Philippine cattle market in Bacong

We arrived on time on Monday morning and parked the pick-up far enough away so as not to be in the way. We would do that enough with our cameras when taking photos and filming. There are two cattle markets next to each other, separated by the road. At one, only cattle and water buffalo can be seen. The large double-decker cattle trucks are also parked here. Small and large transporters kept arriving. Water buffaloes and cattle were unloaded and tethered. Individual sellers stood with their animals in the open space in the middle, waiting for buyers.

Animals are not bid on here like at an auction, instead everyone negotiates their price personally with the buyers.

Tickets for use are issued at the entrance to both spaces and there is also an animal scale that can be used for weighing for a fee of 20 pesos.

We then went over to the other cattle market, where there was already a great hustle and bustle of horns, heavy animal carcasses and people in between. It was amazing that the animals were hardly stressed by this. It was reasonably safe to walk past them and around the back without being stepped on. The pig dealers were also here. There were also a few horses and a few goats.

There was even a test field where interested water buffalo customers could test the animal they wanted to buy with a plow.

We had another look at the cattle market, where only cattle and water buffalo were traded. A number of animals had already changed hands here and loading had already begun. Each cattle truck had its own crew. It was interesting to see how the animals were loaded. Sometimes it wasn’t so easy, especially when a stubborn animal was to be loaded onto the upper loading area.

One of the cattle trucks was loaded with 7 water buffaloes and 2 cattle and was to be driven to the city of Bacolod, to the abattoir there. After loading, the double-decker cattle truck would make its way to Manila. He wanted to use the so-called ‘nautical highway’ for this. This meant that it would also make its way to Bacolod, but there it would go to the ferry port and cross over to Iloilo. Then he would cross the island of Pana to the ferry port to Caticlan near Boracay. From here, the ferry would take him to Roxas on Mindoro. He would then travel overland from Roxas to the port of Calapan. Here, the cattle truck would then be loaded onto the ferry to Batangas, before continuing by road to Manila. This journey usually takes three days.

The cattle markets are catered for by very rustic, small restaurants in the style of carinderias with pre-cooked food in pots or displays. There is also plenty of rum and ice-cold beer here, as many a good purchase or sale has to be toasted. We then drank our coffee here and had a rest from walking around. A cattle vendor had already finished his work and treated himself to some strong beer and gave his environment a taste of his karaoke skills

A few small stores have set up stalls on the public streets, selling fruit and vegetables, dried fish and a few other things.

A water buffalo changes hands for 35,000 to 45,000 pesos, and a large Brahman cow costs 75,000 pesos. You can imagine how much cash a buyer carries around in his shoulder bag.