QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MTJNICIPIO — BRAND 



153 



Table 28. — Comparison of animals owned in the municipio 

 in 1945, 1930, and 1900 



The term "cattle" is understood in the United 

 States to refer to taurine animals, but the Spanish 

 equivalent "ganado" refers to a number of domes- 

 ticated quadrupeds. The larger domesticated 

 mammals are called ganado mayor collectively, 

 and this term embraces o.xen {ganado vacuno), 

 horses {ganado caballar) , mules {ganado mular) , and 

 sometimes burros {ganado asnal). The term 

 ganado menor applies specifically to sheep {ganado 

 lanar), but is also used to embrace goats {ganado 

 caprino) and pigs {ganado porcino). The popular 

 comprehensive term equivalent to our "cattle" 

 or o.xen in the broad sense is res; e. g., once reses 

 means "eleven head of cattle." In order to get 

 complete information we had to inquire after each 

 animal by se.x, age, and condition. That is, if 

 we asked after bulls Uoros) we would not be given 

 the number of work oxen or bullocks {hueyes) 

 but merely the adult males used for breeding 

 purposes, even though some of the work oxen are 

 not castrated males or steers. The situation was 

 worse with poultry where we could not ask for 

 chickens {gallinas) which would elicitate only the 

 number of hens, but had to ask specifically after 

 pullets {pollas) , roosters {gallos) , and young chick- 

 ens {pollitos). 



The ox {Bos taurus) is easily the most important 

 domesticated animal in the Quiroga area, or at 

 least it was in 1945 and 1946. We have not been 

 able to discover the amount of damage done by 

 the foot-and-mouth epidemic {aftosa) which swept 



over Michoacan after we left. Possibly not many 

 of the cattle were killed by Government agents, 

 since Michoacan was the seat of armed resistance 

 to this part of the program for control of the 

 epidemic. Oxen provide most of the work per- 

 formed by animals, since they do all of the plowing 

 and pull most of the carts. The work of mules, 

 horses, and burros in light cultivation, threshing, 

 and packing probably does not amount to one-half 

 of the work performed by oxen. Furthermore, 

 beef is the principal meat consumed, and the 

 abasto charges usually constitute the chief source 

 of municipal income. In recent years between 250 

 and 350 reses have been slaughtered annually in 

 the Quiroga abasto. Most of these animals have 

 been aged and feeble bullocks and cows. Since 

 we did not check the individual records to deter- 

 mine origin of the slaughtered animals, we are 

 not certain what proportion came from parts of 

 the municipality outside of our area of study. 

 However, the majority were of Quiroga proveni- 

 ence. Dairy cows are lacking, since the main 

 functions of cows is to bear males for work pur- 

 poses. Most cows are milked, but the production 

 is little — running from 4 to 8 liters a day in the 

 optimum periods (the first few months after com- 

 ing "fresh," and during the rainy season) to about 

 a liter in the driest portion of the year (February 

 to May) and nothing at all when the animal 

 "drys up." The bulk of the mUk is consumed 

 in boiled form, alone or with coffee {caj'e con leche 

 — a common drink), and the cooked cream {nata) 

 also is eaten. Veiy little cheese is made and all 

 of this is of the crude white salted type in small 

 cakes known as queso ranchero. No butter is 

 made since butter is practically unknown in the 

 dietary of the average family. Formerly there 

 was a Plaza de Toros on the Calle de la Reforma, 

 but this area is now occupied by a garden and 

 orchard, and the jaripeos (a type of rural ro- 

 deo which mcludes a bloodless form of bull fight- 

 ing) are now held in an inclosed area between 

 the Calzada Ramdn Corona and the Calle 

 Negrete. The jaripeo constitutes a very minor 

 form of utilization. In summary, the chief uses 

 of oxen are for work, meat, milk, hides, and 

 fertilizer. The fertilizer is obtained by pasturing 

 the animals in the fields to be fertilized, and by 

 collecting the manure in the corrals. 



