Pity the Thai swamp or water buffalo. Not only is the animal unfairly stereotyped, “stupid as a buffalo” is a much-used Thai put-down, but it has lost its erstwhile pivotal role in Thailand’s rural economy.
Thailand’s buffalo population has shrunk from more than 8 million five decades ago to less than 1.3 million today.
The swamp buffalo, famed for its strength and gentleness, was formerly the ubiquitous ploughing machine for Thailand’s rice fields, helping the kingdom to become the world’s leading rice exporter, a spot it has held since the mid-1960s when Thai rice shipments surpassed those of Myanmar.
But over the past three decades, Thai farmers have gradually switched to “iron buffaloes,” or small tractors, which can do the field work faster and don’t need to be fed or require mudholes to cool off in.
As of 2007, only about 7,000 buffaloes were still employed in the paddy fields, mostly on small farms that could not afford to rent a tractor, said Sawang Angkuro, chief of the Livestock Department’s beef and buffalo promotion division.
Most buffaloes are now raised for meat or leather, he said. Meanwhile, Thailand’s dairy cow population has more than doubled from 4 million a few decades ago to 9 million today, as demand for milk products increased.
One Thai businesswoman is trying to buck this trend of declining buffaloes.
Since 2007, Ranchuan Kengtrakulsin has provided a new niche for Thailand’s indigenous bovines by demonstrating they can provide dairy products as good, if not better, than cows.
Ranchuan started looking into the buffalo business 10 years ago, when she realized that her shoe factory in Samut Prakan Province near Bangkok could not compete with Chinese products.
She was initially interested in making “doggy chews” from buffalo rawhide but after being introduced to Maniwan Kamophpattana, one of Thailand’s leading buffalo experts, she was persuaded to set up the country’s first buffalo dairy farm instead.
Maniwan, a retired professor from Chulalongkorn University’s veterinary department, accompanied Ranchuan to Italy, China, India, Brazil and Bulgaria to study buffalo dairy operations.
In 2003, Ranchuan decided to set up the country’s first buffalo dairy farm, using her sister’s land in Chachoengsao, 60km east of Bangkok, and starting out with 46 Murrah buffaloes imported from India, and 24 Thai swamp buffaloes, as her original herd.
Milk from Murrah buffaloes, indigenous to India and Pakistan, was used to make the original Italian mozzarella cheese more than 1,000 years ago. Mozzarella lore holds the buffaloes were brought from India by Catholic monks because dairy cows could not survive in the malaria-infested southern regions of Italy.
Although the same species, the Murrah is distinct from the Southeast Asian swamp buffalo.
The Murrah has curlier horns and darker skin and prefers cooling off in running water instead of stagnant mud ponds, unlike its Southeast Asian cousin.
A more important difference is that the Murrah can produce up to 10kg of milk a day, while the swamp buffalo has an average milk output of 2kg to 3kg.
Ranchuan’s Murrah Dairy Co has been cross-breeding Murrah with swamp buffaloes since 2003 in an attempt to improve the milk production of a local herd.
“We are on our third generation now,” Ranchuan said. “Now our average is about 4 to 5 kilograms of milk a day per buffalo.”
The farm can produce about 200kg to 250kg of buffalo milk a day, she said.
“She has found it is possible to use swamp buffaloes for milking,” Maniwan said. “This is the future of her farm, perhaps a mix between Murrah and swamp buffaloes.”
Since 2007, the farm has been selling buffalo milk, mozzarella and yogurt on the Thai market, distributing in Bangkok and other cities via Tops and Foodland supermarkets.
While the Murrah brand mozzarella cheese has met with success (it is the only buffalo milk-based mozzarella made locally), Ranchuan is still having trouble getting Thais to drink buffalo milk.
“When Thais hear it is buffalo milk they don’t want to drink it because they are afraid of becoming stupid like a buffalo,” Ranchuan said.
While little is known about the IQ levels of buffaloes compared with cows, buffalo milk is proven to have higher levels of protein, calcium and fat than cow milk.
But Ranchuan is having difficulty fighting the “stupid as a buffalo” stereotype.
“This is an obstacle in marketing buffalo milk,” she said. “Buffaloes are not stupid. People are stupid.”
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
US President Donald Trump’s second administration has gotten off to a fast start with a blizzard of initiatives focused on domestic commitments made during his campaign. His tariff-based approach to re-ordering global trade in a manner more favorable to the United States appears to be in its infancy, but the significant scale and scope are undeniable. That said, while China looms largest on the list of national security challenges, to date we have heard little from the administration, bar the 10 percent tariffs directed at China, on specific priorities vis-a-vis China. The Congressional hearings for President Trump’s cabinet have, so far,
US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, during an interview with the UK’s Times Radio, reacted to US President Donald Trump’s overturning of decades of US foreign policy by saying that “the chance for serious instability is very great.” That is something of an understatement. Fukuyama said that Trump’s apparent moves to expand US territory and that he “seems to be actively siding with” authoritarian states is concerning, not just for Europe, but also for Taiwan. He said that “if I were China I would see this as a golden opportunity” to annex Taiwan, and that every European country needs to think
For years, the use of insecure smart home appliances and other Internet-connected devices has resulted in personal data leaks. Many smart devices require users’ location, contact details or access to cameras and microphones to set up, which expose people’s personal information, but are unnecessary to use the product. As a result, data breaches and security incidents continue to emerge worldwide through smartphone apps, smart speakers, TVs, air fryers and robot vacuums. Last week, another major data breach was added to the list: Mars Hydro, a Chinese company that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as LED grow lights and the
RSS