RAISING OF BUFFALO

MALE CALVES FOR

MEAT PRODUCTION
1. Meat produced from buffalo is called as Buffen or cara-beef, is quite
popular in the human diets of buffalo rearing countries.
2. In addition to milk, mutton, chevon, egg, fish, buffen is also an excellent
source of protein in the diet of human beings.
3. In buffalo rearing, the male calves are not given proper care and poorly
fed right from its birth.
4. The farmer wants to dispose off the male calves as soon as after weaning,
as it is uneconomic to keep these animals.
5. But the demand of buffalo meat is increasing for domestic consumption
and also for export.
6. In India, buffen is considered the cheapest meat among mutton, chevon and
chicken.
7. Large numbers of buffalo male calves are born in rural areas and bring to drastic
starvation in early life. They are generally fed on left-overs of productive animals
and sometimes, they are allowed to feed on scrubs. Further, they are allowed for
short suckling periods. At present such male calves are fed on low plan of nutrition
and then disposed off by 3-4 years at a body weight of 250-350kg for work purpose
or sometimes for meat production.
 FEEDING OF GROWING BUFFALO MALE CALVES FOR
MEAT PRODUCTION
1. Straw/stower based feeding system – A higher percentage of concentrate to mixture
is required to be fed. When based roughage in the diet are wheat bhoosa, chaffed jowar
and similar poor quality fodders.
For a reasonable average daily gain (ADG) of 300-500g the diet should contain about
60% concentrate mixture of at least 19% CP on DM basis and 65-70% TDN.
A small amount of 1-2kg per day of green fodder from any edible source should be fed
for the supply of vit-A requirement.
2. Green cereal fodder based feeding system – Cereal fodder like maize, jowar, bajra,
oats and grasses are preferably fed. When palatability and digestibility of those fodder
are optimum.
With adequate cereal fodders, concentrate requirements may be reduced to 30-40% of daily dry
matter intake.
About 500-600g ADG is expected on such diets upto 300-350kg body weight.
3. Green legume based feeding system – Common leguminous fodder cultivated for livestock
feeding are berseem, lucerne, cluster bean, cowpea and other legumes diet due to high protein
content.
The CP content in green legumes is generally 16-22% on DM basis.
However, for balancing protein in the diet a low protein concentrate is preferred. Calcium
content is also higher in those plants. A concentrate of wheat bran alone or with cereal grains
has been found to be more suitable for feeding with the legume fodders. Such diets, may
support 500-700 or even higher ADG, if there is potential in the buffalo calves.
 TYPES OF BUFFALOES AVAILABLE FOR MEAT
PRODUCTION IN INDIA
1. New born males – Since killing by starvation and other means is a common practise at
most of the urban and sub-urban buffalo doing stalls, such calves may be procured in first
week of age for veal production.
2. Residual male calves – These animals are mostly available with the farmers in rural
areas. In rural areas male buffalo calves are neglected animals but farmers feed these
calves to keep life because these required for short suckling of their dam for stimulating
let down of milk. Such calves of poor condition are available after weaning at 9-12 month
of age.
These are largely poor animals of 70-100kg body weight. However, they have
shown satisfactory growth on the feeding of adequate amount of nutritious feed.
3. Sterile Females – There is a large variation in the age and body weight of sterile females.
These may be sterile heifer of 5-7 years of age to infertile female after first, second or third
lactation and 7-10 years of age. These are mostly healthy animals and rarely need high level
of feeding for finishing.
4. Aged spent animals – These include aged females of 10-15 years of age after milk
production for 5-7 lactation and working buffaloes retired generally at about 15 years of age.
The condition of these animals is generally poor which can be reasonably improved by
feeding at high plan for 2-3 months before slaughter.
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