🐃 Water buffalo

The buffalo here is the domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), a large animal of the cattle family kept for milk, meat and draught power. Buffaloes produce about 15% of the world's milk — more than goats, sheep and camels combined. There are roughly 205 million buffaloes in the world, and more than 98% of them live in Asia.

There are two subspecies. River buffaloes, about 70% of the total, are the main dairy animals of India and Pakistan; there, buffaloes give more milk than cows, and in Pakistan and Nepal there are even more dairy buffaloes than dairy cows. Swamp buffaloes are smaller, live mainly in East Asia and are used for draught work. Well-known dairy breeds include Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jaffarabadi and Mehsana.

A river buffalo cow gives 1,500–4,500 litres of milk per lactation and can calve and be milked up to the age of 20 — longer than a cow. However, she calves for the first time late, and the intervals between calvings are long. Buffaloes are mostly kept by smallholders, one or two animals per household.

Why it matters to you. Buffalo milk is twice as rich in fat as cow's milk: on average 7.5 g of fat per 100 g versus 3.3 g. So 10 kg of buffalo milk makes a kilogram of butter, compared with 14 kg of cow's milk, and the cheese yield is more generous. This is the milk used in Italy for Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, a name protected in the EU since 1996. Buffalo milk is not suitable for people allergic to cow's milk protein.