Lots of small farmers around my house have a few cows of the local type that only has enough milk for its own calf.

The business model is indeed to keep the cow, have a baby each year, keep the baby until it is fully grown and sell it.

The animals that are sold are turned into steaks, burgers and other stuff, very little is wasted.

Thais consume more pork and chicken, but these are raised in industrial farms.

There are only few large beef farms in Thailand and most beef eaten comes from these local cows.

In the dry season the farmer has to buy some feed, but most of the year the cows eat the grass that grows between the rice fields and the rice straw.

So the cost of keeping the cows is not high, the farmer is there and has the time to bring the grass or take the cow to the field.

The shit that the cows produce is used again as fertilizer for the rice, saving on fertilizer that they have to purchase as well.

All in all it is a profitable business, adding a bit to the farmers income which is not high if rice prices are not supported.

I wondered about these Thai cows.

They look too skinny to produce any meat.

The Thai girl friend purchased a cow with its four day old female calf in January 2014 from a farmer in the next village that was short of money.

She paid (No, I paid) 29,000 bt for the pair.

The cow was inseminated last year and is due a calf in April 2015.

The family hope it is a female calf to continue the breeding plan.

The Thai girl's mother was offered 60,000 bt for the pregnant cow with its now one year old calf last month.

Regarding keeping costs, there appear to be none.

They feed on the grass round the sides of the field and since the rice harvest eat the rice stalks all day.

They drink from the ponds.

They produce manure when in the fields and when their cow shed is cleaned out (seems like every three days).

All farmers round the farm are happy to have them on their farms to keep things down and for the manure.

The calf that will be 18 months old in June 2015 will be inseminated.

So for a Thai family, the financial returns look pretty good.

And as other people say, they are a kind of status symbol to Thais.

This mornings addition to the wife family.