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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



animal to a herd containing bulls. Sometimes 

 he will seek a bull regarded as superior. There 

 is no service fee. Cattle are branded when 

 young and draft animals almost always are 

 castrated. 



Pigs. — Probably the pig is the second most 

 important animal in Cheran; certainly it is 

 the most common. Almost every family has at 

 least one sow. If a family has no sow of its 

 own, usually someone will lend a sow to be fed. 

 In this case the litter is divided; should the 

 animal lent be a male, the meat or proceeds of 

 sale are shared. 



The pig is raised for meat and fat or for sale, 

 often outside the village. The skin has very 

 little value. No use is made of the hoofs, but 

 the entrails are prized as sausage casings. A 

 not unimportant function of pigs is their ser- 

 vice as scavengers. 



Although some persons in Cheran were said 

 to keep boars for breeding purposes and to 

 charge a small fee for service (of from 25 cen- 

 tavos to 1 peso in Paricutin), evidently little 

 care is taken in breeding. Most males are 

 uncastrated until it is desired to fatten them. 

 As the pigs roam the .streets and nearby roads 

 and woods during the day, little selective breed- 

 ing seems possible. Normally, pigs are fed 

 just enough corn to keep them returning home. 

 At night they are placed in pens to protect 

 them from coyotes. 



Ordinarily only boars are fattened and 

 slaughtered. Some people castrate their ani- 

 mals before fattening them, claiming they will 

 fatten on less grain. Others dispute this, say- 

 ing further that meat from castrated hogs has 

 no flavor. Not every one knows how to cas- 

 trate, but field notes do not indicate whether 

 a charge is made for the operation when the 

 aid of a neighbor is necessary. Animals being 

 fattened are shut in small log pens with 

 wooden floors, which are cleaned at frequent 

 intervals. It is claimed that there are two 

 types of pig, one of which fattens more readily 

 than the other. At least 1 fanega (about 90.8 

 qts.) of maize is used in fattening a pig. Fat- 

 tened pigs are normally sold to butchers ; own- 

 ers ordinarily kill their own pigs only for 

 fiestas. 



Sheep. — Although relatively few families 

 own sheep, the number owned in Cheran is 



fairly large and they assist materially in fer- 

 tilizing wheatfields. Wheat farmers will pay 

 about 30 centavos a night to have an average 

 herd bedded on their fields. This is not done 

 for cornlands, as the return is not considered 

 sufficient. 



No sheep owner gets his living from the 

 ownership of sheep, but in some cases individ- 

 uals or even entire families live on their wages 

 as sheepherders. Most sheepherders, however, 

 are boys of from 8 to 20 years and old men and 

 women. Very poor families may start their 

 sons to learn sheep herding as apprentices as 

 early as 6 years of age. 



Ordinarily sheepherders return to town only 

 for fiestas or when they need new clothes. 

 Their food is taken to them by a woman in the 

 family. If the entire family work as shep- 

 herds, the wife returns to town periodically to 

 cook a supply of tortillas or gnrdas (thick 

 tortilla fried in fat, sometimes made of wheat 

 flour instead of maize). 



The average wages of sheepherders are 5 

 pesos a month without food, but this evidently 

 varies with the size of the flock. One of the 

 larger owners, with a flock of about 200 sheep, 

 pays 10 centavos a head a month, 1 fanega of 

 maize, and permits slaughter of 1 sheep a 

 month. In all cases, shepherds may eat sheep 

 which die, if they think it safe to do so, but 

 the pelt must be washed and dried, and given 

 to the owner. 



Shepherds watch one another to prevent mis- 

 behavior, such as secretly selling sheep, or 

 carelessness which would reflect on the profes- 

 sion. Shepherds care for the flocks, protect 

 them from coyotes, and put the ownership 

 marks on the lambs. They are aided by 

 specially trained dogs. 



Sheep are herded in the mountains part of 

 the year, and on farm lands after the harvest. 

 Identification marks are made by notching or 

 cutting the ears. Males are not castrated. 

 During the dry season, numerous sheep die of 

 starvation unless their owners have feed (usu- 

 ally wheat straw). Sheep are not dipped and 

 in general receive little care beyond herding. 

 Coyotes are the principal enemies, although a 

 waggish informant listed the enemies of sheep 

 as "First, the coyote; second, the shepherd; 

 and third, the man who buys him for food." 



