Thailand plans to double buffalo population within next 5 years

[ratcatcher]

a lot of farangs have lost all their money through buffalos I hope it doesn't continue in that vein or there will be more people on jomtien beach,

OTOH, a lot of farang buffaloes have lost all their money to smart Thai ladies.

[Sealbash]

I, for one, would like to own a water buffalo. It is on my bucket list. I do not want to look after the critter. I can hire someone for that. I just want to say I owned a water buffalo. Doesn't take much to make me happy.

I will sell you my buffalo. Just send me the money and I will give you a receipt. I will continue to look after it - you can pay me a monthly fee. No need for you to visit, I will send regular photos.

Deal?

Deal. Please send your name, passport number and banking details. Thank you

[impulse]

I, for one, would like to own a water buffalo. It is on my bucket list. I do not want to look after the critter. I can hire someone for that. I just want to say I owned a water buffalo. Doesn't take much to make me happy.

Seems like some enterprising soul would come up with "Adopt a Buffalo"

Kind of like chickenslegs program, but with a website and cutie pie spokeswoman and everything.

[EyesWideOpen]

Odd story. The Thai farmer has moved onto the much more efficient iron buffalo, which

is the logical choice. Why in the world would would the government here want to go

backwards to the buffalo ? This story , coupled with the government's desire for Thais

to start wearing traditional clothing, must be part of some master plan to return

Thailand to an agrarian society.

The farang buffalo joke path is too easy, will not even go there.......but sadly my first

thought when I saw the headline. :-)

[Wombat6]

I figure it's because sick buffaloes are a major source of hard currency inputs...

Or maybe Thai women have discovered Big Macs'

[impulse]

Despite all the inevitable buffalo jokes in a thread such as this, how many members here have actually kept or presently own buffaloes? I have and I can tell you it,s not all that easy. I sold mine off years ago. Why you may ask. For starters you just can't let them roam around at will, allow that and you will have a steady stream of irate villagers banging on your door demanding compensation for your buffalo having eaten their rice, vegetables, sugar cane or whatever.

There once was a time when after the rice crop had been harvested and before the next planting you could turn your buffaloes loose into the paddies where they could graze all day unattended. That's no longer the case, much of the paddy has been turned over to the production of sugar cane which is a year round crop. Nothing nutritional for a buffalo grows under rubber trees. These days the beasts have to be attended all the time being moved from plot to plot where there is grazing.

When I first came to the village there were proably well over a hundred buffalo here, today I doubt there are more than a dozen. They are no longer used for ploughing having been replaced by the Kobota iron buffalo, and in the past year I have only seen one buffalo cart.

Quite frankly I doubt that there will be much success with this scheme, in this area at least.

Having owned buffaloes, what is your opinion of the reasoning behind this program?

It seems like every season, the farmers are (justifiably) up in arms because they followed government suggestions, planted more and the increase in (rice, rubber, palm oil...) on the market causes the prices to collapse.

Is the same thing going to happen to buffaloes, where the farmers have a surplus of buffaloes in 5 years and can't do anything with them except sell them below the cost of raising them?

[LindaLovelace]

Sperm artificial inseminations will be done with 20,000 male buffaloes.

I surely hope someone informs them it is a FEMALE Buffalo that is atrificially inseminated.

JingThing might like to give it a try -- if the syringe is REALLY big.

[JAG]

Odd story. The Thai farmer has moved onto the much more efficient iron buffalo, which

is the logical choice. Why in the world would would the government here want to go

backwards to the buffalo ? This story , coupled with the government's desire for Thais

to start wearing traditional clothing, must be part of some master plan to return

Thailand to an agrarian society.

The farang buffalo joke path is too easy, will not even go there.......but sadly my first

thought when I saw the headline. :-)

You might not be so far off the truth.

Back when Issan and the North relied upon buffaloes to power their subsistence farming, they were too poor and too busy just trying to stay alive to bother the Bangkok " born to rule" brigade.

[Toknarok]

Make no mistake I love these animals. They are docile and gentle , easy to handle and are not as stupid as some would have you believe. If I had hundreds of available rai I would have them again.

Why are they aiming to double the herd? I've no idea, perhaps it's that the water buffalo is synonimous with S.E. Asis as is the elephant.

They arn't really usefull for much, their meat ( which I have eaten countless times) is generally as bad as the locally produced Thai beef. Tough and somewhat stringy. OK for slow cooked stews though.

Genuine mozarella cheese is produced from buffalo milk. The female udders are far smaller than milking cows so produce far less cheese product. Maybe there could be a niche market for the genuine product.

Let us see what (if anything) becomes of this initiave.

[misterkeeperofthereef]

I traded the wife in for a nice 1 year old female buffalo and could not be happier. She doesn't look at me like ATM machine and is always happy to see me !

[BigBadGeordie]

I traded the wife in for a nice 1 year old female buffalo and could not be happier. She doesn't look at me like ATM machine and is always happy to see me !

Thanks for the trade, she said she was happy to leave and by the way we have great sex.

But more importantly, check your bank balance, she also brought your internet login.

;-)

[HappyinNE]

Check the numbers! I get 4.5 buffalo per breeder. Another example of Thainess?

[bangon04]

"Thailand plans to double buffalo population within next 5 years"

not another education reform programme promise for Thailand.......???

[Somtamnication]

Nothing wrong with this attempt. They are only ensuring future voters for a future election.

[billphillips]

I suggest they start asap, the gestation time for Buffaloes is 11 months. The quickest way to increase the Buffalo population would be to ban the slaughter or consumption of buffalo meat, perhaps article 44 makes provision for this!

[berybert]

When I first read the headline I thought it say buffone.

Then read it would take 5 years to double the population. That's when I knew I read it wrong.

[canopy]

I don't get it. They want to reverse a normal, healthy economic trend of an ever smaller population and artificially raise it to millions of buffalo doing nothing? Thai's aren't going to use these for farming just like the current population. It sounds like the future is millions of unwanted buffaloes forced upon the poor who don't want them who in turn become a burden to the tax payer propping up this senseless idea. I hope I am missing something.

[connda]

Hell, the number of times that farang are referred to as 'Kwai', you thing the buffalo populations would be in the the tens of thousands.

[kimamey]

I don't get it.

"This happens because nearly all of rice farmers replace buffalo labour with pushcarts and tractors as they lack land for growing food plants for the animals during the planting season."

Even if they double the number of buffalos, will farmers use them? Is it economically feasible to continue using them, or are poor farmers expected to simply bear the cost of saving these animals?

Maybe they could use some of the army's golf courses to keep them. It will be something for them to do once they no longer need to run the country.