Murrah-Best Dairy buffalo breed: A Perspective

Pashu Sandesh, Bhopal. 03 April 2017

Dr. Nitin Mohan Gupta , Dr. Prakash Baghel

The Murrah buffalo is the most important and well-known water buffalo breed in the world. It is one of the best breeds for milk production and found all over Asia, and from Bulgaria to South America.

Distribution

Murrah buffaloes originate in the centre of Haryana, from where they have spread to the Punjab in India and Punjab province of Pakistan, Ravi and Sutlej valleys, north Sind and Uttar Pradesh. Population size is estimated at 2 million heads. In Haryana, Murrah buffalo keeping has a special role as its husbandry has been the way of life. Consequently, Haryana has the privilege of being known as the “livestock mint of India”. The buffalo of Murrah breed, which is described as the “Asian tractor”, is in fact triple purpose animal- for milk, meat and work. Between the 1940s and 1960s, some Murrah buffalos from India arrived in Brazil where they found ideal conditions, such as thriving pastures, water, grazing space and suitable temperatures. Indian Murrah buffalo were also imported in China in the late 1950s, and in Bulgaria in 1962. By crossbreeding Murrah and indigenous Mediterrian buffaloes in Bulgaria a new buffalo population named Bulgarian Murrah was created. Azerbaijan imported Murrah buffaloes from Bulgaria. In the Philippines, an elite herd of

riverine buffalo has been established at the Philippine Carabao Center, Science City of Munoz, by importing about 3000 Murrah buffaloes with pedigree performance records from Bulgaria. In the 1970s, dairy Murrah buffaloes were imported to Vietnam from China, Bulgaria and India to improve the productivity of local buffaloes. 

Characteristics

Some of the important physical characteristics of Murrah include sound built, heavy wedge shaped body with comparatively small head, long face and neck. It has a jet black colour and has short and tightly curled horn. The tail is long reaching the fetlock joint with black switch (8.0 inches). The horns are different from other breeds of buffalo – short, tight, turning backwards and upwards and finally spirally curving inward. The horns should be somewhat flattened. As the age advances the horns get loosened slightly but spiral curves increases. The skin is soft, smooth with scanty hairs as compared to other buffaloes. The udder is fully developed, drooping, with the teats equally distributed over the udder but hind teats are longer than fore teats. The loin is broader and sliding forward. The average height at withers for male is 1.42 meter and 1.32 meter for female. The length from point of shoulder to pin bone is 150.9 cm in males and 148.6 cm in females as an average for mature adult Murrah buffalo. It is a massive and stocky animal with heavy bones. Height at withers of adult male is 142 cm (56 in), body weight is 750 kg (1,700 lb). Height at withers of adult female is 133 cm (52 in), body weight is 650 kg (1,400 lb). Murrah buffalo average mature body weight is 544.3 Kg and 453.6 Kg for males and females respectively. 

Husbandry

Murrah buffaloes are traditionally managed under domestic conditions together with the calf and hand-milked twice a day. They are fed different kinds of roughages such as barley and wheat straw, cornstalks and sugar cane residuals. In addition, they are given concentrate mixtures. If grazing is available, they graze all day long. They are naturally mated. Calving interval is 479±33 days. Cows lactate during 305 days with an average milk yield of 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) in this period. The milk is used for fresh consumption, and for producing ghee and cream. In Italy, it is the basis of Mozzarella cheese production, and therefore Italian Pizza. By Italian law, Mozzarella may only be made from buffalo milk, which is preferred for its very high butterfat content, up to 16% compared with 4% for European (Bos taurus) dairy breeds such as Jersey cattle and 8% for Zebu (Bos indicus) breeds such as Sahiwal.

Performance

Milk:

The production of buffalo milk in the Asian-Pacific region exceeds 45 million tonnes annually of which over 30 million tonnes are produced in India alone. With selective breeding, improved management and the establishment of more dairy herds, milk yields are increasing worldwide. 

Inpidual female animals produce an average of 3,000 litre-per-lactation. Many animals produce more than 4,000 litres in 300 day of lactation. The potential for increased milk production therefore exists.  Daily lactation in peak period is about 14 to 15 litters but up to 31.5 Kg milk production had also been recorded. The elite Murrah buffalo produces above 18-littres milk per day. A peak milk yield of 31.5 kg in a day has been recorded from a champion Murrah buffalo in the All India Milk Yield Competition conducted by the Government of India.

It is an acknowledged fact that the buffalo is a better converter of coarse feeds into fat-rich milk even under harsh agro-climatic situations. Buffalo milk contains about twice as much butterfat as cow milk. There is no physiological need for concentrate feed to maintain this level. When concentrates are fed, the fat content rises. When fed ad lib, it can exceed 15 %. The buffalo, in fact, releases unwanted fat in the milk and stores only a minimum in the body tissues. In economic terms, therefore, the rearing of buffalo is advantageous than cow keeping. 

Meat: 

Recent investigations and trials have convincingly established the fact that when a buffalo is fed well and managed for early slaughter (at a live weight of 350 to 450 kg), a yield of palatable, high-grade meat can be obtained at a competitive cost. A buffalo carcass has less fat, less bone and a higher proportion of muscle than a cattle carcass. Furthermore a buffalo carcass does not need the customary and costly chill hanging for a specific period to ensure the "eatability" of the product. The buffalo is remarkable for its feed conversion ability. The clear cut mechanism behind this is yet to understood.

The young buffalo calf achieves a daily weight gain of 800 grams without any supplement feed. Similarly, the power of the full-grown work-buffalo does not come from high level nutrients.

Work: 

Buffaloes are the most versatile of all work animals in the variety of tasks which they can be taught to undertake. The greatest output of thousands of buffaloes is in the form of work energy rather than the direct provision of food as milk or meat.

Reproduction: 

The average Age at fist calving of Murrah buffalo is 3 years. The Inter-calving period averages 400 to 500 days. This breed has a lactation period of about 300 days. (With minimum of ~230 days recorded under top quality Murrah). The dry period last for about three months, however, less than three may be there. Murrah has a gestation period of 310 days (average).

Table 1: Murrah Buffalo production and physical characteristics

 Source – Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) - http://cirb.gov.in/buffalo/murrah.html

Table 2: Murrah Buffalo production characteristics in different countries

Source FAO DAD-IS 2009 (http://dad.fao.org/cgi-bin/EfabisWeb.cgi)

Dr. Nitin Mohan Gupta*¹ and Dr. Prakash Baghel²

(* corresponding author)

1- Veterinary Assistant Surgeon

2- Deputy Director

            Large Scale Sheep Breeding Farm, Padora, Shivpuri-473551