By 1980, despite the picturesque appearance of mules and donkeys in the streets of Lagartera, farming had modernised considerably. Tractors were replacing mules to carry loads, and for specific tasks, especially ploughing. Mechanised extensive farming needed less labour, and arable farmers needed more land to earn a living, so fewer people were employed. There were still big courtyards where livestock was kept, but there was more of a separation of town and countryside than in previous decades.
Mules were versatile, not just for farming. They could also be used as transport to buy and sell goods in the days before motor vehicles became common. Mules could access land that wasn’t accessible to tractors. Raising, training and feeding a mule cost less than buying, maintaining and fuelling a tractor. They were also long-lived.
Tractors are more efficient at ploughing large, flattish, accessible áreas of land, and they need less skill. As tractors increasingly replaced mules, farming on the whole became more efficient, though some small, less accessible plots were more likely to be abandoned. Abandoned plots could become havens for wildlife and also create wildfire risks, so modernisation had some drawbacks.
Sheep, the local tradition
Sheep were the traditional livestock animal in this part of dry Spain. There were herds of goats in the mountains to the north, and herds of free-ranging pigs in the Holm oak groves of Extremadura to the west, but Lagartera was in sheep country. In the 1930s, children helped care for flocks. By 1980, children were in school, and sheep were more enclosed, so there was less need for shepherds. There was also less demand for wool. In the 19th century, local wool fed a local textile industry, but that had declined by the early 20th century, with cheaper textile imports from Catalonia. In the post-war years, wool initially fetched a good price, but gradually, wool from non-specialist breeds lost value. Local sheep were raised more for meat, and larger flocks were needed for a family to earn a living.
There was still some local demand in 1980, for example for stuffing mattresses. This photo shows tía Leoncia preparing wool for a mattress.
In 1980, a Lagarteran in her sixties explained that ‘sheep have three fruits, the meat, the wool and the milk’. Sheep were not raised specifically for their milk. That came after 1980, when specialised milk breeds were introduced. However, after the lambs were sold in spring, sheep still produced milk. So the ewes were milked, and their milk was made into cheese for the family to eat throughout the year.
Dairy cattle; a surprise
It was quite a surprise to see dairy cattle in Lagartera, because they need a LOT of wáter, and are easily stressed by heat, which affects both their health and milk production. They do better in rainier, cooler, northern parts of Spain, like Asturias.
According to local memory, the first dairy cattle came to the pueblo in the 1920s. Before that, cow’s milk was not part of the local diet. In the 1930s, a few families had small herds to sell milk locally, and feed their families. Not much was exported out of the pueblo because milk is so perishable, and there were no refrigerated containers.
In 1980, Lagarterans bought raw milk in the patios of houses of dairy farmers, taking their own containers. The milk had to be heated, rising three times before it was safe to drink. By then, there were also refrigerated tanker trucks that collected milk twice a day from outside the farmers’ houses.
Despite the refrigerated tanker trucks, raw milk is so perishable that it doesn’t travel well over long distances. This may help explain the persistence of dairy cattle, in Lagartera, despite the climate not being ideal. There weren’t many dairy farmers here in 1980, and dairy farming was not likely to make the farmers rich, but they could earn a steady living.
The rise and fall of intensive pig farming
In 1980, the biggest livestock sector in Lagartera was intensive pig farming. Traditionally, families had kept pigs for the matanza, fattening piglets for family consumption, rather than production for sale. Sometimes pigs were kept in yards next to the house. The better-off families had courtyards big enough to divide into a space for animals, and a space for humans. There were also small stockyards surrounding the pueblo, which might be used for growing vegetables and/or keeping chickens, and the family pig(s).
In the late 1960s, the Spanish Second Development Plan included policies to boost livestock production, such as better guaranteed prices for feed crops, like barley. Big feed companies from the USA were encouraged to invest in Spanish pigmeat production so the sector could benefit from technology transfers, especially high-yield pig breeds and fast growth feed formulations. The feed companies directly modernised some production using integrated contracts whereby a feed company provided feed and piglets, and the stockman provided capital investment in the form of land and the piggery, plus labour. The SEA (Servicio de Extensión Agrario) advised independent pig farmers to adopt the same techniques.
The first intensive pig farms in Lagartera were set up at this time. The pioneers had chosen the activity as an attractive commercial venture. Some were extensive farmers who owned land at a distance from the pueblo. Others had built up capital from selling embroideries, and then diversified into pigkeeping. Initially, they could make a lot of money.
Then came the two 1970s ‘oil-shocks’, sharp rises in the price of oil, which triggered stagflation (high inflation and high unemployment). So instead of emigrating to the cities, many young Lagarterans stayed in the pueblo, where the cost of living was cheaper, and tried to créate their own jobs. Some set up a piggery as a sideline to casual work elsewhere. Others tried to earn most of their income from raising and selling pigs. In contrast to the earlier pig farmers, the new entrants’ decisions were usually made out of necessity rather than choice, and they set up small-scale operations.
The 1970s oil shocks and their effect on pig farming in Lagartera
The pioneers had been able to build up capital and invest in their farms. By 1980, some had as many as 500 shows. In contrast, some later entrants just fattened piglets for sale, and in bad years spent more on feed than they were paid for fattened pigs. Later entrants were clearly caught in a poverty trap, unable to earn enough to reinvest and expand.
Some farmers went to the bank for a loan to expand their farms. As a local bank manager noted, the farmers tended not to count the cost of their labour, the capital investment in the piggery, or the depreciation of fixed assets, and sometimes not even water and electricity. This focus on feed as a cost meant that many farmers were unaware that their enterprises were unprofitable, he added. His estimate was that ten Lagarteran producers had a long-term future. However even they faced competition from bigger and more automated farms in Catalonia, a región that specialisedin pigs, and home of some of the big feed companies.
In the late 1970s, conditions got tougher for all Spanish pig farmers. Ministry of Agriculture figures showed a rise in prices per kilo for live pigs from 1976 – 1980, but the price of feed rose more. Taking 1976 as 100, pigmeat prices rose to 126.9, with feed prices rising to 143.9. The Banco Español de Credito estimated that producers were covering barely 80% of their production costs (Bulletin for Overseas, Nov 1980 pp22-23). This rise in feed costs particularly affected small independent pig farmers, as they paid more for feed than large-scale farmers, who were able to buy in bulk, and received less for their pigs than the latter, since it takes longer to visit ten farms, buying ten pigs at each farm, than to visit a single farm to buy 100.
The crises of the early 1980s
To make matters worse, in 1980, the price of pigmeat fall sharply. Lagarteran farmers blamed imports. Imports certainly varied a lot from one year to another, contributing to price instability, while export markets were closed because African Swine Fever affected some Spanish herds.
The 1980 price drop was followed by an outbreak of African Swine Fever in Lagartera in 1982. Both events made the security of integrated contracts more attractive. One estimate was that some 20% of farmers used them in 1980, compared with 43% by 1983. Some farmers both raised pigs for the feed companies, and for sale on the market. Without sows they could not survive as independent farmers should the contract end.
Smaller producers faced another constraint: they were unable to register their farms. As the SEA official in Oropesa commented in 1980, ‘Most new piggeries have not been set up in such a way to allow them to be legalised’. This was especially true for farms close to the pueblo. Conforming to regulations governing new piggeries, or the expansión of an existing piggery, was a big investment, more money than most smaller farmers had access to. A partícular problem was the close proximity of farms to the pueblo, and to one another. Distance requirements aimed to protect wáter and air quality, and prevent disease transmission between farms. Back in 1980, the pueblo smelled of manure, which was not especially controversial. Lagarterans had traditionally lived in close proximity with livestock. However, to expand, farmers needed to invest in slurry pits, to eliminate the labour-intensive task of cleaning manure. Expanding meant more pigs, so more poo, which spent longer onn the farm. Well-rotted manure can be sold, so is an asset. Slurry is a liability. The pioneers had recognised this constraint, and set up farms at a distance from the pueblo.
Spot the piggeries in these photos taken in 1980 from the Church tower, looking north and south
At the time, Spain planned to join the EC (European Community), which meant conforming to EC norms. A farmer’s explanation for his farm not complying to norms was ‘because the law has been made so badly, or in a different way to how we have our farms here’. This was not simple disrespect for the law, rather that EC norms were designed for countries with small, modern, agricultural sectors, whereas Spain was still in transition. In addition, Spain had an exceptionally high rate of unemployment, with little non-contributory protection. This helps explain why people were prepared to créate their own jobs for such low returns. The local SEA official was relaxed about small unregistered farms. Most were set up as a survival strategy, so likely to disappear once Spain emerged from recession.
From the Church tower looking east and west. You can tell the time of day from the shadows!
Intensive pig farming in the local economy
The manager of a local bank estimated in 1980 that some 32,000 pigs were sold outside Lagartera annually, and that the sale of pigs and pig meat brought in as much outside income as the sale of embroideries. This may well be an underestimate of total ‘exports’ from Lagartera, since not all pigs were exported with a ‘guía’, the official permission for livestock to leave the pueblo. He also estimated that imports of feed and construction materials for piggeries cost three times as much as imports to Lagartera of thread and material for embroideries. I estimated that in 1980, 115 households, about a fifth of the total, had pig farms. Of these 115, 34 derived all or most of their income from pigs, since the only other income they had was from women members’ wage work in embroideries. Thirty eight households combined pig farming with embroidery businesses. In addition, local butchers sourced locally, and added value to the meat by turning it into charcuterie products.
Pig farmers faced big companies when they bought feed and sold pigs, and also paid cuts to intermediaries. In 1980, there were talks to cut costs by setting up feed co-ops; a long story in itself. One of these co-ops still exists today. Another idea was to set up a factory for meat products, supplied by the local market. Local butchers did make their own meat products in 1980. Here is Miguel, husband of Pilarin, making sausages with a helper in 1980.
So the sector did initially offer benefits. Investment in buildings provided employment for Lagarteran builders. Local butchers were well supplied by local producers. In the long-term, as the SEA oficial and the bank manager had predicted back in 1980, most small Lagarteran producers abandoned their farms. While integration contracts gave small farmers short-term protection from price volatility, the feed companies offered fewer contracts when pigmeat prices dropped. They went to the larger, more efficient producers. Smaller producers had no job security between contracts.
A jump from the 1980s to today
Joining the EC in 1986 opened new export markets for farmers, so helped boost national production. The biggest importer of Spanish pigmeat has been from outside Europe; ie China, the biggest producer and consumer of pigmeat world-wide. The export market brought both increased price volatility and more consolidation. In the 1990s, feed companies responded by joining up with abbatoirs and meat processors, and later made deals with big retailers to supply them with cheap meat.
So where have these changes left Lagartera? Pig farming has always been a high risk occupation. In good years, the bigger farmers could make a lot of money, and in bad years they could lose a lot. Consolidation and vertical integration mean the stakes are higher. Today, you have to make a big investment to compete, especially with new EU regulations.
Meat processing and retail are safer occupations. The pueblo has a long history of local butchers making their own meat products, like Alejandro, shown below in 1980 in Pintor Sorolla Street. Lagartera still has local butchers who supply high quality, locally made, charcuterie `products, as well as the staples of fresh meat. They face competition from big retailers, and survive partly because people Will pay more for high-quality products.
The long-term trend in Lagarteran livestock farming has been the decline of extensive farming, with fewer and bigger farms, facing a mountain of paperwork. Making farming less labour intensive means forcing people to leave rural áreas, and a big rural-urban income gap unless there are alternative ways of earning a living. There have been policies favouring urban over rural areas in Spain before and after democracy, and in ‘communist’ China, often justified in terms of the ‘national interest’.
What is ‘the national interest? Spaniards now have access to cheap meat, and Spain has become a major player in the global pigmeat market, but does this always mean that intensive farming and concentration are always in the national interest? Infections are more likely in ‘Macrogranjas’. If a farm with a million egg-laying chickens or pigs is hit, this creates more price instability nationally than if a smaller farm is affected. In the US, giant feed and meat processing companies are price makers who can use their power to keep meat prices at a higher level than they would be with more competition. Meanwhile, ‘farmers markets’ where local farmers and independent food producers sell their products directly to consumers, are popular in the US.
The interests of cities and the countryside are interlinked. Rural depopulation and the decline of extensive farming mean greater risk of major wildfires, which can seriously affect air quality in cities. Pueblos can offer a refuge when times are hard. Would the national interest be better served if policymakers put more effort into consulting and listening to rural people? EU rules, though well-intentioned, are sometimes impractical, especially after the Spanish government has decided on details. However, there is now more concern about rural depopulation than in the 1980s, and EU membership brings greater access to funds that can be used for rural development.
What policies would benefit rural areas? Funding for municipal herds, to keep the countryside clean and create jobs? Should we aim for economic diversity so that, if one sector fails, there are alternatives? How does rural tourism fit in? How can we encourage teleworking so that Young people who have studied no longer feel they have to emigrate? In rural areas, there are people with practical skills much in demand, such as electricians and plumbers. How can these skills be harnessed to help local economies?
The history of livestock farming in Lagartera raises a number of questions, especially ”How are we going to earn a living’. The answers go beyond the livestock sector, and change over time as the wider economy changes.
Alison Lever, Lagartera, Toledo, June 2026
Thank you to all the Lagarterans who have shared their experiences and opinions in the 1980s and more recently.
Meanwhile in China:
from Adam Tooze, Substack post, March 30 2026
Full text:
China’s massive pig farms spark a supply glut as hog prices hit 8-year low
Vast hog farms – some rising 26 storeys high – have caused China’s pig herd to swell, but consumers dislike the industrially produced meat
(Pigs feed inside a sprawling 26-storey hog farm in central China’s Hubei province. Photo: Xinhua Xinyi Wuin Beijing)
Published: 7:30pm, 30 Mar 2026
China’s pig prices have plunged to their lowest level in nearly eight years, as the country struggles to deal with a persistent supply glut triggered by the spread of huge industrial farms and a post-holiday drop in meat consumption.
Live pigs were selling for 11.05 yuan (US$1.60) per kilogram on average during the third week of March, down 2.9 per cent from the previous week and 28 per cent from a year earlier, data from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed.
Prices are now at their lowest level since June 2018, according to financial data provider Wind. Pork meat prices are also on the decline, sinking to 22 yuan per kilogram last week – down 2.1 per cent on the previous week and 16.5 per cent from last year.
The problems in the meat industry are creating a headache for Beijing, as falling pork prices undermine the government’s efforts to stave off deflation. They are also squeezing the country’s millions of pig farmers just as the US-Israel war on Iran pushes up global oil, grain and feed prices, raising their costs.
The hog glut was caused by the spread of industrial-scale farms in China’s pork industry over the past few years, which led the swine supply to grow faster than market demand, according to Yao Jingyuan, a former chief economist at China’s National Bureau of Statistics and a special researcher at the State Council’s Counsellors’ Office.
China’s pork industry rapidly consolidated after the African swine fever outbreak wiped out many small farms, creating space for large-scale producers to expand. Some firms have even built vast, multi-storey hog farms capable of raising more than 1 million pigs per year.
But the facilities have upset the balance in China’s pork market, especially as industrial farming has compromised the quality of meat produced, according to Yao.