglyphic standing for ox head. In
Greek, the first alphabet "α" originated from
the "Alef" meaning
“cattle” in the Semitic language. Both
allusions stress the importance of cattle in ancient western culture. In Taiwan cattle represents the big animals and the person
that becomes the “ox head” is a leader with great activity. In
Taiwanese culture this would be stated, as “I would rather be a cock head
than an ox’s tail”.
II-1. Crossing with various cattle species for improvement
Most Taiwan native cattle known as Taiwan Yellows
belong to the same genus of Indian cattle, Bos
indicus. The appearance of these cattle is similar to the British dairy
cow Jersey breed (Bos taurus) (Fig.
7, 10). Results of blood typing
indicated that Taiwan Yellows shared some genealogy with European cattle. Furthermore, Taiwan Yellows have tastier meat than that of
the Indian cattle and thus many noodle shops in Chinese Taipei claim
"Genuine Taiwan Yellow Meat" serving.
The Taiwan Yellow belongs to the same genus
“zebu” as the cattle in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and
China' Yunlan Province. Taiwan
Yellows were in Taiwan before the Chinese ancestors immigrated and thus
recognized as the orthodox cattle in Taiwan compared to the buffalo.
When the Dutch occupied Taiwan in 1624, there were more Taiwan Yellow
cattle than buffalo. However, the
Taiwan Yellows were crossed with various cattle breeds over the last 300
years. Therefore, both the
appearance and function of these cattle have changed drastically.
Now Taiwan Yellows have changed completely from what they were a long
time ago. Farmers in Taiwan were
reluctant to cross buffalo with others and, therefore, the buffalo have
remained unchanged. Evidence
showed that the selfish Han race thought that the buffalo belonged to their
ancestors and the orthodox Taiwan Yellows not.
The Taiwan Yellows therefore faced various hybridizing attempts and
appearance changed.
Changes in Taiwan Yellows reflect the evolution of
agriculture in Taiwan. When the
Dutch occupied Taiwan in the 17th century, many Indian cattle were brought to
Taiwan from Indonesia in an effort to improve the cargo delivery efficiency.
Indian cattle were then crossed with the Taiwan Yellows.
The Brown Swiss, an improved breed of European dairy cattle, was
brought to Taiwan together with dairy and beef dual-purpose breed known as the
Devon in 1896 while Taiwan was under Japanese rule.
Shorthorn cattle were also brought to Taiwan in 1906 and crossed with
the Taiwan Yellows to improve the dairy productivity of the latter.
However, this plan failed. The
Indian zebu, Kankrej and Sindhi cattle, with large body size, humps and
dewlaps were introduced to Taiwan and crossed with Taiwan Yellows.
As a result, both the body size and hump of the Taiwan Yellows became
stronger and larger and thus the agricultural efficiency improved.
Since then, Taiwan Yellows have only served in agricultural purposes
and helped farmers with tilling and shipping agricultural products (Fig. 10).
The meat characteristics of Taiwan Yellows became more and more
different from that of the European cattle, and thus, were no longer suitable
for beefsteak production. However,
it is perfect for stewing and braising of the Chinese cooking style.
To cope with a severe food shortage, Taiwan Yellows were sacrificed for
food in the last few years before World War II over (Fig. 3).
After World War II, the ratio of the numbers of the Taiwan Yellows to
the buffalo dropped to 1:7, a historic low (Fig. 2).
The number of dairy Holstein cattle also decreased tremendously as the
Japanese moved out of Taiwan after World War II.
However, in the Taiwan recovery period after World War II, the number
of buffalo and Taiwan Yellows increased greater than that of dairy cattle did
(Fig. 2).
In 1962, the Hengchun Branch, Livestock Research
Institute, Council of Agriculture, Chinese Taipei brought Santa Gertrudis,
American beef cattle, to Taiwan for crossing with Taiwan Yellows. The plan worked successfully and Taiwan Yellows were
successfully transformed into beef cattle (Fig. 8). These
cattle are no longer considered “work stock” only. Taiwan Yellows, in
addition to conservation purpose and maintained in the Hengchun Branch,
Livestock Research Institute (Fig. 9), was kept in rural areas for either beef
or tilling purposes (Fig. 10).
II-2. All dairy cattle are artificially inseminated in Taiwan
Taiwan was developed based on agriculture but not
livestock. Cattle were originally
used for tilling purposes. Farmers
used pig's excreta as fertilizer for farming.
No farmers in Taiwan ever raised cattle for dairy purposes.
In 1897, the Japanese brought the first dairy cattle to Taiwan and
produced milk in the suburbs of Taipei. The
scale of production was rather limited and far away from an industrial scale.
Before World War II, the Taipei Emperor University's Ranch (now the
Experimental Farm, National Taiwan University) kept a top milking record cow
in Taiwan. The 5,003 kg milk with
3.15% fat was produced in 263 days. The
highest daily production was 33.4 kg. In
1943, there were 75 dairy farms and 1,706 dairy cattle.
This was the peak milk production period during the Japanese colonial
period. Farmers lost their dairy
cattle as World War II continued. By
the end of World War II, there were only 47 dairy farms and 873 dairy cattle
in Taiwan. The annual milk
production amounted to 1,075 tons. Taiwan's
dairy industry declined as the Japanese moved out of Taiwan.
The US Relief Agency shipped 75 dairy cattle to Taiwan in 1947 and
distributed to National Taiwan University and various agricultural improvement
stations around Taiwan. Most of
the 75 dairy cattle were Holsteins, with a few Ayrshire, dairy Shorthorn,
Guernsey and Jersey. Later on
dairy cattle donated by the USA were mated with Holstein bulls because no
bulls of the same breed were available. As
a result, all cows were up graded using Holstein bulls.
In the 1950s, Taiwan's economy started recovering from the shadows of
World War II. Taiwan's dairy
industry resumed in 1957. The
government assisted farmers in developing dairy production in addition to the
traditional agriculture to cope with the increasing demand for dairy products.
On April 7, 1960, an artificial insemination
research team led by Professor Teng-Yen Lee from National Taiwan University
successfully inseminated a Holstein cow with frozen semen from the USA.
Lee's achievement set a milestone for the dairy industry using 100%
artificial insemination with frozen Holstein semen in Taiwan.
Taiwan's economy boomed and the national income started increasing from
1961. The people's living
standard increased and, as a result, the demand for milk and beef increased
tremendously. At the same time,
mechanical mobility became more and more popular in the rural areas.
Consequently, cattle were needed less for tilling and were raised for
both meat and dairy purposes. The
number of Taiwan Yellows decreased and the buffalo (Fig. 1) were no longer
needed for tilling or work stock. However,
beef consumption increased. With
its milk production capability and tasty meat, Holsteins replaced the Taiwan
Yellow cattle. Taiwan Yellows, buffalo and Holsteins reflect the changes in Taiwan local
culture. With the growing
popularity of Holsteins (Fig. 2), Taiwan is developing in a manner similar to
European countries. The Holstein
has replaced Taiwan Yellows and buffalo (Fig. 2). This
speaks for the prosperity of Taiwan rural areas.
Fig.1.
Taiwan Buffalo
Fig. 3.
