Audiovisuals
Explore storytelling contents made with video and photographic materials.
Audiovisuals
Until a Draft Cow Plowing the Field Transforms into World-Class Hanwoo (Korean Beef)
The development of Korean livestock in the 1970s led by Saemaul Income Generation Project
Cows Changed the Landscape of Rural Area
Around the time when dawn is breaking, my father goes to the field riding on an ox cart. The cow drags the plow, and father shouts “Haw! Haw!” The son, who came back from school, takes the cow to the back hill to feed it. He comes back home when the sun sets. Mother sweeps the cow's back while pouring water into the trough in the stall.At that time, the cow was as much as an insurance to pay for medical expenses, marriage funds, and college tuition. That is why universities had an epiphet, “a tower built with cow’s bone” In Korea. In the 1970s, the traditional landscape of rural areas began to change due to the Saemaul Undong Income Generation Project. Cultivators replaced plows and wagons and raising livestock had been encouraged for the livestock farmers as the meat consumption of urban people had increased. Farmers raised cattle in a barn, no longer in the cattle shed, with the nutritious feed, not with porridge made with beans and straw.
by Painter Lee, In-Young
Samhwa Livestock, Which Led the Korean Livestock Industry
In the 1970s, even for the livestock farmers who raise income by fattening cattle, the number of cattle they raised was usually in the dozens. Around this time, some large-scale ranches began raising cattle by putting them out to pasture. One of them was Samhwa Livestock located in Seosan, Chungnam Province. The owner of the ranch was Kim Jong-pil, who left the political stage at that time. He had decided to “do something that no one else tried but somebody has to do”. Thus, he began to cultivate about a 2,150 Jung-bo-wide (1 Jung-bo equals 3,000 pyung, which is about 9,917.4 ㎡) mountain since 1969.
- Rep. Kim Jong-Pil, Shaking Hands with Trainees at the Graduation Ceremony
Ten years later, 1,400 Hanwoos (Korean cows) and dairy cows grazed in the grasslands. Advanced facilities such as the first automated feed mill in Korea, 23 cowsheds, and various machinery and equipment were introduced to the farm. From 1976, the company has developed various kinds of fattening techniques and has transferred knowledge and technology to young farmers for free. The calves born at the ranch were entrusted to the nearby farmhouse for 15 months, which contributed to the income of the residents.
In 1979, Rep. Kim Jong-pil donated Samhwa Livestock to Woon-Jung Scholarship Foundation, saying that if Samhwa Livestock reaches the stage of independence, it will be returned to society. Today, Samhwa Livestock operates as an amelioration establishment for Hanwoo which contributes to the improvement of the Hanwoo breed.
In 1979, Rep. Kim Jong-pil donated Samhwa Livestock to Woon-Jung Scholarship Foundation, saying that if Samhwa Livestock reaches the stage of independence, it will be returned to society. Today, Samhwa Livestock operates as an amelioration establishment for Hanwoo which contributes to the improvement of the Hanwoo breed.
Sam-Hwa Farm in 1976 (Saemaul Illustration Books, 1976)
Background of the Birth of Prestigious Hanwoo
Today, the taste and quality of Hanwoo receive a favorable evaluation from the world. But how did Korea succeed to gain such competitiveness, although the country is not even a traditional dairy country and has a short history of the livestock industry? The beginning throws back to 1963. In that year, the Livestock Act was enacted, and the Korean Livestock Improvement Council was established so that farmland's “draft cows” began to be ameliorated to beef cattle. From 1969, the selection of a breeding bull was conducted through the National Hanwoo Champion Tournament, and the excellent varieties of Hanwoo which were improved through the breeding bull were distributed to the farm. If the 1960s was the pioneering period for improving Hanwoo, the 1970s could be called the experiment period using various breeds. A total of eight Hanwoo improving complexes were established, one for every eight provinces, and gradually improved quality by breeding various hybrids. Meanwhile, in the livestock farms, the income increased and some people became rich by making full use of the knowledge of Hanwoo regarding temperature, lighting, infectious disease management etc., which were learned by the Saemaul Farming Education. Since that time, the livestock farmers raising Hanwoo have been able to develop steadily.
