Water buffalo are being used for ploughing and other types of work force, and as a source of meat, leather and milk. They may be found throughout Asia and in addition in places like Turkey, Italy, Australia and Egypt to mansion a few.
They are mostly seen in places where there is lots of rain or water because they get dehydrated quickly and need water and mud to wallow around in. The water buffalo population on the globe is about 172 million, with 96 % of them in Asia.
Water buffalo are called carabao in the Philippines and are known as the national animal of the country. In India their milk is a major source of protein. In Southeast Asia they plough hemp gardens.
One Thai livestock farmer said, "they're the anchor of the nation and are very important to our way of life. "Described as the "living tractor of the East," they have since been introduced to Europe, Africa, the Americas, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii. There are 74 types of water buffalo.
The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a sizable bovid located on the Indian subcontinent to Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia, in Sri Lanka, in Luzon Island (Philippines), and not forgetting Borneo. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is known as a special species but very likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.
There are 2 kinds of water buffalo--each considered a subspecies--are located on morphological and behavioural criteria:
1) the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy; plus
2) the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze area of China towards the east.
The birth place of the domestic water buffalo breeds are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study shows that the swamp kind may have originated in China and domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river kind may have originated from India and was domesticated around 5,000 years back.
Researched from Encyclopedia Britannica, the river buffalo was around by 2500 before Christ in India and 1000 before Christ in Mesopotamia. The breed was selected mainly for its milk, which consists of 8 percent butterfat. Breeds include the Murrah with their curled horns, the Surati, and the Jafarabadi.
Swamp buffalo so much closely resemble wild water buffalo and are used as draft animals in rice paddies through Southeast Asia. Types of breeds range from the 900-kg (2, 000-pound) Thai and haizi to the 400-kg wenzhou and carabao. Children ride them to their wallows after their labours and clean their faces plus ears.
These livestock are especially ideal for tilling hemp fields, and the milk is richer in fat and protein than that of the milk cattle. Throughout much of Southeast Asia and South Asia water buffalo remain the key draft animals for cultivation, although tractors have replaced them in various areas, particularly where crops other than rice are produced.
Buffalo, predominantly of the swamp type is very much matched to paddy culture. It's able to flourish on rough fodder and roughage indigestible by other animals, and are located in all sorts of farming areas.
Even in poor areas, small paddy livestock farmers usually have at least 1 animal. After maturing, buffalo are being used as draft livestock for 5 or 6 years, or until they are too old to work, then they are killed for meat production.
The birth place of the domestic water buffalo breeds are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study shows that the swamp kind may have originated in China and domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river kind may have originated from India and was domesticated around 5,000 years back. Jafarabadi buffalo !Buffalo, predominantly of the swamp type is very much matched to paddy culture. It's able to flourish on rough fodder and roughage indigestible by other animals, and are located in all sorts of farming areas.
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