A chance introduction to organic farming that brought Kao Yi-hsin (高一鑫) face to face with draft water buffaloes — used to pull heavy loads — impressed him so much that the 34-year-old is now promoting the practice of plowing fields using the animals instead of machines.
Kao said he moved to Changhua County’s Sijhou Township (溪州) last year to attend the Water Buffalo School, founded by Lee Chun-hsin (李春信), and was given a water buffalo by a local farmer named Hsu Jung (許榮), which he named Lala (拉拉).
Kao began working at the Sijhou Shangshui Eco-friendly Farming organization as a warehouse manager and used his spare time to take Lala to plow fields.
Photo: Yen Hung-chun, Taipei Times
The price to hire a tractor-pulled plow is NT$2,500 (US$81) per fen (about 977m2) of land, but he charged from NT$250 to NT$500 for plowing the same area, Kao said.
Using a water buffalo to plow fields means putting up with the weather and negotiating the animal’s temperament, Kao said, adding that sometimes he earned less than NT$250 per hour.
However, he took on the work not to make money, but to train Lala, he said.
A water buffalo is a partner, not a tool to make money, Kao said, adding that if an animal is treated well and talked to regularly then it reciprocates by offering its loyalty.
There is a lot to learn about water buffalo, as the animals can come down with colds or suffer from heatstroke, and there are certain types of herbal remedies that only the older generation know about, he said.
If the use of the animals died out in Taiwan, the nation would be losing a cultural asset, Kao said.
Kao said he is saving money to tour Taiwan and promote such practices, once Lala is more accustomed to plowing fields.
Kao said he was very lucky to find Sijhou, where local farmers were willing to give him a chance, adding that they not only asked him to help, but also taught him how to better control a water buffalo.
Sijhou Township Office Secretary-General Wu Yin-ning (吳音寧) said Kao’s willingness to promote the culture of plowing farmland with water buffalo should be welcomed by the public.
In a 2015 report in the Chinese-language United Daily News, Tainan official Chou Chih-hsun (周志勳) was quoted as saying that Tainan had 273 draft water buffaloes in 2009, but the number had dropped to 99 in 2015.
There were 19 water buffaloes in Yunlin County, the majority of which were at least 15 years old, Chou said, adding that while Pingtung County still had 236 of the animals, most of them were not used for plowing.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS