1. ORIGIN:
It is supposed that the buffalo has come to Bulgaria more than 12 centuries ago from Byzantium. TYPES:
River type; Mediterranean and Indian BREEDS:
Bulgarian (Mediterranean); Murrah; Nili Ravi CROSSINGS:
Between Bulgarian and Murrah breed 30 years ago. Now most of the animals are crosses F2 and F3. 2. GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS:
The South part of the country; the middle parts of Northern Bulgaria and the West part of the country. 3. NUMBERS:
total private co-operatives research buffaloes 14370 12485 1505 380 buff cows 7254 6489 615 150 heifers >3yrs 1560 1451 89 20 adult males 225 191 32 2 young stock 5331 4357 769 208 4. NUMBER OF HERDS:
private herds: 86% research herds: 3% cooperative herds 11% 5. DESCRIPTION OF ANIMAL:adult male adult female height at withers(cm) 145 136 body legnth 158 146 chest girth 260 215 weight(kg) 7-900 550-600 color black horns closely curved 6. PRODUCTIVITY: n days lactation/year: 270 lactation milk yield (kg): 1650 age at first calving: 34-37 months average lactation number: 8 age at slaughter for young stock: 18-20 mo. (males only) weight at slaughter for young stock : 400-450 is the calf suckeling: yes; but not from dams. The calves ar being fed artificially by a small bucket. how many months: 4 ; 200 kg. buffalo milk 250 kg milk replacer 500 kg buffalo milk for males selected for future breeding in all herds: in cooperative and research herds are cows milked once a day:no are cows milked twice a day: yes where: in pen (coop and research); in pen and yard (private) are cows milked by hand: yes (private) are cows machine milked: yes (coop and research) type of machine: Impuls-M-624 7. FERTILITY n calves/year: .05 season of calving: Aug-Oct 8. HOUSING Loose housing for young animals up to 12-14 months. Tied housing for dairy cows and heifers. Paddock (private) April to October animals go to the grazing land in the morning (gathered in herds) and come back home in the evening. 9. ARE BUFFALOES USED FOR draught: no cart: no plough: no 10. SOURCES OF FEED In private sector mostly grazing during April-October. between Nov-March straw, hay, concentrates (maize, barley, wheat bran, by-product of cotton, sugar beets etc.) In cooperativess and research farms; winter- alfalfa hay,maize silage, straw, sugar and beer by-product. summer- mix concentrates, green fodder (alfalfa, maize), alfalfa hay, straw, by-products 11. TOTAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION BY SPECIES adult total consumed cheese fermented other meat females milk fresh milk and dairy mt n mt yogart buffaloes 10000 4000 - 6000 cow 1126000 400000 416000 300000 10000 80000* sheep 122000 30500 76800 18000 goat 93000 41000 25000 27000 - 40000** * figure includes buffalo and cow meat ** figure includes sheep and goat meat Other products from buffaloes: 12. MILK RECORDING All cows from cooperative and research farms. Limited amount from private sector. 13. REPRODUCTION has each farmer his own bull: no are bulls for natural service available in villages: yes, 1 bull for 50-60 cows how many: few artificial insemination available: Private sector; no 80% in cooperative and research farm. 14. DISEASES free of diseases. Animals are periodically vaccinated against leptospirosis. rhinotrachitis, mucosal disease complex. 15. SOCIAL POSITION OF BUFFALO FARMERS In the private sector the buffaloes are mainly raised by old people. Their incomes are moderate. Cooperatives and research farms are modern. 16. PERSPECTIVES OF BUFFALO PRODUCTION Total number of buffalo cows in the country is small and it doesn't have a considerable influence on the milk and meat production in the country. After the social reform (1989) a lot of the cooperative farms were liquidated and the animals slaughtered. The low prices of the buffalo milk didn't stimulate the farmers to raise buffaloes. During the last 1-2 years the question of financing the breeding stock was brought up in Bulgaria. The reason for this was the decrease of all species by over 50%. No subsidies are given up to now and this is the reason for the continuing decrease of the number of the animals including the buffaloes. If the government does not take care for protecting milk and meat prices quite possible this decrease will go on. Giving back the land to the owners, some circumstances are created for increasing the number of buffaloes because the buffaloes are not pretentious toward feeding and their raising is comparatively cheap. Buffalo milk and meat are good sources of protein for people's feeding. Bulgaria was famous for it's buffalo yoghurt of high quality and meat delicacies such as pastarma, lukanka and sausages which were well received at home and foreign markets. Now the moment is proper for stabilizating and constant upsurge of stock breeding but unfortunately it will take a long time. 17. REPORT SUBMITTED BY Tzonka Peeva; Buffalo Research Institute, Shumen