Got this hairy caterpillar insect while on trek to Karnal fort.

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Sanjiv represents the third generation of his family to run a dairy business and provide agribusiness services (forage seed, cattle feed) for 230 farmers in Nagla Roran village, on the outskirts of Karnal, in India's northern Haryana State. Dairy enterprises are 'value-added' opportunities for small-scale farmers here and are helping to close the gap between urban and rural livelihoods. Dairy businesses have raised living standards in the village, which has paved roads. All the adults now have cell phones and most households have more than one television set. Three years ago, at the birth of his daughter Mishti, Sanjiv considered starting a non-dairy business but his mother refused to stop keeping her herd of milk cows and buffaloes, and so he undertook training at the Business Planning & Development Unit of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), India's premier dairy institution, in nearby Karnal, and began building up businesses that add value to the milk his mother's cows produce (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

ILRI visit to India's National Dairy Research Institute, in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 5 March 2016 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo)

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Check in:- 13 Aug 2016:

•Check-in at 1400 hrs.

•Buffet Lunch from 1230 hrs. to 1530 hrs. at designated venue.

•Gala dinner with PUNJABI DJ PARTY & unlimited starters & soft drinks from 2000 hrs. onwards at designated venue.

•Liquor at very nominal price from 2000 hrs. to 23:30 hrs. at designated venue.

 

On 14th Aug 2016:

•Buffet Breakfast from 0700 hrs. to 1030 hrs.

•GET COOL IN POOL with liquor & dry starters at nominal price from 11:00 am onwards at pool side.

•Buffet Lunch from 1230 hrs. to 1530 hrs. at designated venue.

•Live singing Performance from 2000 hrs. to 2330 hrs.

•Gala dinner with unlimited starters and soft-drinks. at designated venue.

•Liquor at very nominal price from 2000 hrs. to 23:30 hrs. at designated venue.

On 15th Aug 2016:

•Buffet Breakfast from 0700 hrs. to 1030 hrs.

•Buffet Lunch from 1230 hrs. to 1530 hrs. at designated venue.

•Gala dinner with DJ, unlimited starters and soft-drinks at designated venue from 20:00 hrs. onwards.

 

Check out on 16th Aug:

•Buffet Breakfast from 0700 hrs. to 1030 hrs.

•Checkout @ 1200 hrs.

Kids Policy/Extra Person Charges:

•Kids below age of 06 years will be complimentary.

•Kids from 07 to 12 will be charged @ INR. 2500/- Per Child .

•Above 12 years @ INR. 3500/- Per person per night (APAI).

 

Note:

•Please make the advance payment which is 100% to confirm the booking. (banking details attached).

•Check –In 1400 Hrs. & Check – Out Time will be before 1200 noon.

 

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

caught my attention while in Haridwar.

Village: Anjanthalli Block: Nilokheri District: Karnal State: Haryana Country: India Date: 24th July 2014

23 year old Ruby Mehla recieve regular updates on weather and climate smart practices through voice messages on their registered mobile phone in the Climate Smart Village of Anjanthalli. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to disseminate climate information, information about climate-smart technology interventions and seasonal agro-advisories for the rural farmers is part of the Climate Smart Village(CSV) programme initiated in Anjanathalli.

Local farmers are part of Farmer Participatory Evaluation of Adaptation and Risk Management Interventions in the village. Various key climate smart interventions such as zero tillage, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), raised bed planting, residue management, crop diversification, and nutrient management have been introduced in this village.

27 year old Vinod Kumar (Ruby Mehla's husband) owns 45 acres of farmland where he practices these interventions.

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: CCAFS/2014/Prashanth Vishwanathan

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Village: Birnarayna Block: Nilokheri District: Karnal State: Haryana Country: India Date: 24th July 2014

Harpreet Singh checks the water level through a Tensiometer in his paddy fields. Rice planted using the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) method and ‘Alternative Wet and Dry system’ (AWD) in 27 acres of Harpreets farm in Birnaryna is part of the Climate Smart Village (CSV) programme.

Local farmers are part of Farmer Participatory Evaluation of Adaptation and Risk Management Interventions in Birnarayna. Various key climate smart interventions such as zero tillage, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), raised bed planting, residue management, crop diversification, and nutrient management have been introduced in this village.

Harpreet Singh a large holding farmer with 95 acre who is part of this initiative says “ Water management has improved productivity and lowered costs extensively.” In 3.5 acres of land he has 2400 Eucalyptus tees under which he grows maize, bottle gourd and other crops. Agroforestry systems enhance carbon sequestration and provide fuel wood, thus reducing the need to deforest.

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: CCAFS/2014/Prashanth Vishwanathan

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

Many people in the society are looking for helping hands. Let’s be a hope to them. Amma Nanna Charitable Trust is one among them.

We are joining more orphan children who have no parent’s age group between 3 to 12 years and also joining Widows, Deceived and Separated Women at free of charges only. Our children have been staying with us up to their life settlement that means they will stand with their own bases.

you feel you are also responsible to the society, please, if you come across such people in and around your surroundings, give a hope to them by providing our address and we take care of them with pleasure.

“Please don’t Drink Alcohol and other intoxicates Live a happily and make Peaceful Society”

Everyone should read and write his/her regional language. We don’t try to take any Loans it leads to bitter life. We can live a happily in Kutcha house without loans, and then granite floored building with Loans. Loans make damage peaceful life and leads us misbehavior and corrupt minding nature.

Address of our Free of cost orphanage home Aditya Nagar, Desapathrunipalem, Parawada, Near Steel Plant Quarters Sector-X, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, and Asia. Cell no. 08886563252

For Orphan children we are providing good education, nutritious food, sports and games, cultural activities, meditation and yoga. We are very particular in teaching them good behavior, how to be responsible to the situations, moral and spiritual values and civic senses which in deed helps in providing a healthy citizen to the society in our Orphanage children home.

For deceived women or widows, we are providing nutritious food, shelter, healthy and spiritual environment, yoga and meditation. We even accept them as the Volunteers with a service motto as we all know “SERVICE TO LIFE IS SERVICE TO GOD”

Do you know depending upon parents and teachers’ behaviors children learn good or bad activities? For example we choose one regional language in particular state, different areas living people speak different stylish the same regional language because it’s their environment effect. So when parents/teachers create good environments to their children doing good things like social, civic, moral, spiritual, cultural, social response, kind, humanity etc… Then children growing such way if not they will grimy.

Now a day’s one in all are thinking about earn billions of billions of rupees whatever job they are doing and give it to their children on heredity properties. Suppose they will give children billions of billions rupees and there will be no moral values, civic senesce, social responsibilities, humanity, social behavior, kindness, social moving with others and also no pure air, water, earth and sky. Can they enjoy in that society? and live happily such wrinkle and blight society, we will give them not only money on heredity but also we learn or grow them good behaviors like cultural, spiritual, social, moral, civics, kind, help, social responsibility etc.. . Money is requiring for live but life is not money. Money may not make life happy but service must be making live happily that should be known one in all.

 

Our properties just like water level in the well if we use water purposefully the decreased water level in the well filled later. If we don’t use water the level of water remains the same suppose we add more water into the well it looks raise in the water level in movement but after sometime it comes to the original level. If we use water unnecessarily and dry it then we have no water when we want to drink even though our well water will be raised later. So we take a little amount of water and use it towards real needy people. We eat for living and not live for eating man/woman should working until last his/her breathe.

Friends we may not giving as light as the sun but we are giving as light as lamp and try to drive way darkness in the society as able as we can then darkness drive way from the society then we will live peacefully and happily in such society . I hope we make such world! We assure you of our ethical zeal of service to the tender generation born to serve our nation as differently able citizens because “Ability knows no Handicap”.

NEED YOUR SUPPORT

• could you please shake your hands in the humanitarian task and noble cause of raising funds in Aid of the real orphans needy?

• Your support empowers the society with the resources to share responsibility in one of the some common activity with this society as mentioned below:

 

• Orphan Children Home (50 Boys / Girls)

• Residential Primary School (child Labor /street children)

• Orphan Care Home for HIV infected children

• Mobile Medical Units (3 centers)

• Income Generating Programme (Widows)

Name of the Organization: Amma Nanna Charitable Trust (ACT)

Name of Bank: State Bank of India

SB Account No: 30030634007

IFS code: SBIN0002716

Micro Code: 530002009

Branch: Visakhapatnam

Note: Please visit before give your donations to Orphanages/Voluntary Organizations/Charitable Trust

Please don’t donate anything to Orphanages/Volunteer organizations without your personal visit

Joining in our Orphanage at Free of Cost

We are joining more orphan children who have no parent’s age group between 3 to 12 years and also joining Widows and Separated/Deceived Women who have good character and willing to serve to orphan children as volunteer with their children at free of charges only. Our children have been staying with us up to their life settlement that means they will stand with their own bases.

 

Please don’t donate anything to orphanages/NGO/Charitable Trusts/Children homes/old age home/volunteer organizations without your personal visit. Most of organizations are making business in the name of charity. So be careful for donate to any

We are not accepting any thing to our orphanage without personal visit before he/she wants donate.

Amma Nanna Charitable Trust (ACT) was started in providing services for noble cause that includes orphanage for children who have no parent’s and also Widows/Separated /Deceived Women at free of cost only. It is a NGO providing non-profit voluntary social services organization orphanage at free charges homes, that includes promoting education to children and counseling for alcohol and other intoxicates. view to serve society, a non-profit and charitable trust, Volunteer NGO’s Services with the name “AMMA NANNA CHARITABLE TRUST (ACT)"established in year 2005 and acquired its registration (as per the Trust Act of A.P., India.) and Reg. 119/2005. And also License by Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizen & CID-Police Department and License No. 0330/1/2011, under the leadership as Founder & Secretary Sri Gurubelli. Koteswara Rao M.sc, M.Phil, PGDCPA. And as Chairperson and Managing Trustee Smt Gurubelli Venkata Lakshmi alias Suguna M.A(Socialogy) We are so happy to expedite the meaning of “AMMA NANNA” as "MOTHER FATHER" and the exigency of naming this trust had been arisen in reminiscence of the beloved late parents ( Smt & sri Gurubelli. Ammayamma Ramamurthy) of Sri Gurubelli. Koteswara Rao, founder & secretary of this ministries following on their sympathetic favor, commitment and support launched for the neglected people who were drastically lack of food, clothes and other family problems. We are running this NGO Social Service Volunteer Organization with our own funds without any disparity in caste and creed in INDIA Asia and Boards.

Inmates are all district and states of India, like , 1 Town, 75 Feet Road, 4th Town Police Station 104 Area, Aanadha Ashramam, Abidnagar, Anatha Asram, Achampet , Achanta, Adarshnagar, Addanki, Addateegala, Addatheegala, Addakula, Addurodu, Adilabad, Adivivaram, Adoni , Air port, Aganampudi, Akividu,Akkayyapalem, Akkireddypalem, , Alair, Alamanda, Alampur, Alamuru, Allagadda, Allipuram, Allure, Alur, Amadalavalasa, Amalapuram, Amaravathi, Ambajeepeta,Amarchinta, Amaravathi, Amarevati, Anandapuram, Ananthagiri, Anaparthi, Annavaram, Anaparthy, Andhra Bhumi, Andhra University, Anantapur, Andole ,ANR Appikonda, Asifabad, Asifnagar, Asilmetta, Asheelmetta junction, Araku valley, Arasavalli, Arilova, , Armoor, Atchutapuram, Atmakur,, Attili, A U Campus, IN, Out Gate, Auto Nagar, Avanigadda, Badvel, Bala cheruvu, Balacheruvu Road, Balaji Nagar, Ballajura, Balkonda , Bangalore, Banswada, Bapujinagar, Bapatla,Baruva, Bayyavaram, Berhampur, Bhadrachalam, Bheemili, Bheemunipatnam, Bhimadolu, Bhimavaram, Bhogapuram, Bhongir, BHPV, Bhubaneswar, Bhupesh Nagar, Big Bazaar, Bazar, Birla, , Bimavaram, Boath, Bobbili, Bodhan, Bombay, Bowdara, Borra Caves, BRTS, B.S Layout Cheepurupalli, BSI Standard, Buddhavarapu Gardens, Budithi, Buggaram, Burgampahad, Butchirajupalem, Butchi Sundara Rao Street, Burujupeta, , Burugupudi, , Calcutta, CBM Compound, CBI, Chalakurthy, Challavanipeta, Chanakya Towers, Chandragiri, Chandrayangutta, Chapaluppada, Charminar , Chavulamadam, Chavulamadumu, Cheepurupalli, Chennai, Chennur, Cherial, Chevella , Chilakaluripet, Chilakapalem, China musidivada, chinnamusidivada, Chinnor, Chintalapudi, Chintapalli, krishna Chirala, Chittoor, Chodavaram, Chollangi village,Choppadandi, CMR center, Collectorate, Collectors Office Convent junction, corromendal, Coromandel gate, CDR Hospital, Cuddapah, Cumbum, Dabagarden, Dabagardens, Dagguvanipalem, Dasapalla Hills , Darsi, Dayalapuram, Dayal nagar, Delhi, Denduluru, Devarakonda, devipatnam, Dabhagaden, Dharmavaram, Dhavaleswaram, dhayal nagar, Dolphin, Dhondaparthi, Dhone , Dhorathota, , Diamond Park, Dibbalapalem, Dichpalli, Doctors Colony, Dommat,Dondaparthy, Dorakanagar, Dorathota, Dornakal , Duggirala, Duvvada, Dwaraka Nagar, Dwaraka Tirupati, Dwarapudi, , East Godavari, East Point Colony, Ecchapuram, Elamanchili, Eluru, ENDADA, Enadu, Eenadu, Etcherla, Etikoppaka, Femur, Fishing Harbour, Harbor Approach Road, Gadwal, Gajapathinagaram, Gajwel , Ganavaram Port, Gannavaram, Gangulavari, Gannavaram, Gara, Garividi, Ghanpur, Giddalur, Gumma Lakshmipuram, GL Puram, Gunnies Book, Record, Gnanapuram, Gandhigram, Gokavaram, Golkonda, Gollapalem,Gollavanipalem, Golukonda, Golugonda Gopalapatnam, Gooty, Gopalapuram, Gorantla, Gorllivanipalem, Green Park, Greater Visakhapatnam, , G.S.N. Gullipadu, Gudivada, Gudur, Guntur, Gurazala, Gurudwara, Hanamkonda, Hanuman Junction, Temple, Hanumanthavaka, Hall Mark, Hanumantuvaka, Harichandrapuram, Harischandrapuram, Harishchandrapur, HB colony, Head Post Office, Heccherla, Himayat Nagar, Hindupur, Hiramandalam, HPCL,hukumpeta, Huzurabad, Hyderabad, Ibrahimpatnam, Ichapuram, India, INDIA, Indurthi, Industrial estate, IT, IN, INL Kalinga, Isukathota, iskathota, Jadcherla,Jagadam, Jagadamba centre, Jagamba Theatre, Jail Road, Jaggampeta, Jagarajupeta, Jaggayyapalem, Jaggayyapet, Jaghadham Jagtial, Jalandhar, Jalumuru, Jammalamadugu, Jangaon, Jangareddygudem, Jodugullapalem, ,Jukkal, Kadapa, Kadiri, Kadiyam, Kaikalur, Kaikaluru, Kailashmetta, Kaka Nagar, Kakani Nagar, Kailasagiri, Kailasapuram, Kakinada, Kalaniketan, Kalanikhetan, Kalingapatnam, Kalinganagar, , Kalwakurthy, Kalyandurg, Kamalapur, Kamalapuram, Kamareddy, Kancharapalem, Kandukur, Kanigiri, Kankipadu, Kapuluppada, , Kapu uppada, Kapuluppada, Kantipudi, Kanithi Road, , Karimnagar, Karnal, Karnataka, Karnool, Karunol, Karwan, Kasibugga, Kasimkota, Kattipudi, Kavali, KGH, Khairatabad , Khammam, Khanapur, Kirlampudi, layout, K. Kotapadu, Kobbari Thota, Kodad, Kodangal , Kodumur, Koduru, Koduruand, Koilkuntla , Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kondepi, Koppaka, Korasavada, Kotabommali, Kotananduru, Kotavalasa, Kotaveedhi, , Kothagudem, Kothapet, Kotha Road, Kothavalasa, Kothuru, Kotipalli, Koturu, Kovur, Kovvur,Krishna College, Krantinagar, KRM Colony, Kuchinapudi, Kuppam, Kurupam Market, Kurmanpalem, Kurmam, Kummaripalem, Kurmannapalem , Kurnool, Kusalapuram, Lakkireddipalli, Lalitha Nagar, Lankhilapallem, Lakshminagar, Lankelapalem, Lankilapallem, LB Colony, Leela Mahal, Luxettipet, Macherla, Machilipatnam, Madakasira, Madanpalle, Madapamu, Maddilapalem, Madduru, Madivala, Madhira, Madhavadhara, Madhurawada, Madhya Pradesh, Madugula Reddi, Maharanipeta, Mahbubabad , Mahabubnagar, Mahbubnagar, Maharajgunj , Makthal, Malkapuram, Malakpet, Malleswaram, Mandapeta, Mandavaripeta, , Mangalagiri, Manthani, Marikavalasa Maredumilli, Markapur, Marripalem, Martur , Maruteru, Medak, Medchal, Medivada, Metpalli, Meghadripeta, Meghadri gadda, Meghadrigadda, Midilapuri, Mindi, Mindhi, Miryalguda, MMTC Colony, Mud Hole, Mudhole, Mudinepalli, Mulug, Mumbai, Mulagada, Mummidivaram, Muppidi Colony, Mungode, Murali Nagar, Musheerabad, Nagari , Nagarkurnool , MVP colony, Myadaram, Mydukur, Mylavaram, NAD junction, Nagaram, Naguru, Naiduthota Nakkapalem, Nakkapalli, Nakkavanipalem, Nakrekal, Nalgonda, Nallamada, Nandigama, Nandyal, Narasannapeta, Narasaraopet, Narasimha, Narayankhed , Narasapur, narsapur, Narsampet, Narsipatnam, Narisipatnam, Natavalasa, Nathavaram, Nathayyapalem, Naval Dock, Yard Neelamma Vepaqchettu, Naval Dock Yard Neelamma Vepachettu, Nellimarla, Nellore, Nerella, new Gajuwaka, Nidadavole,nidadhavole, Nidadhavolu, Nidumolu ,Nimmada, Nirmal, Nivagam, Nizamabad, N.R. I NSTL, NTPC, NTPC-Parawada, Nuzvid, Odessa, Old post office, Ongole, Orissa, Paderu, Palacole, Palair, Palakonda, Palakollu, Palamaner, Palasa, Pallavaram, Panchadarla, Panyam, Parawada, Parchur, Parkal, Pargi, Parlakimidi, Parvathipuram, Patapatnam, Pata Polavaram, Pathapatnam, Pattikonda , Payakaraopeta, Pedakurapadu, Peda Peddapalli, Peddipalem, Peddapuram, Pendurthi, pendurthy, Penugonda, Penukonda Pillala Ashramam, Piler, Pithapuram, PM Palem, PNT Colony, Pandurangapuram, Polaki, Polavaram, Ponduru, Ponnur, Poondi, Poorna Market, Porur, Prakasam, Prathipadu, Priya, Proddat, Proddatur, Pudimadaka, Pulivendula, Pundi, Pune, Punganur, purna, Purushothapuram, Purusotapuram, puspatera, Puttur , Pydibheemavaram, Rail Way New Colony, Rajahmundry, Rajam, Rajampet, Raj, Raja Nagar, rajavommangi, Rajolu, Ramachandrapuram, Ramagundam, Rama Nagar, Ramnagar, Ramannapet, Rama Talkies Center, ramatheertham, Ramtherdham, Neusan Bhag,Ramatheertham, ramavaram, Ramayampet, Rambilli, Ramnagar, Rampachodavaram, Rangapuram, Ranastalam, Rangareddy, Ravulapalem, Rayachoty, Rayadurg, Raya Durg, Rayavaram, , Razole, Reddipalli, RegupaduRepalle, Rapur, Regupalem, Revidi, Revit, RK Beach, Rotherham, Rushikonda,rusu konda, Rushukonda, Sabbavaram, Sagar Nagar, Sakhsi, Salur, Sampara , Sanath Nagar, Sangareddy, Santhanuthalapadu , Sarasota, Saraswati Park, Saravakota, Sarvepalli, Sathivada, Sathupalli, Sattenapalli Sastry Road, Satyam centre, Satyavedu, Secunderabad, seetampeta, Seethammadhara, Seethampeta, Shadnagar, Shayampet, Sholur, Shopping Mall, Siddhantam, Siddipet, Simhachalam, Sindhiya, Singanamala, Sircilla , Sirpur, Siripuram, S. Kota, Soluru, Sompeta, Sriharipuram, Srikakulam, Sri Kalahasti, Sri Kalahsti, Srikurmam, Srimukalingam, Srimukhalingam, Srungavarapukota, Steel Plant Quarters Sector, Sujathanagar, Sulurpet, Suryabagh, Surya Bhag, Suryapet, Tadepalligudem, Tadepellegudem, tadepalli gudum, Tadikonda, Tadipatri, Tagarapuvalasa, , Tallapalem, Talarevu, Tallarevu, Tamil nadu, Tandur, Tanuku , Tekkali, Tenali, Thamballapalle, Thatichetlapalem, Therlam, Thotapalli, Tilaru, Tikkavanipalem, Timaru, Tirumala, Tirupati, Tiruvuru, Tuni, Tungaturthi, UDA Park, Udda Udayagiri, Ukkumpeta, Ukkunagaram, Undi, Unguturu, Universal records, Uravakonda, Ushodaya Colony, Uttarahalli, Uttarapalli, Vada cheepurupalli, Vadacheepurapalli, Vaddadi, Vanukuru, Vartha, varthaa, Vayalpad, Vellanki, Vemur, Venkatagiri , Venkojipalem, Velampeta, Vepada, Vepagunta, Vepanjeri , Vijayawada, Vikarabad, Vinukonda, Visakhapatnam, Visakha Valley, Vitanthula ashramam, Vizag, Vizianagaram, Vrudhula ashramam Vuyyuru, Waltair, Wanaparthy, Warangal, Wardhannapet, West Godavari World Record, Yalamanchili, Yakutpura, Yeleswaram, Yellandu, Yellareddy, Yellavaram, Yemmiganur, Yendada, Y junction, Zahirabad, Zoo Park center, and other state of India.

Guntur District Macherla , Veldurthi , Narasaraopeta, Rentacrintala , Bollapalle , Rompicherla , Gurazala , Nakarikallu , Ipur Dachepalle, Muppalla , Savalyapuram , Machavaram , Phirangipuram , Vinukonda , Bellamkonda , Medikonduru , Nuzendla , Achampeta , Guntur , Chilakaluripet , Krosuru , Pedakakani , Pedanandipadu , Amaravathi , Duggirala , Kakumanu, Thullur , Kollipara , Ponnur , Thadepalle , Kollur , Amruthalur , Mangalagiri , Vemuru , Cherukupalle , Tadikonda , Tenali , Bhattiprolu , Pedakurapadu , Tsundur , Repalle , ,Sattenapalle , Chebrole , Nagaram , Rajupalem , Vatticherukuru , Nizampatnam , Piduguralla , Prathipadu , Pittalavanipalem , Karempudi , Edlapadu , Karlapalem , Durgi , Nadendla , Bapatla. Narasaraopet, Rentachintala, Bollapalli, Nekarikallu, Jaipur, Thadepalli, Cherukupalli Chebrolu, Georgia

Krishna District Vijayawada A.Konduru, Agiripalli, Avanigadda, Bantumilli, Bapulapadu, Challapalli, Chandralapadu, Chatrai, Gampalogudem, Gannavaram, G. Konduru, Ghantasala, Guduru, Gudivada, Gudlavalleru, Ibrahimpatnam, Jaggayyapeta, Kaikalur, Kalidindi , Kanchikacherla , Kankipadu, Koduru , Kruthivennu, Mailavaram , Machilipatam, Mandavalli , Movva , Mopidevi , Mudinepalle , Musunuru , Nagayalanka , Nandigama , Nandivada, Nuzvid , Pamidimukkala , Pedana, Pamarru, Pedaparupudi , Penuganchiprolu , Penamaluru , Reddigudem , Tiruvuru , Thotlavalluru , Unguturu, Vatsavai, Vissannapeta, Vuyyuru, Veerullapadu , Chandarlapadu, Gampalagudem, benz circle, ring road, Machilipatnam, gunadala matha , kondapalli , gollapalli , Telaprolu.

Srikakulam District Veeraghattam , Bhamini , Vangara , Kothuru , Regidiamadala Valasa , Hiramandalam , Rajam , Sarubujjili , Ganguvari Singadam , Amadalavalasa , Laveru , Srikakulam , Ranastalam , Gara , Hetcherla , Polaki , Ponduru , Narasannapeta , Santhakaviti , Jalumuru , Burja , Saravakota, Palakonda , Pathapatnam , Seethampeta , Meliaputti, Kotabommali , Santha Bommali , Nandigam , Vajrapu Kothuru , Palasa , Mandasa , Sompeta , Kanchili , Kaviti , Tekkali, Ichchapuram , Regidi amadalaValasa ,Santhabommali.

Vizianagaram District Komarada , Ramabhadrapuram , Gummalakshmipuram , Badangi , Kurupam , Therlam , Jiyyammavalasa , Merakamudidam , Garugubilli , Dattirajeru , Parvathipuram , Mentada , Makkuva , Gajapathinagaram , Seethanagaram , Bondapalle , Balajipeta , Gurla , Bobbili , Garividi , Salur , Cheepurupalle , Pachipenta , Nellimarla , Bhoghapuram , Denkada , Vizianagaram , Gantyada , Srungavarapukota , Vepada , Lakkavarapukota , Jami , Kothavalasa, Pusapatirega, Colorado, Thermal Bondapalli.

Visakhapatnam District Munchingiputtu, Nathavaram , Pedagantyada , Pedabayalu , Narsipatnam , Paravada , Hukumpetau , Rolugunta , Anakapalli , Dumbriguda , Ravikamatham , Munagapaka , Arakuvalley , Butchayyapeta , Kasimkota , Ananthagiri , Chodavaram , Makavarapalem, Devarapalle , K Kotapadu, Kotauratla , Cheedikada , Sabbavaram , Payakaraopeta , Madugula , Pendurthi , Nakkapalli , Paderu , Anandapuram , S. Rayavaram , Gangaraju Madugula , Padmanabham , Yelamanchili , Chintapalle , Bheemunipatnam , Rambilli , Gudemkothaveedhi , Visakhapatnam , Atchutapuram, Koyyuru , Visakhapatnam urban, rural, Golugonda , Gajuwaka . Munching Puttu, Devarapalli , Gudem Kotha Veedhi.

East Godavari District Maredumilli , Pithapuram , Kapileswarapuram , Y Ramavaram , Kothapalle , Alamuru , Addateegala , Kakinada, Atreyapuram , Rajavommangi , Ravula Palem , Kotananduru , Samalkota , Pamarru , Tuni , Rangampeta , Kothapeta , Thondangi , Gandepalle , P Gannavaram , Gollaprolu , Rajanagaram , Ambajipeta , Sankhavaram , Rajahmundry, Ainavilli , Prathipadu , Mummidivaram , Yeleswaram , Kadiam , I.Polavaram , Gangavaram , Mandapeta , Katrenikona, Rampachodavaram , Anaparthy , Uppalaguptam , Devipatnam , Biccavolu , Amalapuram , Seethanagaram , Pedapudi , Allavaram , Korukonda , Karapa , Mamidikuduru , Gokavaram , Thallarevu , Razole , Jaggampeta , Kajuluru , Malikipuram , Kirlampudi , Ramachandrapuram , Sakhinetipalle, Peddapuram , Rayavaram , sankavaram, Samalkot, Kothapet , Gandepalli , Sakhinetipalli, samrlakota.

West Godavari District Jeelugumilli , Nidadavole , Undi , Buttayagudem , Tadepalligudem , Akiveedu , Polavaram , Unguturu , Kalla , Thallapudi , Bhimadole , Bheemavaram , Gopalapuram , Pedavegi , Palakoderu , Koyyalagudem , Pedapadu , Veeravasaram , Jangareddigudem , Eluru , Penumantra , T.Narasapuram , Denduluru , Penugonda , Chintalapudi , Nidamarru , Achanta , Lingapalem , Ganapavaram , Poduru , Kamavarapukota , Pentapadu , Palacole , Dwarakatirumala , Tanuku , Yelamanchili , Nallajerla , Undrajavaram , Narasapuram , Devarapalle , Peravali , Mogalthur Chagallu , Iragavaram , Kovvur , Attili . Tallapudi, Bhimavaram, Palakol, chebrolu Dwaraka Tirumala, Devarapalli.

Khammam District Cherla , Yellandu , Enkuru , Pinapaka , Singareni , Konijerla , Gundala , Bayyaram , Khammam Urban , Manuguru ,Garla , Khammam Rural , Aswapuram , Kamepalle , Thirumalayapalem , Dummugudem , Julurpad , Kusumanchi , Bhadrachalam , Chandrugonda , Nelakondapalle , Kunavaram , Mulakalapalle ,Mudigonda , Chintur , Aswaraopeta , Chinthakani , Vararamachandrapuram , Dammapeta , Wyra , Velairpad , Sathupalle , Bonakal , Kukunoor , Vemsoor , Madhira , Burgampadu , Penuballi , Yerrupalem, Palawancha, Wazeed , Kothagudem , Kalluru , Venkatapuram , Tekulapalle , Thallada . Cherla , Nakuru , Uganda , Kamepalli , Nelakondapalli ,Mulakalapalli Va Ramachandrapuram , Palvancha , Tekulapally.

Prakasam District Yerragondapalem , Martur , Veligandla , Pullalacheruvu , Parchur , Pedacherlopalle , Tripuranthakam , Karamchedu , Ponnaluru , Kurichedu , Chirala , Kondapi , Donakonda , Vetapalem , Santhanuthlapadu , Pedaaraveedu , Inkollu , Ongole , Dornala , Janakavaram, Panguluru , Naguluppalapadu , Ardhaveedu , Korisapadu , Chinaganjam , Markapur , Maddipadu , Kothapatnam , Tarlapadu , Chimakurthi , Tangutur , Konakanamitla , Marripudi , Zarugumilli , Podili , Kanigiri , Kandukur , Darsi , Hanumanthunipadu , Voletivaripalem , Mundlamuru , Bestavaripeta , Pamur , Thallur , Cumbum , Lingasamudram , Addanki , Racherla , Gudluru , Ballikuruva , Giddaluru , Ulavapadu , Santhamaguluru , Komarolu , Singarayakonda , Yeddanapudi , Chadrasekara, Puram . Peda Cherlopalli, Peddaraveedu, Tarlupadu, Chimakurthy, Jarugumilli, Ballikurava, Chandrasekara.

Sri Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District Seetharamapuram, Kodavalur , Sydapuram , Varikuntapadu , Butchireddipalem , Dakkili , Kondapuram , Sangam , Venkatagiri , Jaladanki , Chejerla , Balayapalle , Kavali , Ananthasagaram , Ojili , Bogole , Kaluvoya , Chillakur , Kaligiri , Rapur , Kota , Vinjamur , Podlakur , Vakadu , Duttalur , Nellore , Chittamur , Udayagiri , Kovur , Naidupeta , Marripadu , Indukurpet , Pellakur , Atmakur , Thotapalligudur , Doravarisatram , Anumasamudrampeta , Muthukur , Sullurpeta , Dagadarthi , Venkatachalam , Tada , Allur , Manubolu , Vidavalur , Gudur Buchireddypalem, Balayapalli , Podalakur , Thotapalli Gudur ,Anamasamudrampeta , Allure .

Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy Cuddapah District Muddanur, Vempalle , Kondapuram , Simhadripuram , Chaknayapet , Mylavaram , Lingala , Lakkireddipalle , Peddamudium , Pulivendla , Ramapuram , Raju Palem , Vemula , Veeraballe , Duvvur , Thandur , Rajampet , S Mydukur , Veerapunayunipalle , Nandalur , Brahmamgarimattam , Yerraguntla , Penagaluru , B Kodur , Kamalapuram , Chitvel , Kalasapadu , Vallur , Kodur , Porumamilla , Chennur , Obulavaripalle , Badvel , Atlur , Pullampeta , Gopavaram , Vontimitta , T.Sundupalle , Khajipet , Sidhout , Sambepalle , Chapad , Chinnamandem , Proddutur , Chintha Kommadinne , Rayachoti , Jammalamadugu , Pendlimarri , Galiveedu Vempalli , Chakrayapet , Pulivendula , Tandur , Veerapunayuni Palli , Penagalur , Obulavaripalli , Atlanta , Pullampet , T.Sundupalli , Kazipet, Sambepalli, Proddatur.

Chittoor District Peddamandyam , K V P Puram , Nagari , Thamballapalle , Narayanavanam , Karvetinagar , Mulakalacheruvu , Vadamalapeta , Srirangaraja Puram , Peddathippa Samudram , Tirupati Rural , Palasamudram , B.Kothakota , Kammapalle , Gangadhara Nellore , Kurabalakota , Chandragiri , Penumuru , Gurramkonda , Chinnagottigallu , Puthalapattu , Kalakada , Rompicherla , Irala , Kambhamvaripalle , Pileru , Thavanampalle , Yerravaripalem , Kalikiri ,Chittoor , Tirupati Urban , Vayalpad , Gudipala , Renigunta , Nimmanapalle , Yadamari , Yerpedu , Mandopalle , Bangarupalem , Srikalahasti , Ramasamudram , Palamaner , Thottambedu , Punganur , Gangavaram , Buchinaidu Khandriga , Chowdepalle , Pedda Panjani , Varadaiahpalem , Somala , Baireddi Palle , Satyavedu , Sodam , Venkatagiri Kota , Nagalapuram , Pulicherla , Ramakuppam , Pichatur , Pakala , Santhi Puram , Vijaya Puram , Veduru Kuppam , Gudi Palle , Nindra , Puttur , Kuppam K V B Puram , Sri Rangaraja Puram , Pedda Thippa , Kammapalli , Kambham Vari Palli , Piler , Madanapalle , Madanapalle, Bangarupalem , Srikalahasti , Kandireega , Peddapanjani , Somalia , Baireddipalle ,Sathyavedu , Sodom, Santhipuram , Vijayapuram , Vedurukuppam , Gudipalle , Nidra.

Ananthapur District D.Hirchal , Kunurpi , Gandlapenta , Bommanahal , Kalyandurg , Kadiri , Vidapanakal , Atmakur , Amadagur , Vajrakarur , Anantapur , Obuladevaracheruvu , Guntakal , Bukkarayasamudram , Nallamada , Gooty , Narpala , Gorantla , Peddavadugur , Putlur , Puttaparthi , Yadiki , Yellanur , Bukkapatnam , Tadpatri , Tadimarri , Kothacheruvu , Peddapappur , Bathalapalle , Penu Konda , Singanamala , Raptadu , Roddam , Pamidi , Kanaganapalle , Somandepalle , Garladinne , Kambadur , Chilamathur , Kudair , Ramagiri , Lepakshi , Uravakonda , Chenne Kothapalle , Hindupur , Beluguppa , Dharmavaram , Parigi , Kanekal , Mudigubba , Madakasira , Rayadurg , Talupula , Gudibanda , Gummagatta , Nambulipulikunta , Amarapuram , Brahmasamudram , Tanakal , Agali , Settur , Nallacheruvu , Rolla D.Hirehal, Kundurpi , Bommanahalli , Bathalapalli , Penukonda , Kanaganapalli , Sattur.

Kurnool District Kowthalam , Kodumur , Rudravaram , Kosigi , Gonegandla , Allagadda , Mantralayam , Yemmiganur , Chagalamarri , Nandavaram , Pedda Kadalur , Uyyalawada , C.Belagal , Adoni , Dornipadu , Gudur , Holagunda , Gospadu , Kurnool , Alur , Koilkuntla , Nandi Kotkur , Aspari , Banaganapalle , Pagidyala , Devanakonda , Sanjamala , Kothapalle , Krishnagiri , Kolimigundla , Atmakur , Veldurthi , Owk , Srisailam , Bethamcherla , Peapally , Velgode , Panyam , Dhone , Pamulapadu , Gadivemula , Tuggali , Jupadu Bungalow , Bandi Atmakur , Pattikanda , Midthur , Nandyal , Maddikera East , Orvakal , Mahanandi , Chippagiri , Kallur , Sirvel , Halaharvi . Nandikotkur, Banaganapalli, Dhoni, Jupadu Bunglow, Silver.

Mahabubnagar District Kodangal , Jadcherla , Amrabad , Bomraspeta , Bhoothpur , Balmoor , Kosgi , Mahbubnagar , Lingal , Doulatabad , Addakal , Peddakothapalle , Damaragidda , Devarkadara , Kodair , Maddur , Dhanwada , Gopalpeta , Koilkonda , Narayanpet , Wanaparthy , Hanwada , Utkoor , Pangal , Nawabpet , Maganoor , Pebbair , Balanagar , Makthal , Gadwal , Kondurg , Narva , Dharur , Farooqnagar , Chinna Chinta Kunta , Maldakal , Kothur , Atmakur , Ghattu , Keshampeta , Kothakota , Aiza , Talakondapalle , Peddamandadi , Waddepalle , Amangal , Ghanpur , Itikyal , Madgul , Bijinapalle , Manopadu , Vangoor , Nagar Kurnool , Alampur , Veldanda , Tadoor , Veepangandla , Kalwakurthy , Telkapalle , Kollapur , Midjil , Uppununthala , Thimmajipeta , Achampeta . Daulatabad, Tandoor, Telkapally, Kolhapur, Thimmajipet.

Rangareddy District Marpalle ,Hayathnagar , Gandeed , Mominpet , Saroornagar , Kulkacharla , Nawabpet , Rajendranagar , Pargi , Shankarpalle , Moinabad , Pudur , Malkajgiri , Chevella , Shabad , Serilingampalle , Vikarabad , Shamshabad , Quthbullapur , Dharur , Maheswaram , Medchal , Bantaram , Ibrahimpatam , Shamirpet ,Peddemul , Manchal , Balanagar , Tandur , Yacharam , Keesara , Basheerabad , Kandukur , Ghatkesar , Yelal , Uppal , Doma . Shankarpalli, puduraya, Serilingampally, Maheshwaram, Yell.

Nalgonda District Bommalaramaram , Chityala , Thripuraram , M Turkapalle , Narketpalle , Miryalaguda , Rajapet , Kattangoor , Garide Palle , Yadagirigutta , Nakrekal , Chilkur , Alair , Kethepalle , Kodad , Gundala , Suryapet , Mellachervu , Thirumalagiri , Chivvemla , Huzurnagar , Thunga Thurthi , Mothey , Mattampalle , Nuthankal , Nadigudem , Nered Cherla , Atmakur (S) , Munagala , Dameracherla , Jaji Reddi Gudem , Penpahad , Anumula , Saligouraram , Vemulapalle , Peddavura , Mothkur , Thipparthi , Pedda Adiserlapalle , Atmakur (M) , Nalgonda , Gurrampode , Valigonda , Munugode , Nampalle , Bhuvanagiri , Narayanapur , Chintha Palle , Bibinagar , Marri Guda , Devarakonda , Pochampalle , Chandur , Gundla Palle , Choutuppal , Kangal , Chandam Pet , Ramannapeta , Nidamanur . Tripuraram , M Turkapally , Narketpally , Kethepally , Uganda , Mellacheruvu , Tirumalagiri , Chivemla ,Thoonga , Mattampally, Need Cherla , Damaracherla , Shaligouraram , Vemulapalli ,Peddavura , Narayanpur , Chintapalli , Marriguda , Pochampally , Gundlapalli ,Chandampet , Ramannapet.

Medak District Manoor , Siddipet , Kohir , Kangti , Chinna Kodur , Munpalle , Kalher , Nanganur , Pulkal , Narayankhed , Kondapak , Sadasivpet , Regode , Jagdevpur , Kondapur ,Shankarampet (A) , Gajwel , Sangareddy , Alladurg , Doultabad , Patancheru , Tekmal , Chegunta , Ramachandrapuram , Papannapet , Yeldurthy , Jinnaram , Kulcharam , Kowdipalle , Hathnoora , Medak , Andole , Narsapur , Shankarampet (R) , Raikode , Shivampet , Ramayampet , Nyalkal , Tupran , Dubbak , Jharasangam , Wargal , Mirdoddi , Zahirabad , Mulug . Manoor, Munipalle, Nanganallur, Daulatabad, Veldurthy, Kowdipally, Toopran, to Oprah

Warangal District Cheriyal , Thorrur , Duggondi , Maddur , Nellikudur , Geesugonda , Narmetta , Narsimhulapet , Atmakur , Bachannapeta , Maripeda , Shayampet , Jangaon , Dornakal , Parkal , Lingala Ghanpur , Kuravi , Regonda , Raghunatha Palle , Mahabubabad , Mogullapalle , Ghanpur(Stn) , Kesamudram , Chityal , Dharmasagar , Nekkonda , Bhupalpalle , Hasanparthy , Gudur , Ghanapur , Hanamkonda , Kothagudem , Mulug , Wardhannapet , Khanapur , Venkatapur , Zaffergadh , Govindaraopet , Palakurthi , Chennaraopet , Tadvai , Devaruppula , Parvathagiri , Eturnagaram , Kodakandla , Sangam , Mangapet , Raiparthy , Nallabelly , Warangal Cherial, Cheryl, Bachannapet, Kuruvi, Mogullapally, Bhupalpally, Ghanpur.

Karimnagar District Ibrahimpatnam , Jagtial , Vemulawada , Mallapur , Medipalle , Konaraopeta , Raikal , Koratla , Yella Reddi Peta , Sarangapur , Metpalle , Gambhiraopet , Dharmapuri , Kathlapur , Mustabad , Velgatoor , Chandurthi , Sirsilla , Ramagundam , Kodimial , Ellanthakunta , Kamanpur , Gangadhara , Bejjanki , Manthani , Mallial , Thimmapur , Kataram , Pegadapalle , Kesavapatnam , Mahadevpur , Choppadandi , Huzurabad , Mutharam , Mahadevpur , Sultanabad , Kamalapur , Malharrao , Odela , Elkathurthi , Mutharam Manthani , Jammikunta , Saidapur , Srirampur , Veenavanka , Chigurumamidi , Peddapalle , Manakondur , Koheda , Julapalle , Karimnagar , Husnabad , Dharmaram , Ramadugu , Bheemadevarpalle , Gollapalle , Boinpalle Medipally , Konaraopet , Korutla , Yellareddy Peta , Sarangpur , ,Metpally , Kathalapur , Pegadapally , Elkathurthy , Shrirampur , Peddapalli , Julapalli , , Bheemadevarapally, Bowenpally.

Nizamabad District Ranjal , Yeda Palle , Sadasivanagar , Navipet , Bodhan , Gandhari , Nandipet , Kotgiri , Banswada , Armur , Madnur , Pitlam , Balkonda , Jukkal , Nizamsagar , Mortad , Bichkunda , Yellareddy , Kammar , Palle , Birkoor , Naga Reddipet , Bheemgal , Varni , Lingampet , Velpur , Dichpalle , Tadwai , Jakranpalle , Dhar Palle , Kamareddy , Makloor , Sirkonda , Bhiknur , Nizamabad , Machareddy , Domakonda . Sadashivanagar, Kotagiri, Armour, Pelle, Naga Reddit, Dichpally, Jakranpally, Sirikonda

Adilabad District Talamadugu , Lohesra , Tiryani , Tamsi , Dilawarpur , Asifabad , Adilabad , Nirmal , Wankdi , Jainad , Laxmanchanda , Kagaz Nagar , Bela , Mamda , Rebbana , Narnoor , Khanpur , Tandur , Inderavelly , Kaddampeddur , Bellampalle , Gudihatnur , Utnur , Nennal , Ichoda , Jainoor , Bheemini , Bazarhathnoor , Kerameri , Sirpur (T) , Boath , Sirpur (U) , Kouthala , Neradigonda , Jannaram , Bejjur , Sarangapur , Dandepalle , Dahegaon , Kuntala , Luxettipet , Vemanpalle , Kubeer , Mancherial , Kotapalle , Bhainsa , Mandamarri , Chennur , Tanur , Kasipet , Jaipur , Mudhole Lohara, Tampa , Kagaznagar , Bella , Kaddam Peddur , Gudihathnoor , Bheemili, boathouse , Sarangpur , Vempalli , Kazipet.

Hyderabad, Secendrabad kukatpally , tank bund , hussain sagar , birla mandir ,himayat nagar , begumpet, shamshabad, charminar, golconda , banjara hills ,stadhampton , khairabadi , yousufguda, patancheru,Musheerabad , Ameerpet ,Khairatabad , Bandlaguda, Amberpet , Secunderabad, Charminar , Asifnagar , Himayathnagar ,Tirumalagiri , Golconda , Saidabad , Maredalle,shaikpet ,nampally ,bahadurpura , Maryland .cyderabad, jubili hills, kazipally, bollaram, bachupally, swarnapuri, miyapur, kompally,thumkunta, hakimpet, ramachandra puram, vishwambhar enclave, bala nagar, serilingampally, sri ram nagar, gachibowli, madhapur, secretarial, tolichowki, gandipet, raghuram nagar, bharat nagar, budvel, rajendra nagar, bakaram, kothwalguda, ahmadpur, kavadiguda, asthma, jeedimetla, balaji nagar, alwal, yapral, dammaiguda, sainikpuri, kapra, sakthi nagar, asrao nagar, moulali, bowenpally, ramanthapur, pizza, saroor nagar, falaknuma, vansathi puram, hanuman nagar, brindavan colony, nadergul, indira reddy, rallaguda, gollapally, new hafeezpet, trimulgherry, safilguda, yellareddyguda, musheerabad, taj residency, hill font, apollo hospital, afzalgunj, tadbund, bahadurgarh, sri raghavendra, aradhana, marredpally, zaheerabad, film nagar, mehdipatnam, imperial, esi, kanchanbagh, yeddumailaram, manikonda, chandrayangutta, janwada, chilkur, bakaram, sacoor nagar, deshmukhi, doolapally, amberpet, dilsukhnagar, karwan, gosha mahal, bahadurpura,

Bombay Dilli, Dehli, Kolkata, Kalikata, Kalkutta, Bengaloru, engaluru, Bangalur, Madras, Chennapattanam, Ahmadâbâd, Ahmadabad, Amdabad, Ahmedabad , Haidarabad, Haidarabad, Haiderabad, Hyderabad, Haider-Abad Poona, Pune, Kanpur, Kanpur, Cawnpore, Khanpur, sorat, Surat, Jeypore, Lakhnau Lucknow, Nagpur, Thana, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Surat, Jaipur, Vadodara, Indore, Patna, Madurai, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam, Agra, Mumbai.

Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradeshm Itangar, Itanagar, Assam, Dispur, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Raipur, Goa, Panaji, Gujaratm Gandhinagar, Haryana, Chandigarhm Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, Jharkhand, Ranchi, Karnataka, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Trivandrum, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Imphal, Meghalaya, Shillong, Mizoram, Aizawi, Nagaland, Kohima, Orissa, Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneshwar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jaipur, Sikkim, Gangtok, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Agartala, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Kolkata, Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh, Dada and Nagar Haveli, Silvassa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Port Blair, Daman and Diu, Lakshadeep, Kavaratti, Yanam, Pondicherry. Asia, USA, America, Washington, Belgium, New York, United States of America, United Kingdom, Columbia, Bangkok, Australia, Switzerland, Mexico, France, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Denmark, France, London, New Zealand, Spain. Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Russia, Philippines, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Thailand, Burma, South Africa, Algeria,

   

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

This painting shows the Karnal war - the invasion of India. It dates from the Qajar period.

ILRI visit to India's National Dairy Research Institute, in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 5 March 2016 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo)

frida...

The Yamuna (Hindustani: /jəmʊnaː/), sometimes called the Jamuna or Jumna (Hindustani: /d͡ʒəm(ʊ)na:/), is the longest and the second largest tributary river of the Ganges (Ganga) in northern India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of 6,387 metres on the south western slopes of Banderpooch peaks in the uppermost region of the Lower Himalayas in Uttarakhand, it travels a total length of 1,376 kilometres and has a drainage system of 366,223 square kilometres, 40.2% of the entire Ganges Basin, before merging with the Ganges at Triveni Sangam, Allahabad, the site for the Kumbha Mela every twelve years. It is the longest river in India which does not directly flow to the sea.

 

It crosses several states, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, passing by Uttarakhand and later Delhi, and meets its tributaries on the way, including Tons, its largest tributary in Uttarakhand, Chambal, its longest tributary which has its own large basin, followed by Sindh, the Betwa, and Ken. Most importantly it creates the highly fertile alluvial, Yamuna-Ganges Doab region between itself and the Ganges in the Indo-Gangetic plain. Nearly 57 million people depend on the Yamuna waters. With an annual flow of about 10,000 cubic billion metres (cbm) and usage of 4,400 cbm (of which irrigation constitutes 96 per cent), the river accounts for more than 70 per cent of Delhi’s water supplies. Just like the Ganges, the Yamuna too is highly venerated in Hinduism and worshipped as goddess Yamuna, throughout its course. In Hindu mythology, she is the daughter of Sun God, Surya, and sister of Yama, the God of Death, hence also known as Yami and according to popular legends, bathing in its sacred waters frees one from the torments of death.

 

The water of Yamuna is of "reasonably good quality" through its length from Yamunotri in the Himalayas to Wazirabad in Delhi, about 375 kilometres, where the discharge of waste water through 15 drains between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage renders the river severely polluted after Wazirabad. One official describes the river as a "sewage drain" with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) values ranging from 14 to 28 mg/l and high coliform content. There are three main sources of pollution in the river, namely households and municipal disposal sites, soil erosion resulting from deforestation occurring to make way for agriculture along with resulting chemical wash-off from fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and run-off from commercial activity and industrial sites.

 

SOURCE

The source of Yamuna lies in the Yamunotri Glacier at an elevation of 6,387 metres, on the south western slopes of Banderpooch peaks, which lie in the Mussoorie range of Lower Himalayas, in the Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, north of Haridwar. Yamunotri temple, a shrine dedicated to the goddess, Yamuna is one of the holiest shrines in Hinduism, and part of the Chota Char Dham Yatra circuit. Also standing close to the temple, on its 13-kilometre trek route, that follows the right bank of the river, lies the Markendeya Tirtha, where the sage Markandeya wrote the Markandeya Purana.

 

From here it flows southwards, for about 200 kilometres through the Lower Himalayas and the Shivalik Hills Range and morainic deposited are found in its steep Upper Yamuna village, highlighted with geomorphic features such as interlocking spurs, steep rock benches, gorges and stream terraces. Large terraces formed over a long period of time can be seen in the lower course of the river, like ones near Naugoan. An important part of its early catchment area totalling 2,320 square kilometres lies in Himachal Pradesh, and an important tributary draining the Upper Catchment Area is the Tons, Yamuna's largest tributary, which rises from the Hari-ki-dun valley and holds water more than the main stream, which it merges after Kalsi near Dehradun. The entire drainage system of the river stretches all the way between Giri-Sutlej catchment in Himachal and Yamuna-Bhilangna catchment in Garhwal, indeed the southern ridge of Shimla is also drained into this system. Kalanag (6,387 metres) is the highest point of the entire Yamuna basin.

 

Other tributaries in the region are the Giri, Rishi Ganga, Kunta, Hanuman Ganga and Bata tributaries, which drain the Upper Catchment Area of the vast Yamuna basin. Thereafter the river descends on to the plains of Doon Valley, at Dak Pathar near Dehradun. Here through the Dakpathar Barrage, the water is diverted into a canal for power generation, little further down where Yamuna is met by the Assan River, lies the Asan Barrage, which hosts a Bird Sanctuary as well. After passing the Sikh pilgrimage town of Paonta Sahib, it reaches Tajewala in Yamuna Nagar district (named after the river itself), of Haryana, where a dam built in 1873, is the originating place of two important canals, the Western Yamuna Canal and Eastern Yamuna Canal, which irrigate the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) crosses Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Panipat before reaching the Haiderpur treatment plant, which supplies part of municipal water supply to Delhi, further it also receives waste water from Yamuna Nagar and Panipat cities. Yamuna is replenished again after this by seasonal streams and groundwater accrual, in fact during the dry season, it remains dry in many stretches from Tajewala till Delhi, where it enters near Palla village after traversing 224 kilometres.

 

The Yamuna also creates natural state borders between the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states, and further down between the state of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Along with the Ganges to which run almost parallel after it touches the Indo-Gangetic plain, the largest alluvial fertile plain in the world, it creates the Ganges-Yamuna Doab region spread across 69,000 square kilometres, one-third of the entire plain, and today known for its agricultural outputs, prominent among them is the cultivation of Basmati Rice. The plain itself supports one-third of India's population through its farming.

 

Subsequently, it flows through the states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges at a sacred spot known as Triveni Sangam in Allahabad after traversing a distance of 1,376 kilometres. Here pilgrims travel by boats to platforms erected mid stream to offer prayers. During the Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years, the ghats around the Sangam are venue of large congregation of people, who take dip in the sacred waters of the confluence. The cities of Baghpat, Delhi, Noida, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Kalpi, Hamirpur, Allahabad lie on its banks. At Etawah, it meets it another important tributary, Chambal, followed by a host of tributaries further down, including, Sindh, the Betwa, and Ken.

 

IMPORTANT TRIBUTARIES

Tons River, Yamuna's largest tributary, rises in the 6,315 m high Bandarpoonch mountain, and has a large basin in Himachal Pradesh. It meets Yamuna below Kalsi near Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Hindon River, originates in the Saharanpur District, from Upper Shivalik in Lower Himalayan Range, is entirely rainfed and has a catchment area of 7,083 square kilometres, traverses 400 kilometres through Muzaffarnagar District, Meerut District, Baghpat District, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, before joining Yamuna just outside Delhi.

Ken River, flows through Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, it originates near village Ahirgawan in Jabalpur district and travels a distance of 427 kilometres, before merging with the Yamuna at Chilla village, near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, and has an overall drainage basin of 28,058 square kilometres.

Chambal River, known as Charmanvati in ancient times, is Yamuna's longest tributary flows through Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, with a drainage basin of 143,219 square kilometres and traverses a total distance of 960 kilometres, from its source in Vindhya Range, near Mhow and supports hydro-power generation at Gandhi Sagar dam, Rana Pratap Sagar dam and Jawahar Sagar dam, before merging into the Yamuna south east of Sohan Goan, in Etawah district, shortly thereafter followed by another tributary, the Sindh River.

Sasur Khaderi River, known as Sasur Khaderi is a tributary in Fatehpur district.

 

HISTORY

The name Yamuna seems to be derived from the Sanskrit word "yama", meaning 'twin', and it may have been applied to the river because it runs parallel to the Ganges. The Yamuna is mentioned at many places in the Rig Veda, which was composed during the Vedic period between ca. 1700–1100 BC, and also in the later Atharvaveda, and the Brahmanas including Aitareya Brahmana and Shatapatha Brahmana. In Rig Veda, the story of the Yamuna describes her "excessive love" for her twin, Yama, who in turn asks her to find a suitable match for herself, which she does in Krishna. It is also said that lord shiva was the main reason for the colour of the Yamuna river. After the death of Sati Devi, lord shiva couldn't tolerate the sadness around him and used to roam here and there. And At last when he went to Yamuna river, it became so black as it absorbed all his sorrow.

 

The tale is further detailed in the 16th century Sanskrit hymn, Yamunashtakam, an ode by the philosopher Vallabhacharya. Here the story of her descent to meet her beloved Krishna and to purify the world has been put into verse. The hymn also praises her for being the source of all spiritual abilities. And while the Ganges is considered an epitome of asceticism and higher knowledge and can grant us Moksha or liberation, it is Yamuna, who, being a holder of infinite love and compassion, can grant us freedom, even from death, the realm of her elder brother. She rushes down the Kalinda Mountain, and verily describes her as the daughter of Kalinda, giving her another name, Kalindi, the backdrop of Krishna Leela. The text also talks about her water being of the colour of Lord Krishna, which is dark (Shyam). The river is referred as Asita in some historical texts.

 

It is mentioned as Iomanes (Ioames) in the surveys of Seleucus I Nicator, an officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi, who visited India in 305 BC, later Megasthenes, a Greek traveller and geographer, visited India, sometimes before 288 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death, also mention the river in his text Indica, where he described the region around it as the land of Surasena. In Mahabharata, Indraprastha, the capital of Pandavas was also situated on the banks of Yamuna, it is considered to the modern day city of Delhi.

 

Geological evidence indicates that in the distant past the Yamuna was a tributary of the Ghaggar River (also known as the Vedic Sarasvati River), but that it later changed its course eastward due to a tectonic event, becoming a tributary of the Ganges. This may have led to the Sarasvati River drying up, the end of many Harappan civilisation settlements, and creation of the Thar desert. However, recent geological research suggests that the diversion of the Yamuna to the Ganges may have occurred during the Pleistocene, and thus could not be connected to the decline of the Harappan civilisation in the region.

 

The importance of the Ganges–Yamuna river basin, and the Doab region as traditional the seat of power, can be derived from the fact, in much of early history of India, most of great empires, which ruled over majority of India, until the Chalukyas King, Vinayaditya, were based in the highly fertile Ganges–Yamuna basin, including the Magadha (ca 600 BC), Maurya Empire (321–185 BC), Shunga Empire (185–73 BCE), Kushan Empire (1st–3rd centuries CE), Gupta Empire (280–550 CE), and many had their capitals here, in cities like Pataliputra or Mathura. These rivers were revered throughout these kingdoms that flourished on their banks, in fact ever since the period of Chandragupta II (r. 375–415 CE), statues both the Ganges and Yamuna became common throughout the Gupta Empire. Further to the South, images of the Ganges and Yamuna are found amidst shrines of the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas (753–982), as well as on their royal seals, and prior to them, the Chola Empire too added the river into their architectural motifs. The Three River Goddess shrine, next of famous Kailash rock-cut Temple at Ellora, built by Rashtrakuta King, Govinda III, shows the Ganges flanked by the Yamuna and Saraswati.

 

RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE

The goddess of the river, also known as Yami, is the sister of Yama, god of death, and the daughter of Surya, the Sun god, and his wife Saranyu. Yamuna, referred to respectfully as Yamunaji, holds a very important position in Pushti Marga, a sect of Hinduism based on the ShuddhAdvaita, in which Shri Krishna is the main deity, propagated by VallabhAcharya / MahaPrabhuji, and having a large following in India.

 

The river Yamuna is also connected to the religious beliefs surrounding Krishna and various stories connected with Him are found in Hindu religious texts, especially the Puranas, like that of Kaliya Daman, the subduing of Kaliya, a poisonous Nāga snake, which had inhabited the river and terrorised the people of Braja. Yamuna, according to the legends, is closely related to Lord Krishna and Mahabharata. Krishna was taken across the Yamuna on the night of his birth. Kansa, Krishna's maternal uncle planned to kill all his nephews, as his eighth nephew was predicted to be his Kāla. When Vasudeva, carrying Krishna in a basket, reaches the river Yamuna, on the extremely turbulent, rainy night of Krishna's birth, Yamuna is said to have parted to make way for Vasudeva.

 

Krishna and the Gopis also used to play on the banks of the Yamunaji as children.

 

MANAGEMENT

The stretch of the river from its origin to Okhla in Delhi is called “Upper Yamuna”. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed amongst the five basin states, namely Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, on 12 May 1994 for sharing of the water of Upper Yamuna. This led to the formation of Upper Yamuna River Board under Ministry of Water Resources, whose primary functions are regulation of the allocation of available flows amongst the beneficiary states and also for monitoring the return flows; monitoring conserving and upgrading the quality of surface and ground water; maintaining hydro-meteorological data for the basin; over viewing plans for watershed management; monitoring and reviewing the progress of all projects up to and including Okhla barrage.

 

Flood forecasting systems are established at Poanta Sahib, where Tons, Pawar and Giri tributaries meet, followed by Tajewala, Kalanaur, Haryana and Mawai before Delhi, the river take 60 hours to travel from Tajewala to Delhi, thus allowing a two-day advance flood warning period. The Central Water Commission started flood-forecasting services in 1958 with the setting up of its first forecasting station on Yamuna at Delhi Railway Bridge, India.

 

IRRIGATION

The importance of Yamuna in the Indo-Gangetic Plains is enhanced by its many canals, some dating back to as early as 14th century CE by the Tughlaq dynasty, which built the Nahr-i-Bahisht (Paradise), parallel to the river. The Nahr-i-Bahisht was later restored and extended by the Mughals in the first half of the 17th century, by engineer Ali Mardan Khan, starting from Benawas where the river enters the plains and terminating near the Mughal capital, Shahjahanabad, the present city of Delhi.

 

As the Yamuna enters the Northern plains near Dakpathar at an elevation of 790 metres, the Eastern Yamuna Canal commences at the Dakpathar Barrage and pauses at the Asan and Hathnikund Barrages before continuing south. The Hathnikund was built in 1999 and replaced the downstream Tajewala Barrage which had been completed in 1873.

 

WESTERN YAMUNA CANAL

Built in 1335 CE by Firuz Shah Tughlaq, excessive silting caused it to stop flowing in 1750 CE, British raj undertook a three-year renovation in 1817 by Bengal Engineer Group, in 1832-33 Tajewala Barrage dam at Yaumna was built to regulate the flow of water, in 1875-76 Pathrala barrage at Dadupur and Somb river dam downstream of canal were built, in 1889-95 the largest branch of the canal Sirsa branch was constructed, the modern Hathni Kund Barrage was built in 1999 to handle the problem of silting to replace the older Tajewala Barrage.

 

The Western Yamuna Canal begins at the Hathnikund Barrage about 38 kilometres from Dakpathar and south of Doon Valley. The canals irrigate vast tracts of land in the region in Ambala district, Karnal district, Sonepat district, Rohtak district, Jind district, Hisar district and Bhiwani district.

 

Once its passes Delhi, the river feeds the Agra Canal built in 1874, which starts from Okhla barrage beyond the Nizamuddin bridge, and the high land between the Khari-Nadi and the Yamuna and before joining the Banganga river about 32 kilometres below Agra. Thus, during the summer season, the stretch above Agra resembles a minor stream.

 

The 86 km long main canal has the total length of 325 km including its branches such as Sirsa branch, Hansi branch, Butana branch, Sunder branch, Delhi branch, along with hundreds of major and minor irrigation channels which are also breeding grounds for man species of birds.

 

DELHI BRANCH

The Munak canal, also called Delhi Branch, 22 km canal was built in 1819, and renovated in 2008, originates at Munak village in Gharaunda tehsil of Karnal district is a branch of Western Yaumna Canal to bring 700 cusecs water to Delhi.

 

SIRSA BRANCH

The Sirsa Branch, originating at Indri, is a sub-branch of Sirsa branch of Western Yaumna Canal which menders through Jind district, Fatehabad district and Sirsa district.

 

BARWALA BRANCH

The Barwala Branch is a sub-branch of Sirsa branch of Western Yaumna Canal. It meanders through Barwala tehsil of Hisar district.

 

HANSI BRANCH

The Hansi Branch, built in 1825 and remodelled in 1959, originating at Munak village in Gharaunda tehsil of Karnal district is a branch of Western Yaumna Canal that meanders through Hansi tehsil of Hisar district.

 

BUTANA BRANCH

The Butana Branch is a sub-branch of Western Yaumna Canal that meanders through Hansi tehsil of Hisar district.

 

SUNDER BRANCH

The Sunder Branch of Western Yamuna Canal is a sub-branch of Butana branch of Hansi branch and goes to Kanwari and beyond in Hisar (district).

 

JIND BRANCH

The Jind Branch is a branch of Western Yaumna Canal which menders through Jind district.

 

ROHTAK BRANCH

The Rohtak Branch is a sub-branch of Jind branch of Western Yaumna Canal and it meanders through Rohtak district.[29][31]

 

BHIWANI BRANCH

The Bhiwani Branch is a sub-branch of Jind branch of Western Yaumna Canal and it meanders through Bhiwani district and goes to Bidhwan and beyond.

 

BHALAUT BRANCH

The Bhalaut Branch, originating at Khubru village,[30] is a sub-branch of Delhi branch of Western Yaumna Canal that flows through Jhajjar district.

 

JHAJJAR BRANCH

The Jhajjar Branch is a sub-branch of Bhalaut branch of Western Yaumna Canal that flows through Jhajjar district.

 

THE SUTLEJ-YAMUNA LINK

A heavy freight canal, known as the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL), is being built westwards from near the Yamuna's headwaters through the Punjab region near an ancient caravan route and highlands pass to the navigable pars of the Sutlej-Indus watershed. This will connect the entire Ganges, which flows to the east coast of the subcontinent, with points west (via Pakistan). When completed, the SYL will allow shipping from India's east coast to the west coast and the Arabian sea, drastically shortening shiportant commercial links for north-central India's large population. The canal starts near Palla village near Delhi, and is designed to transfer Haryana's share of 4.3 km3 from the Indus Basin.

 

CONSERVATION ZONE

On 25 April 2014, The National Green Tribunal recommended the Government to declare a 52-kilometre stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh as a conservation zone. A report has been prepared by the ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) panel and submitted to the NGA on the same day.

 

POLLUTION

In 1909 the waters of the Yamuna were distinguishable as "clear blue", as compared to the silt-laden yellow of the Ganges. However, due to high density population growth and rapid industrialisation today Yamuna is one of the most polluted rivers in the world, especially around New Delhi, the capital of India, which dumps about 58% of its waste into the river. A recent study shows that there is 100% urban metabolism of River Yamuna as it passes through the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.

 

CAUSES

New Delhi generates 1,900 million litres (500,000,000 US gal) per day (MLD) of sewage. Though many attempts have been made to process it, the efforts have proven futile. Although the government of India has spent nearly $500 million to clean up the river, the Yamuna continues to be polluted with garbage while most sewage treatment facilities are underfunded or malfunctioning. In addition, the water in this river remains stagnant for almost nine months in a year, aggravating the situation. Delhi alone contributes around 3,296 MLD of sewage in the river. The government of India over the next five years has prepared plans to rebuild and repair the sewage system and the drains that empty into the river.

 

To address river pollution, certain measures of river cleaning have been taken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 12 towns of Haryana, eight towns of Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi, under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) which has been implemented since 1993 by the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation is participating in the Yamuna Action Plan in 15 of the above 21 towns (excluding six towns of Haryana included later on the direction of Supreme Court of India) with soft loan assistance of 17.773 billion Japanese yen (equivalent to about Rs. 700 crore INR) while the government of India is providing the funds for the remaining six towns added later. In 2007 the Indian government's plans to repair sewage lines were predicted to improve the water quality of the river 90% by the year 2010.

 

The last barrage across Yamuna river is at Mathura for supply of drinking water to the city. Downstream of this barrage, many pumping stations are constructed to feed the river water for irrigation needs. These pumping stations are near Pateora Danda 25°55′09″N 80°13′27″E, Samgara 25°41′13″N 80°46′27″E, Ainjhi 25°43′35″N 80°49′33″E, Bilas Khadar 25°31′35″N 81°02′43″E, Samari 25°27′19″N 81°11′43″E, etc. (Refer to Google Earth maps.) Depletion of the base flows available in the river during the non-monsoon months by these pump houses is enhancing river pollution from Mathura to Allahabad in the absence of adequate fresh water to dilute the polluted water reaching the river from habitations and industries.

 

However, in 2009, the Union government admitted to the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament), the failure of the Ganga Action Plan and the Yamuna Action Plan, saying that "rivers Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner now than two decades ago" despite spending over Rs 1,700 crore to control pollution. According to a CSE official, these plans adopted the Thames model, based on a centralised sewage treatment system. This meant that huge sum of money and a 24-hour power supply were needed to manage the treatment plants, while only an 8-hour power supply was available, contributing to the failure of the river plans.

 

In August 2009, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) initiated its plan for resuscitating the Yamuna’s 22-kilometre stretch in Delhi by constructing interceptor sewers, at the cost of about Rs 1,800 crore.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

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Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Eluru, Guntur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Nellore, Ongole, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Arunachal Pradesh - Anini, Bomdila, Changlang, Daporijo, Hawai, Khonsa, Seppa, Tezu, Yupia, Ziro, Assam - Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Diphu, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Mangaldai, Marigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tezpur, Tinsukia, Bihar - Araria, Arrah, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Madhubani, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Chhattisgarh - Ambikapur, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Jagdalpur, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Naila Janjgir, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, New Delhi States - Darya Ganj, Delhi, Kanjhawala, Kripa Narain Marg, Nand Nagri, Rampua, Saket, Chawri Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Shah Jahan Road, Goa - 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Bilaspur, Chamba, Dharamasala, Hamirpur, Keylong, Kulu, Mandi, Nahan, Reckong Peo, Shimla, Solan, Una, Jammu & Kashmir - Anantnag, Badgam, Kirti Nagar Market, Sikandarpur Furniture Market, Panchkuian Road , Paharganj, Jail Road Market , Hari Nagar, Munirka Furniture Market, Sharma Farms , Chhattarpur, Amar Colony Furniture Market , Lajpat Nagar - 4, Aya Nagar Furniture Market , Aya Nagar, Mg Road Ghitorni Delhi, Karol Bagh Market, Khan Market, Bandipore, Baramula, Doda, Jammu, Kargil, Kathua, Kupwara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajauri, Srinagar, Udhampur, Jharkhand - Bokaro, Chaibasa, Chatra, Daltonganj, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Lohardaga, Pakur, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Sahibganj, Karnataka - Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Madikeri, Mangalore, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Yadgir, Kerala - Alappuzha, Kakkanad, Kalpetta, Tripura, Agartala, Ambassa, Kailasahar, Udaipu, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kochin, Cochin, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Painavu, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh - Balaghat, Barwani, Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori, Guna, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Panna, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha, Maharashtra - Ahmednagar, Akola, Alibag, Amravati, Aurangabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondiya, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kolhapur, Latur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Oras, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Thane, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal, Manipur, Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Lamphelpat, Porompat, Senapati, Tamenglong, Thoubal, Ukhrul, Meghalaya, East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi, South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, Mizoram - Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Saiha, Telangana - Adilabad, Hyderabad, Jagtial, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Siddipet, Suryapet, Warangal, Uttarakhand - Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Dehradun, Gopeshwar, Haridwar, Nainital, New Tehri, Pauri, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Rudrapur, Uttarkashi, Nagaland - Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Mon, Phek, Tuensang, Wokha, Zunheboto, Orissa - Angul, Balangir, Baleswar, Bargarh, Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Boudh, Chhatrapur, Cuttack, Debagarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Kendujhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Panikoili, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Sundargarh, Puducherry - Karaikal, Pandakkal, Puducherry, Yanaon, Punjab, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Mukatsar, Nawan Shehar, Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur, Rajasthan - Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunun, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk, Udaipur, Sikkim -Gangtok, Geyzing, Mangan, Namchi, Tamil Nadu - Ariyalur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Kanchipuram, Karur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Tanjore, Theni, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Udagamandalam, Vellore, Villupuram, West Bengal - Alipore, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bankura, Barasat, Bardhaman, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, English Bazar, Howrah, Hugli-Chuchura, Jalpaiguri, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Midnapore, Purulia, Raiganj, Suri, Delhi NCR – Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram

 

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Village: Kutail Block: Gharaunda District: Karnal State: Haryana Country: India Date: 24th July 2014

27 years old Kuldeep Kharangher sprays UREA on his rice farm after checking the colour of the paddy leaf with a leaf colour chart. The leaf colour chart helps him decide the most appropriate dosage of nitrogen fertilizers (Urea) for his crops. This saves costs and also cuts down on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Kuldeep Kharangher’s 10-acre farm is part of Farmer Participatory Evaluation of Adaptation and Risk Management Interventions in Katauli. Kuldeep uses various climate smart interventions on his farm such as mulching, intercropping, conservation agriculture, crop rotation, leaf-colour charts, hand held crop sensor, nutrient decision making tools and improved water management. He said, “ There is water saving to the extent of 50% than before. Other farmers come and ask how we save water, earlier they were skeptical of these methods.”

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: CCAFS/2014/Prashanth Vishwanathan

September 28, 2022, Karnal, Haryana: Satsang Programme

Members of a family from a village outside Karnal, Haryana, India, transport rice straw and green fodder a distance of one kilometre from their field to their village home using a cart drawn by a 3-year-old bullock which cost them 5,000 Indian rupees (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan)

Village: Uncha Samana Block: Gharaunda District: Karnal State: Haryana Country: India Date: 24th July 2014

Women transplant rice in an flooded paddy field following the traditional rice planting techniques in Uncha Samana.

Unchas Mana is a Climate Smart village. Local farmers are part of Farmer Participatory Evaluation of Adaptation and Risk Management Interventions in Uncha Samana. Various key climate smart interventions such as zero tillage, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), raised bed planting, residue management, crop diversification, and nutrient management have been introduced in this village.

29 years old Paramjeet Singh who is part of this initiative for the past 7 years says “ Every year we loose 15% to 20% of our traditional rice crop to Foot rot (bakane) disease. With DSR there is no loss at all, and there is a cost saving of INR 5000 per acre.”

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: CCAFS/2014/Prashanth Vishwanathan

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan)

Services All Over India

  

Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Eluru, Guntur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Nellore, Ongole, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Arunachal Pradesh - Anini, Bomdila, Changlang, Daporijo, Hawai, Khonsa, Seppa, Tezu, Yupia, Ziro, Assam - Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Diphu, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Mangaldai, Marigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tezpur, Tinsukia, Bihar - Araria, Arrah, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Madhubani, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Chhattisgarh - Ambikapur, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Jagdalpur, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Naila Janjgir, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, New Delhi States - Darya Ganj, Delhi, Kanjhawala, Kripa Narain Marg, Nand Nagri, Rampua, Saket, Chawri Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Shah Jahan Road, Goa - Margao, Panaji, Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Ahwa, Amreli, Anand, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Dahod, Gandhinagar, Godhra, Himmatnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Mehsana, Navsari, Palanpur, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Rajpipla, Surat, Surendranagar, Vadodara, Valsad, Uttar Pradesh - Agra, Akbarpur, Aligarh, Allahabad, Amroha, Auraiya, Azamgarh, Badaun, Bagpat, Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur, Banda, Barabanki, Bareilly, Basti, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Etah, Etawah, Faizabad, Fatehgarh, Fatehpur, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Ghazipur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Gyanpur, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Hathras, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kanpur, Khalilabad, Kheri, Lalitpur, Lucknow, Maharajganj, Mahoba, Mainpuri, Manjhanpur, Mathura, Mau, Meerut, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Navgarh, Greater Noida, Noida, Orai, Padarauna, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Rampur, Robertsganj, Saharanpur, Shahjahanpur, Shravasti, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Unnao, Varanasi, Haryana - Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hissar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Nuh, Palwal, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat, Yamuna Nagar, Himachal Pradesh - Bilaspur, Chamba, Dharamasala, Hamirpur, Keylong, Kulu, Mandi, Nahan, Reckong Peo, Shimla, Solan, Una, Jammu & Kashmir - Anantnag, Badgam, Bandipore, Baramula, Doda, Jammu, Kargil, Kathua, Kupwara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajauri, Srinagar, Udhampur, Jharkhand - Bokaro, Chaibasa, Chatra, Daltonganj, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Lohardaga, Pakur, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Sahibganj, Karnataka - Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Madikeri, Mangalore, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Yadgir, Kerala - Alappuzha, Kakkanad, Kalpetta, Tripura, Agartala, Ambassa, Kailasahar, Udaipu, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kochin, Cochin, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Painavu, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh - Balaghat, Barwani, Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori, Guna, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Panna, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha, Maharashtra - Ahmednagar, Akola, Alibag, Amravati, Aurangabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondiya, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kolhapur, Latur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Oras, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Thane, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal, Manipur, Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Lamphelpat, Porompat, Senapati, Tamenglong, Thoubal, Ukhrul, Meghalaya, East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi, South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, Mizoram - Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Saiha, Telangana - Adilabad, Hyderabad, Jagtial, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Siddipet, Suryapet, Warangal, Uttarakhand - Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Dehradun, Gopeshwar, Haridwar, Nainital, New Tehri, Pauri, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Rudrapur, Uttarkashi, Nagaland - Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Mon, Phek, Tuensang, Wokha, Zunheboto, Orissa - Angul, Balangir, Baleswar, Bargarh, Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Boudh, Chhatrapur, Cuttack, Debagarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Kendujhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Panikoili, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Sundargarh, Puducherry - Karaikal, Pandakkal, Puducherry, Yanaon, Punjab, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Mukatsar, Nawan Shehar, Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur, Rajasthan - Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunun, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk, Udaipur, Sikkim -Gangtok, Geyzing, Mangan, Namchi, Tamil Nadu - Ariyalur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Kanchipuram, Karur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Tanjore, Theni, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Udagamandalam, Vellore, Villupuram, West Bengal - Alipore, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bankura, Barasat, Bardhaman, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, English Bazar, Howrah, Hugli-Chuchura, Jalpaiguri, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Midnapore, Purulia, Raiganj, Suri, Delhi NCR – Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram

 

Services All Over India

  

Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Eluru, Guntur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Nellore, Ongole, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Arunachal Pradesh - Anini, Bomdila, Changlang, Daporijo, Hawai, Khonsa, Seppa, Tezu, Yupia, Ziro, Assam - Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Diphu, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Mangaldai, Marigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tezpur, Tinsukia, Bihar - Araria, Arrah, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Madhubani, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Chhattisgarh - Ambikapur, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Jagdalpur, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Naila Janjgir, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, New Delhi States - Darya Ganj, Delhi, Kanjhawala, Kripa Narain Marg, Nand Nagri, Rampua, Saket, Chawri Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Shah Jahan Road, Goa - Margao, Panaji, Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Ahwa, Amreli, Anand, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Dahod, Gandhinagar, Godhra, Himmatnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Mehsana, Navsari, Palanpur, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Rajpipla, Surat, Surendranagar, Vadodara, Valsad, Uttar Pradesh - Agra, Akbarpur, Aligarh, Allahabad, Amroha, Auraiya, Azamgarh, Badaun, Bagpat, Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur, Banda, Barabanki, Bareilly, Basti, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Etah, Etawah, Faizabad, Fatehgarh, Fatehpur, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Ghazipur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Gyanpur, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Hathras, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kanpur, Khalilabad, Kheri, Lalitpur, Lucknow, Maharajganj, Mahoba, Mainpuri, Manjhanpur, Mathura, Mau, Meerut, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Navgarh, Greater Noida, Noida, Orai, Padarauna, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Rampur, Robertsganj, Saharanpur, Shahjahanpur, Shravasti, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Unnao, Varanasi, Haryana - Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hissar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Nuh, Palwal, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat, Yamuna Nagar, Himachal Pradesh - Bilaspur, Chamba, Dharamasala, Hamirpur, Keylong, Kulu, Mandi, Nahan, Reckong Peo, Shimla, Solan, Una, Jammu & Kashmir - Anantnag, Badgam, Bandipore, Baramula, Doda, Jammu, Kargil, Kathua, Kupwara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajauri, Srinagar, Udhampur, Jharkhand - Bokaro, Chaibasa, Chatra, Daltonganj, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Lohardaga, Pakur, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Sahibganj, Karnataka - Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Madikeri, Mangalore, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Yadgir, Kerala - Alappuzha, Kakkanad, Kalpetta, Tripura, Agartala, Ambassa, Kailasahar, Udaipu, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kochin, Cochin, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Painavu, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh - Balaghat, Barwani, Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori, Guna, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Panna, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha, Maharashtra - Ahmednagar, Akola, Alibag, Amravati, Aurangabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondiya, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kolhapur, Latur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Oras, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Thane, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal, Manipur, Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Lamphelpat, Porompat, Senapati, Tamenglong, Thoubal, Ukhrul, Meghalaya, East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi, South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, Mizoram - Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Saiha, Telangana - Adilabad, Hyderabad, Jagtial, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Siddipet, Suryapet, Warangal, Uttarakhand - Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Dehradun, Gopeshwar, Haridwar, Nainital, New Tehri, Pauri, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Rudrapur, Uttarkashi, Nagaland - Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Mon, Phek, Tuensang, Wokha, Zunheboto, Orissa - Angul, Balangir, Baleswar, Bargarh, Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Boudh, Chhatrapur, Cuttack, Debagarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Kendujhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Panikoili, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Sundargarh, Puducherry - Karaikal, Pandakkal, Puducherry, Yanaon, Punjab, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Mukatsar, Nawan Shehar, Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur, Rajasthan - Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunun, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk, Udaipur, Sikkim -Gangtok, Geyzing, Mangan, Namchi, Tamil Nadu - Ariyalur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Kanchipuram, Karur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Tanjore, Theni, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Udagamandalam, Vellore, Villupuram, West Bengal - Alipore, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bankura, Barasat, Bardhaman, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, English Bazar, Howrah, Hugli-Chuchura, Jalpaiguri, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Midnapore, Purulia, Raiganj, Suri, Delhi NCR – Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram

 

Services All Over India

  

Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Eluru, Guntur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Nellore, Ongole, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Arunachal Pradesh - Anini, Bomdila, Changlang, Daporijo, Hawai, Khonsa, Seppa, Tezu, Yupia, Ziro, Assam - Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Diphu, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Mangaldai, Marigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tezpur, Tinsukia, Bihar - Araria, Arrah, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Madhubani, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Chhattisgarh - Ambikapur, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Jagdalpur, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Naila Janjgir, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, New Delhi States - Darya Ganj, Delhi, Kanjhawala, Kripa Narain Marg, Nand Nagri, Rampua, Saket, Chawri Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Shah Jahan Road, Goa - Margao, Panaji, Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Ahwa, Amreli, Anand, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Dahod, Gandhinagar, Godhra, Himmatnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Mehsana, Navsari, Palanpur, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Rajpipla, Surat, Surendranagar, Vadodara, Valsad, Uttar Pradesh - Agra, Akbarpur, Aligarh, Allahabad, Amroha, Auraiya, Azamgarh, Badaun, Bagpat, Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur, Banda, Barabanki, Bareilly, Basti, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Etah, Etawah, Faizabad, Fatehgarh, Fatehpur, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Ghazipur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Gyanpur, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Hathras, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kanpur, Khalilabad, Kheri, Lalitpur, Lucknow, Maharajganj, Mahoba, Mainpuri, Manjhanpur, Mathura, Mau, Meerut, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Navgarh, Greater Noida, Noida, Orai, Padarauna, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Rampur, Robertsganj, Saharanpur, Shahjahanpur, Shravasti, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Unnao, Varanasi, Haryana - Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hissar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Nuh, Palwal, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat, Yamuna Nagar, Himachal Pradesh - Bilaspur, Chamba, Dharamasala, Hamirpur, Keylong, Kulu, Mandi, Nahan, Reckong Peo, Shimla, Solan, Una, Jammu & Kashmir - Anantnag, Badgam, Bandipore, Baramula, Doda, Jammu, Kargil, Kathua, Kupwara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajauri, Srinagar, Udhampur, Jharkhand - Bokaro, Chaibasa, Chatra, Daltonganj, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Lohardaga, Pakur, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Sahibganj, Karnataka - Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Madikeri, Mangalore, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Yadgir, Kerala - Alappuzha, Kakkanad, Kalpetta, Tripura, Agartala, Ambassa, Kailasahar, Udaipu, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kochin, Cochin, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Painavu, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh - Balaghat, Barwani, Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori, Guna, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Panna, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha, Maharashtra - Ahmednagar, Akola, Alibag, Amravati, Aurangabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondiya, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kolhapur, Latur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Oras, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Thane, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal, Manipur, Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Lamphelpat, Porompat, Senapati, Tamenglong, Thoubal, Ukhrul, Meghalaya, East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi, South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, Mizoram - Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Saiha, Telangana - Adilabad, Hyderabad, Jagtial, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Siddipet, Suryapet, Warangal, Uttarakhand - Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Dehradun, Gopeshwar, Haridwar, Nainital, New Tehri, Pauri, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Rudrapur, Uttarkashi, Nagaland - Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Mon, Phek, Tuensang, Wokha, Zunheboto, Orissa - Angul, Balangir, Baleswar, Bargarh, Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Boudh, Chhatrapur, Cuttack, Debagarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Kendujhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Panikoili, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Sundargarh, Puducherry - Karaikal, Pandakkal, Puducherry, Yanaon, Punjab, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Mukatsar, Nawan Shehar, Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur, Rajasthan - Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunun, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk, Udaipur, Sikkim -Gangtok, Geyzing, Mangan, Namchi, Tamil Nadu - Ariyalur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Kanchipuram, Karur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Tanjore, Theni, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Udagamandalam, Vellore, Villupuram, West Bengal - Alipore, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bankura, Barasat, Bardhaman, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, English Bazar, Howrah, Hugli-Chuchura, Jalpaiguri, Kolkata, Krishnanagar, Midnapore, Purulia, Raiganj, Suri, Delhi NCR – Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram

  

Package:- Rs. 27,500/-

Per Couple Two Nights With All Inclusions

Package Inclusions

 

Welcome - The Guests will be welcomed with a traditional welcoming Aarti Tikka & welcome Drink on arrival.

Welcome letter on arrival.

  

Egyptian Night Party on 31st Dec.

Egyptian Night with indoor DJ 2030 Hrs. onwards in Sheesh Mahal – 31st Dec.

Double DJ – Double Fun on 31st Dec

Live Band

International artist

DJ Sunny

Dancing Divas Dance Troop

Anchor/Standup Comedy By-Mr. Jitesh chawla

Special Kids zone with Special Kids menu at Rang Mahal – 31st Dec.

Complimentary bottles of Packaged Drinking water. (02 500 ml Bottles Everyday)

Includes Buffet Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner at designated venues

Complimentary Cookies & Good night Chocolates.

Special Kids zone with Special Kids menu at Rang Mahal – 31st Dec.

Complimentary use of Swimming Pool, Steam, Sauna, Jacuzzi, Gym (With prior appointment).

Complimentary use of indoor & outdoor games like Billiards, Table Tennis, Kids Zone, Cricket Kit, Play station, Air Hockey, Basketball.

 

1st Jan 2018

 

Breakfast in the morning

Checkout

 

SPECIAL ATTRACTION: INR 150/- per person

 

Zip line

Wall Climbing

Commando Net Climbing

Rope ladder Climbing

 

Packages: Rs. 27,500/- 2 Night/3Days

 

Club Room @ Rs. 27,500/-

Club Royal Room @ Rs. 29,500/-

 

Child Policy:-

 

Kids below the age of 06 years will be complimentary without bedding, from 07 to 14 years will be charged @ INR. 3000/- per kid per night without bedding, & above 14 years @ INR. 6500 per child per night with extra bed. (valid for 31st Dec. 2017).

Kids below the age of 06 years will be complimentary without bedding, from 07 to 14 years will be charged @ INR. 2500/- per kid per night without bedding, & above 14 years @ INR. 3500 per Kids per night with extra bed. (valid for 30th Dec 2017 & 01st Jan 2018 nights).

Extra Bedding only @ INR.1500/- Per night..

  

Call-08130781111 / 08130581111

Visit - newyearpackage.co.in/noor-mahal-karnal.html

September 28, 2022, Karnal, Haryana: Satsang Programme

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

A wreath laid by Chief Minister of Haryana, India Manohar Lal Khattar rests next to the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial near the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Aug. 18, 2015, in Arlington, Va. Kalpana Chawla, one of seven crew members killed during the Columbia disaster, was born in Karnal, India, and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue/released)

ILRI visit to India's National Dairy Research Institute, in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 5 March 2016 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo)

ILRI visit to India's National Dairy Research Institute, in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 5 March 2016 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo)

Village: Uncha Samana

Block: Gharaunda

District: Karnal State in Haryana India

Women transplant rice in an flooded paddy field following the traditional rice planting techniques

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).

September 28, 2022, Karnal, Haryana: Satsang Programme

CCAFS works with farmers in Climate-Smart Villages in Bihar and Haryana in India on implementing a package of climate-smart agriculture practices that can raise productivity and incomes, build climate resilience and mitigate emissions.

 

To learn more about our work in South Asia, click here.

 

Photo credit : Nirmal Sigtia (IWMI)

Village: Anjanthalli Block: Nilokheri District: Karnal State: Haryana Country: India Date: 24th July 2014

56 years old Kamla Devi listens to messages of weather and best climate friendly crop practices on her mobile phone while working in the cowshed at her home in Anjanthalli. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to disseminate climate information, information about climate-smart technology interventions and seasonal agro-advisories for the rural farmers is part of the Climate Smart Village(CSV) programme initiated in Anjanathalli.

Local farmers are part of Farmer Participatory Evaluation of Adaptation and Risk Management Interventions in the village. Various key climate smart interventions such as zero tillage, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), raised bed planting, residue management, crop diversification, and nutrient management have been introduced in this village.

27 year old Vinod Kumar (Kamla Devi’s son) owns 45 acres of farmland where he practices these interventions.

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is working with communities to develop ‘Climate-Smart Villages’. These are sites where researchers, local partners, and farmers collaborate to evaluate and maximize synergies across a portfolio of climate-smart agricultural interventions. The programme aims to improve farmers’ income and resilience to climatic risks and boost their ability to adapt to climate change. Photographer: CCAFS/2014/Prashanth Vishwanathan

Ravish Chatrath, principal scientist at the Directorate of Wheat Research in Karnal, India, sent us this panorama showing the valley on the banks of the Indus river where wheat is grown along with mustard in Leh, Ladakh Himalayan region, India.

 

Photo credit: R. Chatrath/CIMMYT.

 

www.cimmyt.org

ILRI visit to India's National Dairy Research Institute, in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 5 March 2016 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo)

Visit to Surta Dairy shop in Karnal, Haryana, India, 6 Mar 2016. The owner, Balinder Kumar, started the shop only 5 months previously, after getting training at Karnal's National Dairy Research Institute and buying a $1,000 multi-purpose dairy product machine. Kumar had been a dairy farmer before starting his shop, but selling milk was not making him much of a profit. Now his wife and veterinarian brother take care of the 10 buffaloes and 15 dairy cows on his dairy farm while he runs the dairy shop in Karnal, where he produces all the dairy products he sells in his shop. The shop opens at 7am each day and does a brisk business. His products, like most dairy products in India, are not branded. He says that more and more people are too busy to make curd and other dairy products themselves, so they come to his shop and others like it (every street in Karnal has 3–4 such dairy shops) to buy their milk-based foods every day. And as milk is the basis of the diets of most people here, that means good business for him (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo).