Modern animal husbandry of the Siamese government during the reign of King Chulalongkorn

Abstract

After signing the Bowring Treaty in the reign of King Monkut, rice became the most significant export of Siam. At the same time, the demand for rice rapidly increased in foreign countries. So, the Siamese government must expand the cultivated area by constructing more canals such as; Rangsit Canal and Mahasawat Canal, etc. However, expanding the cultivated area was not the only factor increasing the agricultural product. But, decreasing the mortality rate of cattle, which was used for agriculture such as; cow and buffalo, as well as the liver stock such as; pig cow and ram, was another factor, that could grow the number of products,. Therefore, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn, which was the age that Siam imported the knowledge and the technology from the western, the Government decided to hire the western veterinarians to serve the government. Simultaneously, the school of veterinary medicine was established for training the Thai veterinarian. In soon, the knowledge about animal husbandry was used for controlling the veterinary epidemic by detaining the infected cattle and inoculating them against the infection. Furthermore, the influence of the western on animal welfare also urged the government to give precedence to enacting the law relating to animal welfare of the livestock which would be sent to the foreign country.