THE WATER BUFFALO—A 
TROPICAL SOURCE OF BUTTER FAT 
C. O. LEVINE 
Associate Professor of Animal Husbandry, Canton Christian College 
HE water buffalo (Bubalus 
bubalis) is found in all parts of 
China as far north as Shanghai. 
It is most common in regions 
where lowland rice is the main crop 
grown by the farmers, where it finds 
its chief use as a draught animal in the 
wet paddy fields. The estimated com- 
mon weight of the water buffalo in 
China is about 800 to 1,200 pounds. 
Measurements, made by the writer, of 
twelve cows kept on the college farm 
have given an average height of 49 
inches at the withers. 
. Like the pig, the water buffalo has 
few sweat glands in its skin, and for 
this reason cannot endure hard work 
in the sun for a long period, unless its 
body is wet with water. This accounts 
for the desire of the buffalo to wallow 
in mud or water. The animals are 
easily overcome by heat if worked hard 
in the sun, and sometimes they go crazy 
and become very dangerous. Not in- 
frequently such an animal has to be 
killed. 
However, animals kept only for milk 
production, and not required for any 
work do not necessarily require a wa- 
ter hole for comfort. This is espe- 
cially true of the dairy breeds of 
buffalo of India. 
As a rule, the water buffalo is a gen- 
tle animal—toward Orientals. Euro- 
peans usually find this animal difficult 
to manage, and all attempts by’ Euro- 
peans to raise the buffalo have failed, 
except in Italy and some other places 
in southern Europe, where it has been 
raised for centuries. The dairy water 
buffalo of northern India, however, 
although of immense size and fierce 
looks, is very gentle and can be han- 
dled by Europeans as well as by na- 
tives of that region. 
The horns of the Chinese buffalo are 
peculiar in shape. They are large and 
much flattened, or somewhat triangular 
at the base, deeply grooved on the up- 
per surface, directed out and back from 
the head and finally curving inward. 
The length, measured on the outside 
curve of the horn, is usually a little 
more than two feet. In walking, the 
buffalo carries its head so that the face 
is almost level with the back. Its tail 
is short, reaching to the hocks. Its 
skin is a grey-black, very thinly cov- 
ered with grey-black hair, and has 
practically no oil or sweat glands. Dean 
Bailey, in his Cyclopedia of Agricul- 
ture, Vol. III, calls attention to the 
fact that the color of the water but- 
falo is not unlike that of the elephant, 
and that their motions are similar The 
resemblance between these two aninals 
is so similar that a casual view of a 
moving herd of buffalos suggests a 
roving band of elephants. 
OESTRUS, GESTATION, WEIGHT OF CALVES 
AT BIRTH, AND AGE OF USEFULNESS 
Oestrus in the female buffalo 
does not occur as a rule until the age 
of two years. It occurs one month 
after parturition, and recurs regularly 
every 28 to 30 days until the animal 
again becomes pregnant. 
Definite records on the exact length 
of the gestation period have been 
secured only with two cows at Canton 
Christian College. In one case it was 
310 days, and in the other 314 days. 
Three calves, from cows in the col- 
lege dairy, weighed, soon after birth 
51 
