The rearing and agistment of buffaloes and cattle is a common, and probably long established practice, in Northern Thailand. In one of the few sociological studies of livestock rearing and related issues, in the highlands of Northern Thailand, Falvey (1977) observes that while cattle rearing in the highlands has been in existence for as long as highland areas have been populated, the rearing of buffaloes is most likely a more recent phenomenon brought about by two main factors, namely, an increasing shortage of grazing areas in the lowlands and increasing wet-rice cultivation by highland communities in highland areas. Falvey’s observations especially with regard to the karen are particularly interesting as they are very much applicable to the Palokhi Karen as well. In his survey of various highland communities, he notes that the mean buffalo population was highest for the Akha, followed by the Karen, and then only by the Northern Thai, Lisu and Hmong, reflecting a correlation with the cultivation of wet-rice in these communities. Equally interesting is his observation that the mean number of households tending cattle and buffaloes (self-owned and on agistment) was highest among the Karen (1977:27). Falvey also adds that while the Karen own buffaloes because they are needed in the cultivation of wet-rice, the tending of large livestock, particularly cattle, is practised by rich families “as a means of accumulating wealth as an insurance against crop failure” (1977:40). All these remarks are, by and large, true for the Palokhi Karen.

The following table shows the number of households which own and tend on agistment buffaloes and cattle in Palokhi. The general patterns in the ownership and agistment of buffaloes and cattle in Palokhi are very similar to that described by Falvey. The reasons are also very much the same.

All the households which own buffaloes also cultivate wet-rice fields, and the ownership of buffaloes is clearly associated with the use of buffaloes in the cultivation of wet-rice. Cattle, on the other hand, are not employed as beasts of burden or pack animals in Palokhi, but they are nevertheless reared on agistment owned, although only by a few households. Whether the livestock is owned or tended on agistment, the purpose of these households (apart from having buffaloes to work in their wet-rice fields), is to eventually own a small herd of buffaloes or cattle, or both. In its most general sense, this may be regarded as a form of accumulation of wealth, but more specifically, as Falvey points out, livestock thus reared and owned act as a “cash reserve”. In this sense, buffaloes and cattle represent wealth quite different from wealth in the form of elephants and bronze drums (see Chapter VI, p. 432, n. 12) which are “prestige” possessions. Buffaloes and cattle are more easily liquidated assets and are a hedge against crop failure or large shortfalls in agricultural production when large amounts of rice need to be acquired to meet domestic consumption requirements.

The buffaloes and cattle that are owned by the Palokhi Karen have been acquired in several ways—inheritance, direct purchase or agistment. The agistment arrangements are, in their broad outlines, similar to that reported by Falvey (1977:91–2) whether the parties are Karen and Karen, or Karen and Northern Thai, that is, the tender of the livestock receives every second calf as a fee. Agistment is known by its Northern Thai term liang phaa or the Karen expression by’ lae ne ‘o’ which roughly means “to rear and obtain in exchange”, in Palokhi.

Most agistment agreements in Palokhi are of the sort in which the tender receives the second calf in payment for tending the stock which are usually female buffaloes or cows. In some cases, however, half shares in each calf may be agreed upon and if, or when, the calf is sold (also upon agreement), the proceeds are shared by the stock owner and the tender. If bulls are agisted, however, the agreement between owner and tender usually specifies half-shares in the appreciated value of the stock during the time in which it is tended, if it is sold. Agistment agreements, however, place all burden of risk on the tender in that if stock on agistment dies through neglect or is stolen, the tender must then make full restitution according to the market value of the stock at delivery and half its appreciated value at the time of its death or loss. Notwithstanding the element of risk in agistment, it is nonetheless a very worthwhile arrangement, particularly from the perspective of the Palokhi Karen, because the tending of stock requires very little labour and no on-going expenses in the form of feed. The buffaloes and cattle in Palokhi are usually herded by boys between the ages of seven and eleven, and regularly by a Khamu’ man who settled in Palokhi as a dependent of H2. The buffaloes and cattle are led out in the mornings and allowed to graze in the forest and they are herded back to the village in the evenings. In 1981, only one household (H8) realised money from agisted stock. A calf from one of the two cows agisted by a Northern Thai woman in Ban Thung Choa was sold to a Northern Thai for Bht 1,200 and this was shared equally by H3 and the Northern Thai woman. Some households, however, sold their own stock to other Karen in the village or to Northern Thai elsewhere. H1a for instance, sold one buffalo to a Karen working in the Flower Plantation of the Royal Forestry Department’s Watershed Unit 1 valued at Bht 1,700 (which was paid for in cash and rice in instalments) and a buffalo calf to H6 for Bht 1,000. H11a and H16, on the other hand, sold a buffalo each to Northern Thai for Bht 2,700 and Bht 2,500 respectively. The market price of large livestock varies according to the age of the animals and also according to whether purchasers come to Palokhi looking for a sale, or whether the Palokhi Karen go out seeking purchasers. In the former case, clearly older animals command better prices, while in the latter case, better prices are generally obtained if buyers come to Palokhi looking for animals to buy.

The following is a list of the approximate prices of buffaloes and cattle according to age, in Palokhi. Bulls, particularly in the case of buffaloes, tend to be priced higher (by about Bht 500) than females of equivalent age because of their generally longer effective working life as females cannot be worked when they are in calf.