quiroga: a MEXICAN MtnsriciPio — brand 



abandoned the profession and turned their bestias 

 loose in the fields where (according to local reports) 

 large numbers died of hunger. (For details on the 

 present status of arrieria in Quiroga see the section 

 on Transportation.) 



QANADO MENOR 



Sheep, although numbermg 453 or more head, 

 do not form an important part of Quiroga econ- 

 omy, since they belong to but 38 owners and are 

 concentrated in the ranchos from Atzimbo to 

 Icuacato. Most of the sheep belong to 6 men in 

 Icuacato and La Tirimicua who run flocks of from 

 25 to 100 sheep. The local sheep (Oms aries) 

 appears to be of Merino type, producing a white 

 short wool (there are some brown and black 

 strains). Most of the wool is sold locally and 

 woven into scrapes. The sheep (borregos or 

 carneros) usually are sheared in the early summer 

 and the late fall. There is little consumption 

 of mutton and Iamb. Whenever a sheep is killed 

 the skin is sold to one of the local tamiers or to a 

 weaver who uses the wool. 



Goats (chiros or cabras) are few in number and 

 are rather nondescript, and are not mohair, 

 mutton, or milk type. Most of the goats are 

 owned in Icuacato and are herded with the sheep. 

 Nine people own the 47 listed goats, 21 of which 

 belong to 1 family. There is a slight consumption 

 of goat and kid, and a few goatskins are tanned 

 each year in Quiroga. There is no production 

 of goat milk and cheese in Quiroga town, but some 

 milk and cheese is brought in occasionally from 

 Icuacato. The dung from sheep and goat corrals 

 is used as fertilizer. 



Pigs, although classed as "small cattle," are 

 commonly kept around the houses in the settle- 

 ments and are never herded in the acorn-rich 

 woods of mixed oaks, madronos, and pines. The 

 pig in Quiroga is an exceedingly useful anunal. 

 He is the number one scavenger and "garbage- 

 coUector" (aided by dogs, chickens, and vultures), 

 and is especially useful in cleaning up the human 

 ordure on abandoned solares and throughout the 

 outskirts of the settlements. Between such 

 gleanings and any refuse from the kitchen, sup- 

 plemented by a little maize, raising 1 or 2 pigs is 

 not expensive. When ready for slaughter the pig 

 {cerdo, puerco, cochino, marrano, xanu, coyame, 

 "cuch") is taken to the abasto by the owner or 

 purchaser. Oxen and pigs are the only animals 



commonly slaughtered in the abasto, and the num- 

 ber of pigs slaughtered annually runs between 350 

 and 450. Pork meat ranks second in consumption. 

 Boiled pork, cracklings, lard, and sausages are the 

 principal forms of consumption, and ham and 

 bacon are practically unknown. Lard is the chief 

 cooking fat here, as it is over most of Mexico. 

 Although a few pigskins are tanned, the skin is 

 commonly cooked with the attached pork, and it 

 is not uncommon to find in a serving of pozole 

 (pork, hominy, and flavorings) a sector of skin 

 adorned with a scattering of bristles. Local pigs 

 (Sus scrofa) are predominantly of the old red 

 Spanish breed which tend to run small, "razor- 

 backed," and with comparatively few bristles. 

 There is said to be a second breed, and several 

 pigs of improved strains {puercos finos), which 

 probably accounts for the occasional lard hog 

 (castrated) and pigs of varied coloration among 

 which is a dark-colored or blackish pig which may 

 represent the NeapoHtan strain. There are 483 

 pigs in 209 households. UsuaUy there will be 

 but 1 or 2 pigs in a household, but a few families 

 own up to 16 pigs. 



Chickens are the most widely disseminated of 

 the domesticated animals, there being 4,299 in 

 510 of the 797 households in the area. The modal 

 distribution is 3 hens and a rooster, but there are 

 flocks of 37, 45, 46, and 60 fowls. Of the total 

 number of chickens 3,881 were hens, pullets, and 

 young chickens distributed among 499 households, 

 and there were 418 roosters in 341 households. 

 Those famihes which owned only roosters com- 

 monly had fighting cocks (gallos de pelea). One 

 man owned 10 of these fine but noisy birds. 

 Until about 1942 there was an ornate Plaza de 

 Gallos on the CaUe Guerrero, but it has been torn 

 down. At present cock fighting is carried on in 

 temporary arenas. By day the chickens range 

 over the solares and up and down the streets, and 

 at night they commonly roost on bushes, trees, 

 and outhouses. Weasels, squirrels, skunks, foxes, 

 coyotes and cacomixtles cause most of the losses 

 of birds and eggs. Excess roosters and old hens 

 are commonly sold to the restaurants, fonderas 

 (women who sell food in the plazas and in puestos 

 on the prmcipal street corners), and wealthier 

 people of the community. Wlien the old bird has 

 been cooked it ceases to be gallina or gallo and 



835847 — 50 



