To market, to market to buy a fat pig (or two, or three)… I don’t think I have ever been to a livestock market, and with our recent need to identify more and more sources of traditionally raised pigs for the ZUBUCHON experiment, we decided to plan a half-day trip to the Mantalongon Livestock Auction Market in Barili, Cebu. Not to be confused with the other Mantalongon market, which is predominantly a vegetable trading center roughly 2.5 hours south of Cebu, this livestock market was about 1.25 hours away, and relatively near the town chicharon town of Carcar. This post is about the trade and sale of live animals predominantly for the purpose of feeding people. If that bothers you, then simply DO NOT read the rest of this post. I will delete any comments that I deem inappropriate. Just so that’s crystal clear before you click on “read post.”

The livestock market takes place only on Thursdays, and while we arrived at about 6:30am, I think the peak of the trading action occurs around 7am or so. Livestock from near and far arrive either on tethers led on foot by owners or hired hands, or on vans, trucks and jeepneys. It’s a pretty wild sight and an open grounds area is filled with vehicles, animals, people and a whole lot of POOP. :( Chickens, goats, pigs, carabaos and cows are all up for sale, and while I sort of expected an auction style arrangement with an auctioneer selling off lots of animals, in fact it is more like a huge open market with buyers and sellers milling around the animals striking their own deals.

I spotted these three little pigs in the back of a van that seemed less stressed than other animals being brought to market in crowded vans. So I quickly started negotiations with the owner and even before they were unloaded, I had purchased one of the three pigs for a lechon lunch the next day. At roughly 15 kilos live weight, the piggie was perhaps 6 weeks old, and much smaller than the ones we usually make into lechon.

This rather huge pig, a male or “barako” snorted up alongside me while I was bargaining for the young piggie, and frankly, he was one fat papa! Many insist that male pigs, particularly older ones, have an off-flavor to their meat, so we have ONLY been purchasing female pigs for lechons. I can’t imagine what happens to all the male pigs, either they are cooked young or there a whole lot of male meat for sale in some markets… And how would one explain the treatment of wild boar (presumably males) as a delicacy and its strong flavor as desirable??? Hmmm….

With so many pigs in the field, one rapidly realizes that there are differences… some certainly look happier than others, some are heavier for their age and size, while others look like they were on a South Beach Diet. It was a bit upsetting to see so many herded into this auction area, and when they were purchased, led off to the buyers vehicle to almost certain death, if not fattening before death. But I eat meat, so I deal with that.

I’m sure if you come to the market often enough, you would figure out who seems to have the best livestock on offer. And you get to know the individuals and ask how big their piggeries are, if the pigs are raised in their back yards, among a dozen other pigs, or only 2-3 at a time. There aren’t many folks here that come from large professional piggeries… this is a market for the rural folks, with several city buyers. In many cases, ladies of all ages bring one of two young pigs to market, selling them at say 2-3 weeks, for others to fatten for a month or two. These ladies often take the proceeds of selling one or two of their piglets to the market down the road to buy rice, vegetables, canned goods, etc. that will last them until the next piglet is sold…

This market is akin to what one might call the “wild west” and outsiders are not common here. Why, after all, would a tourist from cebu venture all this way to watch thousands of kilos of porky’s change hands? But we weren’t just there as tourists, we purchased several pigs that day…

The smaller piglets are kept in pens that looked like large produce baskets. These were the cutest cleanest ones in the market.

I was rather tempted to buy one of these, not to fatten, but to cook as a true lechon de leche. But these were rather pricey for their size, and the meat cost per kilo was much more expensive than buying a 24-30 kilo pig. And admittedly, their clean, cute, faces helped to spare them from the barbecue this time around. Don’t get me wrong, I know these pigs and other livestock are raised specifically to feed humans, and for the most part, I suspect they have led much more natural lives compared to their cousins in large commercial piggeries, poultries, goateries(?) and cattle operations, but there is still that slight tinge of guilt.

From the pigs, which seemed to comprise the vast majority of livestock changing hands, I also spent some time in the goat section. Here goats seemed to sold in little herds or congregations of the beasts…

And I know most goats are fine with jumping, leaping and generally kicking around their environs, but even I was a bit surprised how they were “thrown” into a truckload filled with goats. I just took the photo to record the event, not to make a judgment call on how the goats were being treated…

There were several calves on offer, older, tougher looking cows and bulls and a smattering of carabaos… At least now I know where to go if I ever decided to try my hand at a whole roasted calf…

And I must explain the photo above. I had not planned to go to a livestock market when I went to Cebu on a business trip. The day we left for the market, I realized I only had a pair of off-white jeans (my other pants were business slacks) and had no choice but to wear them to market. But in a bit of Pigman karma, probably for having roasted so many of their relatives, and despite taking great care during the first five minutes at the market, I got POOPED on by a pig in a passing truck! YUCK is right. But that was okay, I would understand if it was intentional. It doesn’t look bad in the photo above, but a big chunk of poop dropped down into the cuff of my pant leg, and it smelled vile all the way home… :)

So what do the vendors, buyers, traders and visitors eat when they have cut their deals? Roast pig, of course. It looked great, but the skin wasn’t crisp at all… :)

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