So dominant is the cow's influence that thousands of lives and hundreds of shops and outlets along side of the market cast their fate on the cattle business.

Can humans be steered by cows? They certainly can in Beringkit, a cattle village between Denpasar and Tabanan (you pass this area whenever you travel from Denpasar to Bedugul or any area in northern Bali). Over the past few decades, Balinese from across the island have been attracted to the village because it is the only perfect site to buy or sell any type of cattle.

So dominant is the cow's influence that thousands of lives and hundreds of shops and outlets along side of the market cast their fate on the cow business. They open daily but admit that their major income is on Wednesdays and Sundays, when the animals swarm the market.

Although cows are the "main characters", herds of buffaloes, chickens, ducks and fish crowd the road and often block traffic along the Denpasar-Bedugul thoroughfare. Roughly 1,800 to 2,000 cows visit the playground on market days and 90 percent are sold.Many to butchers as far as Java and Lombok. On a recent market visit, a record 2,200 cows were accounted for.

Beringkit became the largest cattle market in Bali, surpassing that of former cattle market of Kediri in Tabanan, and the current Kusamba market in Klungkung. To watch traders bargaining over these beasts is as exciting as watching a movie in the making.

And especially when the market day coincides with the ritual Tumpek Kandang animal holy day, a lively event, for the market is held. "On every Tumpek Kandang day, we perform a relatively large ceremony," said market chief
A.A. Ngurah Agung Samudra.

The market was established in 1971 on a 2-hectare area complete with stalls for keeping cattle, administrative offices, sites for weighing animals, parking lots, and last but not least Pura Melanting temple for market traders. South of the cattle market, there is a general market, while to the west of it there is the Central Office of Regional Market Enterprise of Badung regency.

The cattle market operates from 4 am 2 pm. Sale and purchase deals among usually take place at 8 am. In general, the cattle trade includes some 1,500 calves for local slaughter and cows especially for export to Java. Various birds and chickens are on sale for slaughter, as are local poultry, fish, and various plants and fruit trees.

A cow is subject to an entrance tax of Rp 3,000. Following a transaction conforming to certificates issued by the authority of the village of origin, the change of ownership tax of Rp 8,000 is paid. An overnight stay in the market stalls costs Rp 1,000 per animal.

"Change of ownership certificates are important to certify that the cow really belongs to the right person and is not stolen," Samudra explained.

According to Samudra, cows are usually traded live, in line with their respective weights. The prices fluctuate according to demand for the animals. The following list is the average pricing: cows 250 - 300 kg for Rp 8,000/kg; 300 - 400 kg around Rp 10,000/kg; those 500 kg above Rp 12,000/kg.

Beringkit Cattle Market employs 32 workers, all of who assist with maintenance prior to opening market operations. Meanwhile, on Fridays they perform voluntary work such as cleaning drains and cutting the grass. Saturday is a holiday for the workers.

The village of Beringkit is reached via a turnoff north just past Mengwi. Traveling north for 3 km, one soon enters the town, and just west of the main crossroads, the palace of the present Cokorda is found. It is surrounded by grey walls and in the northern corner stands a large, square bell tower with lovely carvings.

Agrarian Capital
Beringkit is near Desa Mengwi, the former political center of Bali and the island's biggest kingdom in the 1800s whose influence reached East Java and Lombok.

The Mengwi Kingdom was well known for its focus on rice farming and other agrarian produce and therefore counted cattle among its main assets. The King of Mengwi was said to have a spiritual relationship with the rice fields. Legend has it that whenever Mengwi experienced a prolonged dry season, he would simply visit the stricken area and rain was expected to pour.

The cattle market developed naturally in this kingdom as the animals are the farmer's best friend in rice fields.

Other than cattle, Beringkit also is a center for farming hardware. Here farmers from various of backgrounds from across Bali look for the best and most complete choice of shovels, plows, sickles, and traditional 'do it yourself' hardware.