Buying a Buffalo — What to Check Before the Money Changes Hands

A good buffalo is a bigger investment than a cow and a slower one to replace if it goes wrong. Judging a cow and judging a buffalo overlap, but the buffalo has her own points, and the market has its own tricks.

Before you look at her

Decide what you want: a fresh-calved animal in milk, or one in late pregnancy. Fresh-calved shows you her milk; late-pregnant costs less and gives you the calf, but you are buying on trust. Avoid animals in mid-lactation with no clear calving date; nobody sells a buffalo at her best for no reason.

Age

Count the teeth: two permanent front teeth at about 2.5-3 years, four at 3.5-4, six at 4.5-5, a full set of eight at 6. A buffalo gives her best milk in the third to fifth lactation; a full mouth with worn, gappy teeth is an old animal however glossy the coat.

Udder and teats

Four quarters of equal size, soft and pliable after milking, no hard lumps, no scars. Teats of a size your hand can work, no cracks, none blind. Strip each quarter yourself onto a dark surface: clots or watery milk from any quarter walks you away.

Milk her yourself

Twice, morning and evening, before buying. A buffalo held unmilked for a day looks like a champion at the first milking. Ask the real daily yield and watch the seller's face when you milk the second time.

Calving and breeding history

When did she calve, how many times, was there ever a retained placenta, a prolapse, a difficult calving? Is she bred again, and when? A buffalo that has not conceived since her last calving a year ago is the kind that comes to market.

Body and feet

Deep body, wide hips, straight back, sound feet with no overgrowth or lameness after a walk on hard ground. Bright eyes, clean nose, no cough, no ticks in the ears. Watch her breathe at rest.

Temperament

Handle her, tie and untie her, milk her: a buffalo that kicks or will not let down for a stranger may never let down for you either. Buffaloes that let down only for one person or only with the calf are common; ask.

After the purchase

Two weeks apart from the herd, dewormed and checked by the vet, and a gradual change onto your fodder and a buffalo feed — GOKA Buff 5000 at her calculated quantity — over a week. A buffalo bought well and settled gently is the start of a good decade.