Author:

Category：Photograph

Year：1954

Size:Length:60.7 x Width:50.6 (cm)

Size description：為相紙尺寸 夾裱尺寸：縱：76.3cm，橫：60.5cm

Introduction：Raising pigs and chickens was an important side hustle for Taiwanese farmers in the past, and a farm household would usually keep two to three pigs and eight to ten chickens. The main purpose of raising chickens was to increase the supply of non-staples and to serve as a source of animal protein. Chickens were usually butchered during festive days and special events as farm households would use them to make hearty meals. Chickens were raised to be consumed at home, and pigs, however, were treated as a form of savings. Farmers would first come up with a yearly estimate of significant expenses that might be incurred in the future such as school fees for children, home maintenance cost, and dowry. Then, they would buy piglets a year before and raise them with care. In this way, those expenses could be covered by the profits they made from selling pigs. Since farmers considered raising pigs a “side hustle,” they were reluctant to spend extra money on it. Piglets were usually fed with leftovers, sweet potato greens, purslane (a kind of weed commonly seen in farm fields), and home-grown sweet potatoes, and it would often take 12 to 18 months for those undernourished, poorly grown piglets to be ready to butcher. As pigs reached a weight of approximately 100 kilograms, farmers would bring those pigs to markets and sell them to pork butchers for cash.

During the estrous period of sows, owners would ask specialized pig farmers raising boars used for breeding to provide boars to mate with their sows. Usually, those specialized farmers would have to walk their boars to where the sows were raised. Estrus generally last for only two to three days in sows. To ensure the success of the copulation, specialized farmers would usually need to rush their boars with a bamboo whip, as those boars might be disobedient or moving too slowly on the way. The abovementioned process was referred to as “walking the boars.” In earlier times, a person who walked the boars was considered lowly, and was often despised in Taiwanese society. In the late 1950s, however, agricultural units of the government began to promote artificial insemination. Since then, the practice of walking the boars had started to decline and eventually disappeared.

Media and Techniques：Gelatin silver print

Accession number:NCP2016-021-0034