Lê Hùng Vọng

It’s not just another beauty contest.

In the central province of Quảng Nam, farmers are proud of their cows, and rightly so. A good cow herd can bring in high income, which can buy a car, a house, and other necessities of a comfortable life.  

On August 26, farmers from 10 hamlets in Đại Lộc District’s Đại Hồng Commune paraded their healthiest and most beautiful cows at the pageant.

Nguyễn Lành, a farmer from Hữu Hoà Đông Hamlet, say he and his 200-kg cow, named Tô, walked the 10 kilometres to the pageant site. Tô’s height, and its reproductive renown, were promising features that Lành thought would help the cow capture the crown.

But it was Lê Dũng, a farmer from Phước Lâm Hamlet, and his cow that won the contest. His 250-kg hybrid pregnant Sindh strain is one of many cows Dũng raises. 

All of the 10 farmers in the contest raise either hybrid Sindh or Brahmin cows, the main strains of 1,600 cows and oxen in the commune.

While bovine beauty pageants are held annually in the Mekong Delta, this was the first such contest in Quảng Nam. VNS