Choices! What will it be? #49

Another mammal that i see more often other than human beings around me is buffalo. There are roughly 95% of river buffaloes, which i will talk about today, living in Asia so called Asian Buffalo aka River Buffalo
As a resident of south Asian country, Pakistan, buffaloes are as precious as humans to any one who live in a countryside.

Source

I grew up seeing them in our farm when my grandfather was their owner. They were in huge numbers and kept well like a family member.

However, i always find them flaring their nostrils and looking angry all the time. I don't know if you notice the same thing or they have any personal grudge towards me.

I find them scary a little bit, if i am going on a bike and they are also walking around (they roam that casually in villages like us, humans:)

They have a fixed timing for eating and drinking water. In the morning, helper would take them to a nearby canal to drink water and roam for a little bit on grass.

After coming back they would spend all day in their designated space and rooms.

In the evening, it would be the time to get their fodder ready. Our helpers and sometimes my uncle would chauff their fodder in the machine.

My grandfather used to just sit and supervise everything. He would even open his fast and do iftar(food eaten after breaking fast in Ramadan) among them on his farm.

I still remember when i was a little girl a devastating news about a buffalo came early in the morning. A buffaloe died that morning who was absolutely healthy. No one knew what had happened to her.

Some said a snake killed her, others said someone had inserted her a poisonous injection. Some people kill other's domestic animals out of jealousy in villages. We hadn't had any gate on the farm, no one used to have any during late 90s and early this century.

It was a heart breaking loss for our family. The sad feelings of losing them can only be described by someone who was the owner, Men.

They mystery of her mysterious death wasn't resolved.

Even now we have seasons when thieves wander at nights to stole precious things.

Our management makes announcement in our Mosque that:
Take care of your Domestic animals/Maal Dangar(in Punjabi language), thiefs are roaming.

Safety of Buffaloes come first over humans and their other pocessions:p

^{Whenever we have power breakdown and water storage runs short, owners of Buffaloes worry more about the thirst of their animals than their own.
Once we had no electricity for two days in summers, people took our generator to their farms as an alternative of electricity to get water for their dear buffaloes. They get water in their houses after that.}

Now you must have realised their importance. No owner would want any harm come their animal's way. But still they have the guts to sacrifice their buffaloes on Eid-ul-fitar (a religious event of Muslims). They do this to please Allah and to distribute its meat among their relatives and poor people.

Reproduction

Their population still remains intact because they are polyestrous having two estrus cycles in every year. One male buffalo can impregnate over 100 female buffaloes if he is a strong river buffalo.

In Pakistan, there were 23millions of them, of which 76% of their population resides in Punjab, a province where I live.

Their cloning was also done in 2007, their offsprings were 3 calfs and two of them died young. It wasn't a successful one.

They start breeding as early as when they are 3years of age. When a baby/calf is born their mother gives milk for a few days that is different than her regular milk.

^{See calf of buffalo}

Milk

This milk has more nutritional value than regular milk. In our Punjabi language it is called Hoblu, you can make its Boli which is eaten with a spoon. It's like fermented milk just for your imagination.
Their regular milk has more fats, protein, and calcium than cow's milk. More fat comes on milk after boiling it, later on this fat is used to make butter and Ghee (oil) which are organic. We still get organic milk, butter, cheese, yogurt,
and Ghee to have daily.

Their meat is tough to eat than mutton but people still prefer it on weddings too because it's affordable(personally i don't eat it).

^{Fun/Weird Fact}

Another very interesting thing about them is their dung, a buffaloe's manure.

• It is commonly used as a natural fertilizer and spread on the land.
• People use its dung as a fuel to lit fire. Some people still use it during winters when gas loadshedding is insane.
• The key is to take buffalo dung, make its round shape like a plate.
• it is then slapped on fascade of house or walls for drying. Once dried you can use it as fuel.

My mother tells me that my grandmother used to make tea using above mentioned thing called Pathi in Punjabi, as a fuel. It had a marvellous taste and aroma as said by our cousins and uncles who had left village and settled in cantonment. I never had this tea:(

Traditional Tractor

The buffaloes were also used as natural tractors for husbandry before tractors came in machines. They would plow rice fields when more strength was required.

Buffaloes are often used for transporting goods but only in countryside, they can't be taken to the city for obvious reasons(they poop on roads also).

Buffalo Domestication

Majority of people keep a couple of Buffaloes along with goats and chicken in their houses to become self sufficient in milk, meat, and eggs. This trend is fading now as people find it too hard to take care of Buffaloes. Honestly speaking it is very much messy too.

^{This is one of the house who keep domestic buffaloes aka Asian Buffaloes}

We also have Derras or village kinda Dairy Farms which are built slightly away from the residential side. It is built on a land in the fields where framers also cultivate crops to feed buffaloes as fodder.

^{our kind of dairy farm aka derra}

Buffaloe owners live all the time on the derras. They also sleep there to protect their animals from theifs.

Finally i wanna say, if you want your bones to get strong and no calcium deficiency, get yourself a buffalo, or find yourself a house who keep domestic buffaloes and get fresh milk from them.

Your body(bones) will Thank you when you get old (this is what I listen from my elders).

Love your buffaloes folks:)

Inviting @wakeupkitty and @wakeupkitty.pal