Did You Know? In Changhua, Cattle Still Go to Sea to Harvest Oysters

In most farming towns, the work truck has an engine. In Fangyuan Township (芳苑), on the Changhua coast, it has four hooves. When the tide pulls back from the Taiwan Strait, oyster farmers hitch carts to their cattle and drive straight out onto the mudflats. Locals call these animals 海牛: “sea cattle.”

How the harvest works

Fangyuan’s wealth has always come from the tidal flats. These are huge sheets of grey mud that stay underwater at high tide and lie exposed for a few hours at low tide. Oysters grow on racks spread across them. Each day, when the water goes out, the farmers head out to their own plots. The ox walks into the sea, waits while the farmer loads the cart with the day’s haul, and then hauls it all back to shore. Locals say one oyster run with an ox takes about four hours, and the tide decides the timing.

One detail surprises most visitors: these aren’t water buffalo. Fangyuan’s sea cattle are 黃牛, Taiwanese yellow cattle. “Sea cattle” refers to the job they do, not to a breed.

From hundreds to about a dozen

Fangyuan was once a busy port, and the practice goes back to at least the Japanese era. One local organizer told the Taipei Times the town had over 400 sea cattle in its heyday. Machines took over most of the work. Recent counts put the herd somewhere between eight and twelve, and the area is widely described as the last place in Taiwan where cattle still pull carts through oyster beds.

In 2016, Changhua County registered the tradition as intangible cultural heritage. Its official name is 芳苑潮間帶牛車採蚵, “Fangyuan intertidal ox-cart oyster harvesting.” Much of the credit for keeping it alive goes to Wei Ching-shuei (魏清水), remembered locally as the “father of the sea cattle.” He came home to Fangyuan, started Taiwan’s first sea-cattle team in 2003 to take visitors onto the flats, and went on to found the Sea Cattle School. He died in January 2026 at 57, and the herd he helped rebuild still works the tide.

Seeing it yourself

Local eco-tours around Wanggong (王功) and Fangyuan let you ride an ox cart onto the flats, pick oysters off the racks, and grill them right there. Book with a guide and plan around the tide table. Don’t walk out onto the mud alone, because the water comes back fast.

Those western-coast oysters end up in some delicious places. They’re the star of the oyster omelette (蚵仔煎), and they turn up all through our city-by-city Taiwan street food guide. Next time you’re eating one at a night market, picture the cow that might have carried it in.

The takeaway: Taiwan’s oyster country still runs on the tides, and in one Changhua township, on cattle too.

Love the little stories that make Taiwan, Taiwan? Browse Taiwan Merch for designs that celebrate them.